Oilers Sign Ryan Fanti
The Oilers have dipped into the college free agent market, announcing the signing of goaltender Ryan Fanti to a two-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal which begins next season were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the contract will carry an AAV of $925K.
The 23-year-old recently wrapped up his second season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Fanti took over the starting job this year and certainly made the most of it, posting a 1.83 GAA along with a .929 SV% in 37 games along with seven shutouts. That resulted in him being named to the All-NCHC First Team earlier this month. The Bulldogs made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament after Fanti posted a shutout against Western Michigan but they fell 2-1 to Denver over the weekend, ending Minnesota-Duluth’s season in the process.
While this signing won’t directly affect Edmonton’s playoff hopes this season, it’s worth noting that Fanti has signed an ATO agreement with their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield for the rest of the season. That could permit Stuart Skinner to be recalled to the Oilers, giving them another option with both Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen coming off tough outings recently. In the meantime, Edmonton has added a promising goalie prospect to the fold in Fanti but he’ll be a few years away from realistically being ready to push for NHL playing time.
Snapshots: Heiskanen, Petry, McDonagh, Penguins
The Stars could have defenseman Miro Heiskanen back as soon as Tuesday, relays Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. The 22-year-old is once again averaging nearly 25 minutes a night on the back end for Dallas while being a capable secondary contributor as well with 29 points in 52 games. He has been out for more than three weeks due to a bout with mononucleosis and will be a welcome return to the Stars as they look to hold onto the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The Canadiens announced that defenseman Jeff Petry is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. The 34-year-old has had a tough season both in terms of his production (16 points in 57 games) and defensive play while the team wasn’t able to find a suitable trade for him at the deadline to honor his request to be moved. William Lagesson will make his Montreal debut against Toronto tonight in Petry’s absence.
- The Lightning will be without blueliner Ryan McDonagh indefinitely due to an upper-body injury, per a team announcement (Twitter link). The injury was sustained in the third period on Thursday against Boston when he blocked a shot. Joe Smith of The Athletic adds that the injury shouldn’t cost McDonagh the rest of the season but that he’ll be out for a couple of weeks. Tampa Bay has six other defensemen on the roster so they’re okay for now but if another blueliner goes down, it could be an issue as the team does not have any cap space to bring someone up from AHL Syracuse.
- Penguins center Evgeni Malkin is set to be a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game against Detroit, notes Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The veteran was a late scratch last night due to an illness, one that kept him away from practice today as well. Meanwhile, after leaving last night’s game after just 4:19, goaltender Casey DeSmith was cleared to skate today and is expected to be available for tomorrow’s contest.
West Notes: Getzlaf, Dubois, Coronato, Wild
Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf plans to discuss his future with the team soon, notes Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. At this point, no decision has been made as to whether or not the 36-year-old intends to return for an 18th NHL season with GM Pat Verbeek recently indicating that Getzlaf will “remain a Duck for whenever he decides not to play anymore”. After scoring just five goals last season, Getzlaf only has three this year but he sits second to only Trevor Zegras on the team in assists. He has a base salary of $3MM this season with another $1.5MM in incentives and his next contract – should he choose to sign one – should check in a bit lower in terms of total cost.
More from out West:
- Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois will wait until the offseason to begin negotiations on his next contract, notes NHL.com’s Tim Campbell. The 23-year-old has had a nice bounce-back year in his first full season in Winnipeg, notching 50 points in 65 games, giving him a shot at surpassing his career high of 61 set in his sophomore year. Dubois is owed a $6MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights and is two years away from UFA eligibility which makes it likely that Winnipeg will seek a long-term deal this summer.
- Although Flames prospect Matthew Coronato had a strong freshman year with Harvard, Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson mentions that the 19-year-old is expected to return for his sophomore campaign. The winger is eligible to play in the AHL if Calgary wanted while he would also still have eligibility for major junior but after leading the Crimson in scoring this season with 36 points in 34 games, staying at the college level certainly isn’t a bad idea for the 13th pick in 2021.
- Wild prospect center Nikita Nesterenko and defenseman Marshall Warren are likely to remain in college next season, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Nesterenko had 24 points in 37 games in his sophomore year at Boston College while Warren had 21 points in 37 contests in his junior year with the Eagles. Meanwhile, Russo adds that Minnesota will likely try to sign forward Sam Hentges to an entry-level deal beginning next season and an ATO pact for this year for him to play with AHL Iowa. Hentges had 22 points in 20 games in his final season at St. Cloud State while scoring once in two games at the Olympics last month.
Maple Leafs Sign Nick Abruzzese
The Maple Leafs have signed one of their more promising prospects, announcing the signing of forward Nick Abruzzese to a two-year, entry-level contract. The contract begins this season and carries a cap hit of $850K.
