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Snapshots: Ersson, Becher, Tokarski

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Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson suffered an injury in the first period of today’s game against Boston and did not return.  Following the game, the team clarified (Twitter link) that the netminder sustained a lower-body injury.  It has been a tough year between the pipes for the Flyers who came into this game with a combined save percentage of just .863 (including empty-netters allowed), the lowest in the Eastern Conference.  However, Ersson has had a reasonable start to his year, putting up a 2.72 GAA with a .897 SV% heading into today’s action.  Aleksei Kolosov came on in relief while Ivan Fedotov, who has struggled mightily in his limited NHL action so far, is also on the active roster should Ersson miss any more time.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Red Wings prospect Ondrej Becher has signed an ATO agreement with AHL Grand Rapids, per a team release. Detroit took the 20-year-old in the third round of the draft back in June following a dominant showing with WHL Prince George that saw him score 32 goals and 64 assists in 58 games last season, good for 13th in league scoring.  While he remains eligible to spend an overage year at the junior level, it appears the Red Wings would prefer to see how he fares in the pros first but the tryout agreement suggests that they’re open to the idea of sending him back to junior if things don’t go well.
  • With the Hurricanes needing Spencer Martin due to Fredrik Andersen’s injury, their AHL affiliate in Chicago has made a move, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve signed veteran goalie Dustin Tokarski to a PTO agreement. The 35-year-old was in Ottawa’s training camp on a tryout but wasn’t signed.  He spent last season with AHL Rochester, posting a 3.32 GAA and a .890 SV% in 24 games and is a veteran of more than 400 appearances at that level over 14 seasons along with 80 NHL contests.  The PTO agreement can last for up to 25 games.

West Notes: Joshua, Seguin, Montour

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Canucks forward Dakota Joshua participated in a full practice on Friday as he gets closer to returning from testicular cancer, relays Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.  The 28-year-old went from a depth player earlier in his career to a key part of Vancouver’s bottom-six forward group while setting career highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), and hits (235) in 63 games last season.  That helped him earn a four-year, $13MM extension back in June to avoid free agency.  Despite being LTIR-eligible, Vancouver never moved Joshua there so they won’t have to worry about having to get cap-compliant when he’s able to return which should happen sometime over the next few days.  With Nils Aman on waivers today, it appears they’re getting ready to open up the spot for Joshua to return.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Stars center Tyler Seguin was scratched from the second and final Global Series game today; the team announced (Twitter link) that he’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old is off to a good start to his season, notching five goals and four assists in seven games.  However, this is already the second time he has missed time to a lower-body issue after missing three games last month as well which could be cause for concern if it’s a problem that might linger for Seguin.
  • After missing Thursday’s game in Toronto for the birth of his second child, Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour has returned to the team and will play tonight versus Ottawa, notes team broadcaster Piper Shaw (Twitter link). The 30-year-old is in his first season with Seattle after signing a seven-year, $50MM contract on the opening day of free agency.  He has fared quite well with his new team so far, picking up four goals and five assists in his first ten games while recording a hat-trick on Tuesday against Montreal.  Since Montour was never removed from the active roster, no corresponding move is necessary for him to return.

Rangers Activate Jimmy Vesey Off LTIR, Assign Matt Rempe To AHL

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The Rangers will welcome back Jimmy Vesey to their lineup tomorrow against the Islanders after he spent the first few weeks of the season on LTIR.  In a corresponding move, the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Matt Rempe has been re-assigned to AHL Hartford.

Vesey was injured partway through training camp, sustaining a lower-body injury that has kept him out of all ten games the Rangers have played so far.  With the 31-year-old basically being a full participant in practice for the past week, it comes as no surprise that he was activated as soon as he was eligible.

Vesey was a solid depth scorer for New York last season, notching 13 goals and 13 assists in 80 games despite averaging just 12:23 per game, a career low.  He’s playing in the second and final season of a two-year, $1.6MM contract, a deal that has proven to be a team-friendly one thus far.

His return means that Rempe’s second stint with the Rangers this season was rather short-lived.  New York sent him to Hartford last week, recalling him just four days later after a pair of outings with the Wolf Pack.  The 22-year-old has played in just three games this season with New York and has been held off the scoresheet while averaging just 5:26 per game.  Given that he’s waiver-exempt, it makes sense for him to go to Hartford and play more of a regular role with them for the time being.

Golden Knights Recall Akira Schmid

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Vegas hasn’t had particularly strong goaltending in the early going this season with starter Adin Hill struggling, in particular.  Now, they’ve added a third netminder to their roster as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Akira Schmid from AHL Henderson.

The Golden Knights acquired the 24-year-old from New Jersey at the draft along with winger Alexander Holtz in exchange for center Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick.  Schmid was then non-tendered by Vegas to avoid giving him arbitration eligibility but he quickly signed a two-year, $1.75MM contract to stick around with his new team.

Schmid made quite an impact with New Jersey in 2022-23, playing to a 2.13 GAA and a .922 SV% in 18 games, even seeing some action in the playoffs.  However, he didn’t have anywhere near the level of success last season, posting a 3.15 GAA with a .895 SV% in 19 outings and was eventually assigned to the minors when Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen were acquired at the trade deadline.

While it originally looked like Schmid might be the backup to Hill when he was acquired, Vegas went out and signed Ilya Samsonov in free agency which put an end to any thought of that.  Instead, the Golden Knights utilized his waiver exemption to get him to the Silver Knights.  However, he has struggled with them in the early going this season, putting up a 3.56 GAA and a SV% of just .885 in his first six outings.  Notably, Schmid is eight NHL appearances away from being waiver-eligible.  SinBin.Vegas notes (Twitter link) that Samsonov is not on the ice for practice today which is what led to Schmid’s promotion.

Vegas had an open spot on its active roster so no corresponding move needed to be made to add Schmid.

Blue Jackets Open To Taking On An Expensive Contract

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Back in August when the Blue Jackets moved Patrik Laine to Montreal, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell acknowledged that teams were already making inquiries about their willingness to take on an expensive contract.  At the time, he cautioned that while they had ample cap space, they weren’t necessarily willing to use it right away to absorb a big-ticket deal.

It appears they’re more open to doing so now.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link) that Waddell has let teams know that he’s willing to take on a big contract alongside some additional assets.  That shouldn’t necessarily be construed as them looking to add short-term help to build off a surprising 5-4-1 start as speculatively, the assets they’d be acquiring with the contract would be the priority.

However, it appears they have a limit on how long of a contract they’re willing to take on.  At this point, Seravalli notes that the inquiries thus far have been about their willingness to add a longer-term term deal in the three-to-five-year range.  Generally speaking, those types of cap dumps have been either expiring deals or ones with only one year remaining.  For now, at least, it appears adding someone signed for that long isn’t in their plans.

With a long list of injuries to start the season, the Blue Jackets were able to open the season above the $65MM Lower Limit of the salary cap with them needing to carry more than 23 players.  However, despite that, they’re projected to finish the year less than $2MM above that mark, per PuckPedia.  As some of their injured players return and their replacements are sent down, they’ll dip closer to the minimum.  If they do wind up selling before the trade deadline, they could conceivably drop below that amount as things stand.

With that in mind, it certainly makes sense for Waddell to be exploring the options that are out there in terms of taking on an unwanted contract in a move that would likely upgrade their current roster and give them extra assets for the future.  But for now, it appears their preference is to add the type of expensive short-term contract that other teams aren’t willing to pay to move off of just yet.

Islanders Place Mathew Barzal On LTIR, Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Islanders had some injuries in last night’s victory over Buffalo and it has necessitated some roster moves.  The team announced (Twitter link) that blueliners Grant Hutton and Samuel Bolduc were recalled from AHL Bridgeport.  To make room on the roster and to keep the team cap-compliant, Adam Pelech was placed on injured reserve while Mathew Barzal was placed on LTIR.  Meanwhile, blueliners Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov are listed as day-to-day with upper-body injuries.

Barzal recently sustained an upper-body injury that caused him to leave the team’s current road trip for more evaluation.  That testing has revealed that he’ll miss the next four to six weeks, making him LTIR-eligible as he’ll clearly miss the next ten games and 24 days.  Last year, the 27-year-old recorded his first 80-point season since his rookie campaign but he hasn’t been able to maintain that level of production in the early going this season, notching just two goals and three assists in his first ten outings.  Nonetheless, his absence will still be a significant one for a team that’s already one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL through the first month of the season.

Pelech, meanwhile, was injured versus the Sabres and will carry the same timeline as Barzal for his upper-body injury.  With Barzal and his $9.15MM AAV landing on LTIR, there’s no need for them to move Pelech there at this time despite being eligible as they’ll have ample spending room using Barzal’s money.  It’s now the third straight year that the 30-year-old will miss significant time due to injury, hardly the ideal spot for one of New York’s most important blueliners.  Pelech is averaging over 20 minutes per game in the early going, a mark he has reached in each of the last five seasons.  He has four assists, 12 blocks, and 17 hits in 11 outings so far.

As for the recalls, Hutton is in the third and final season of a one-way deal that pays $775K per season.  Despite the NHL salary, he has spent the bulk of this deal in the minors, suiting up just twice with the big club over the past two years.  This season, the 29-year-old has two assists in nine AHL contests.  Bolduc, on the other hand, is more familiar to the coaching staff as he played in 34 games with New York last season but still went unclaimed on waivers last month.  He’s making $800K this season on a one-way deal and has five points in his first nine AHL games of the season.