The 22-year-old had a strong sophomore season with Harvard, finishing second in team scoring to Flames prospect Matthew Coronato with nine goals and 24 assists in 28 games, earning himself an NCAA ECAC First All-Star Team nod. He likely would have led the Crimson in scoring had he been available for the full season but he missed time during the season to play in the Olympics where he was productive, notching a goal and three assists in four games for Team USA. While those numbers in college were impressive this season, it was actually a small step back for Abruzzese as he had 14 goals and 30 assists in just 31 games in his freshman year.
It will be interesting to see how much of a look Abruzzese gets with Toronto down the stretch. As he was on their Reserve List after the trade deadline, he is eligible to play for them down the stretch and in the playoffs if they so desire. The Maple Leafs added Colin Blackwell from Seattle last weekend to add to their bottom six but it stands to reason that the 2019 fourth-round pick (124th overall) will get a chance to stake his claim to a spot in the lineup over the next month.
Dobber Prospects’ Nick Richard was the first to report the signing.
Golden Knights Activate Alec Martinez Off LTIR
After Vegas transferred winger Reilly Smith to LTIR on Friday night, it felt like there was a corresponding roster move coming. That move comes on their back end as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports (Twitter link) that the Golden Knights have activated defenseman Alec Martinez off LTIR.
The 34-year-old has been out since mid-November due to a facial injury and nerve damage and wound up missing a lot more time than initially expected, a total of 53 games overall. Martinez was expected to resume skating after the holiday break but landed in COVID protocol for three weeks, postponing his return to the ice until the end of January. From there, it has taken seven weeks for Martinez to be cleared to return and for Vegas to free up the cap space to activate him off LTIR. With Smith’s $5MM heading to LTIR yesterday, they opened up enough space for Martinez’s $5.25MM to come back.
Martinez’s return will be a big one for a Vegas back end that has undoubtedly missed his reliability in the defensive end. He has averaged just under 20 minutes a game this season (a number that’s somewhat skewed from the game he was injured) in the 11 contests he has been able to play in and should slide back into their top four quickly as they look to get back into the playoff picture; they’re one point out of the last Wild Card spot heading into play today.
Vegas still has two regulars on LTIR – Smith and winger Mark Stone. At this point in time, they don’t have enough cap room to activate either of them when they’ll be ready to return so even with the trade deadline now having passed, their cap situation will still be something to keep an eye on over the final few weeks of the season.
AHL Shuffle: 03/26/22
It’s another busy Saturday across the NHL with a dozen games on the schedule. While the daily roster shuffling has come and gone with the four-recall rule now in effect, there will still be some moves made throughout the day which we’ll keep track of here.
Atlantic Division
Metropolitan Division
Central Division
- The Predators have recalled defenseman Jeremy Davies from AHL Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 25-year-old has been up and down a few times in recent weeks but has spent most of the year in the minors, notching six goals and 25 assists in 54 games with the Admirals.
Pacific Division
- As expected, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled winger Will Lockwood from AHL Abbotsford under emergency conditions (meaning it won’t count against their four allowable regular recalls). He’s needed with Matthew Highmore being listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury that’s not believed to be a concussion. Lockwood has done well in his second professional season, notching 25 points in 46 games with the Heat.
- The Sharks have promoted center Lane Pederson from AHL San Jose, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 24-year-old cleared waivers last month and has been productive with the Barracuda, collecting 10 points in 11 games, a sharp contrast from the two assists he has in 26 games at the NHL level.
This post will be updated throughout the day.
Central Notes: De Haan, McBain, Forsberg
Before Monday’s trade deadline, many expected that Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan would be on the move but a deal never materialized. Now that he’s still in Chicago, the veteran recently told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he’d to stay there beyond this season. De Haan is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and will assuredly wind up with a contract that’s considerably cheaper than his current $4.55MM AAV. The 30-year-old has just five points in 59 games this season but is second on the team in blocked shots with 147 while logging over 19 minutes per contest. However, while de Haan would like to stay in Chicago, the team has young left-shot blueliners Wyatt Kalynuk, Riley Stillman, Alex Vlasic, and Caleb Jones in their system already that are all 24 or younger. For a team committing to a rebuild, it may make more sense to play them more and not bring de Haan back next season.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- The Coyotes will have to wait a while for Jack McBain to make his NHL debut. Head coach Andre Tourigny told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link) that the 22-year-old’s ankle injury may take longer to heal than expected; instead of him being out for a few days, it could be a few weeks. From a contractual standpoint, McBain’s first year will be burned regardless of whether or not he plays but Arizona would certainly like to get him into some game action to evaluate his readiness for next season.
- With the Predators opting not to trade Filip Forsberg at the trade deadline, Gentry Estes of The Tennessean suggests that Nashville has no real choice but to hand the winger the money he’s seeking to sign a long-term extension. With their last chance to trade him for any value now gone (a negotiating rights trade wouldn’t bring back much), the scribe posits that Forsberg could easily up his asking price with the team no longer having a lot of leverage in discussions. Of course, Forsberg’s play in itself is only making that price go higher as he has 36 goals and 28 assists in 52 games this season; he’s the leading goal-getter among pending unrestricted free agents.
Injury Updates: Kase, Flyers, Sanderson, Drouin
Maple Leafs winger Ondrej Kase has been ruled out for Toronto’s two games this weekend, notes TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). However, while it looked like the 26-year-old suffered a concussion on a hit last Saturday, head coach Sheldon Keefe was quick to point out that Kase hasn’t been diagnosed with anything just yet. Kase has a long concussion history and it stands to reason that they’ll err on the side of caution when it comes to his health. He has yet to be placed on LTIR but with defenseman Jake Muzzin getting closer to returning, that may still happen over the coming days.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- The Flyers announced (via Twitter) that winger Travis Konecny is dealing with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. The 25-year-old has very quietly been on an impressive run in recent weeks, picking up 18 points in 20 games going back to the start of February. Meanwhile, winger Oskar Lindblom returned after missing Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury.
- The Senators will be waiting a while to get top prospect Jake Sanderson in their lineup as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). The youngster underwent hand surgery earlier this month that will keep him out for four-to-six weeks, putting his availability for the stretch run in question. Ottawa’s team doctors are set to evaluate him which will give them an idea as to whether or not he’ll be able to suit up for a few games down the stretch. Even if he doesn’t play, the first year of his contract will be burned if Ottawa signs him to a deal that begins this season instead of in 2022-23.
- On top of being in COVID protocol for a close contact, the Canadiens announced that winger Jonathan Drouin has been placed on IR with an upper-body injury and is out indefinitely. The 26-year-old had just returned to the lineup after missing 22 games with a wrist issue and it’s unclear if this injury is related to that one or something different altogether.
Golden Knights Place Reilly Smith On LTIR
With the Evgenii Dadonov trade off the table, Vegas has made a different move to give them some short-term cap space as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that winger Reilly Smith has been placed on LTIR.
Smith was originally placed on injured reserve on March 14th so the conversion to LTIR is likely backdated to that point although his last game came back on the 8th. Smith would then be required to miss 10 games and 24 days which would keep him out until the second week of April. The 30-year-old has been a capable secondary scorer throughout his time in Vegas and has provided similar production this season with 16 goals and 22 assists in 56 games.
Of course, there is a money element to this move. Smith’s $5MM cap hit is added to their LTIR pool and with the demotion of defenseman Zack Hayes to AHL Henderson, Vegas now has just under $7MM available in their LTIR pool. That’s enough cap space to activate blueliner Alec Martinez if he’s ready to return. Alternatively, if the Golden Knights dropped down to a minimum-sized roster, they could free up enough space to bring back winger Mark Stone whenever he’s able to come back.
If Smith is able to return this season, this will only be some short-term relief for the Golden Knights. If, however, he’s going to be out for another month or so, this may be enough to give them the relief they were seeking in the Dadonov trade that was invalidated by the NHL earlier this week without needing to attach an asset to get out of Dadonov’s contract.
Pacific Notes: Boeser, Kings, Ducks
Prior to the trade deadline, the Canucks hadn’t made any progress on a contract extension with winger Brock Boeser, reports Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston. It has been a quiet year by the 25-year-old’s standards as he has 19 goals and 19 assists in 60 games, numbers that aren’t bad but aren’t befitting of the $7.5MM salary he’s receiving this season which stands as his qualifying offer in July to retain his rights. It’s that situation that had Boeser in trade speculation heading into the deadline and will continue to have him in that until a new deal can be reached. Vancouver can take him to arbitration and offer 90% of the qualifying offer but that’s as low as they can go and it’s something they can only do once with Boeser.
More from the Pacific:
- Kings defenseman Tobias Bjornfot is nearing a return from the undisclosed injury that has kept him out for the last couple of weeks, relays Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. The 20-year-old has held down a regular spot on the third pairing for Los Angeles this season, averaging over 16 minutes a night in his sophomore year. Meanwhile, winger Brendan Lemieux was a full participant in practice for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury three weeks ago. He leads the Kings in penalty minutes (86) and sits second in hits (108) in his 44 contests.
- Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf is expected to be a game-time decision for Saturday’s game against San Jose, notes Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last three weeks with a lower-body injury but still sits tied for fourth in team scoring. Winger Troy Terry should be back for that game, however, after missing Wednesday’s contest due to illness.