Reilly was also injured against Buffalo and was in enough distress that a stretcher was brought out.  While he was able to exit the ice with some help without the stretcher, he obviously didn’t return to the game.  Romanov was also banged up in that one but was able to return.  With the recalls, New York now has six healthy defenders on the roster which suggests they’re hopeful that either Reilly or Romanov will be able to return in short order.

Metropolitan Notes: Miller, Islanders Injuries, Brindley

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With a big-ticket contract already given to Alexis Lafreniere and a hefty extension expected at some point for Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers are set to face a cap crunch next summer with several other players in need of pricey new deals as well.  Arthur Staple of The Athletic recently provided (subscription link) an overview of the situation while suggesting a creative way to potentially solve it by moving pending RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller.  The 24-year-old will be owed a $4.646MM qualifying offer in the summer but could conceivably push past $6MM on a longer-term deal.  With a couple of years of club control remaining, New York would undoubtedly have considerable interest in his services, allowing them to help alleviate that crunch while still getting a strong return in a trade.  Of course, losing him would be a big blow to their back end so it’s safe to say that’s not their preferred route at this point.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Islanders picked up the win in Buffalo on Friday night but it came as a price as Ethan Sears of the New York Post relays that defensemen Mike Reilly and Adam Pelech both left the game with injuries while Alexander Romanov, who just came back from injury, was also banged up. Reilly hit his head on the ice in the second period while Pelech was seen holding his jaw after the game.  The Isles only have seven blueliners on the active roster so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them recall someone from AHL Bridgeport, especially since they have a bit of short-term cap flexibility with Anthony Duclair on LTIR.
  • Blue Jackets forward Gavin Brindley has been skating as he continues his recovery from a broken finger sustained in the preseason, notes Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers (Twitter link). The 20-year-old made his NHL debut late last season after a dominant year at the University of Michigan that saw him put up 53 points in 40 games in his sophomore season.  However, despite that output in college and their injuries up front, it appears Columbus plans to have Brindley start in the AHL with Cleveland once he’s cleared to return.

Injury Updates: Blues, Vlasic, McKegg

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Blues winger Kasperi Kapanen skated before practice today after missing Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury, notes Lou Korac of The Hockey News.  Head coach Drew Bannister labeled the 28-year-old as out day-to-day.  Kapanen has a goal in eight games so far this season while averaging just under 12 minutes per game and has been the subject of speculation that he could be a waiver candidate when everyone up front is healthy.

Meanwhile, Korac added that winger Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Nick Leddy also skated before practice as they work their way back from lower-body injuries that cost them the last two and seven games respectively; they are also listed as out day-to-day.  However, neither of them nor Kapanen is expected to play against Toronto on Saturday.

Other injury news from around the hockey world:

  • Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic has resumed skating on his own as he works his way back from a back injury, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 37-year-old was only hoping to miss part of training camp with the issue but instead, he has yet to play this season.  Vlasic has seen his role drop sharply in recent years as he’s no longer the high-end shutdown defender he was in his prime but is rather more of a depth piece now and is likely to be in a sixth or seventh role when he returns; head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t have a timeline for when Vlasic could start to skate with the team.
  • After spending the last two seasons in the minors, veteran forward Greg McKegg decided to sign in the Czech Extraliga this summer. However, he won’t play for BK Mlada Boleslav after all as the team announced that he is dealing with a significant knee injury, one that appears to have been pre-existing before he came to the team before it flared up in practice early in training camp.  The 32-year-old will now undergo surgery for the injury.  McKegg has 233 NHL appearances over nine seasons and 454 career AHL games under his belt and might look to try to sign with a North American team again next summer.

Avalanche Looking To Add Forward Help

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Goaltending has been an issue for Colorado this season, to put it lightly.  The Avs have a combined save percentage of just .837 and they already made one move to try to shore up that position when they added Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers last month.

But that isn’t the only position they’re looking to improve.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that the Avalanche are also looking to add up front.

Offensively, Colorado has fared relatively well out of the gate this season, averaging 3.45 goals per game through the first month of the year while having four players averaging more than a point per outing.  However, they’ve been dealing with a rash of injuries, further compounded by Ross Colton’s broken foot which will keep him out until at least mid-December.  Colton is known for being a checker but he happened to be their team leader in goals with eight already.

On top of that, the Avalanche are still without Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Gabriel Landeskog (knee), and Valeri Nichushkin (Player Assistance Program).  None of them have played yet this season although Lehkonen is due back soon.  They’re also without Jonathan Drouin who was injured in the season opener while Miles Wood is out for another week or so; both have upper-body injuries.

With a healthy forward lineup, Colorado didn’t have the deepest of groups to begin with.  Now that they’re down several regulars, they’ve been rotating in several low-cost rookies and veterans at the league minimum with varying degrees of success in largely limited roles.

As things stand, the Avs are well into LTIR by nearly $2.6MM, per PuckPedia with an LTIR pool of nearly $9MM.  However, that’s with Nichushkin’s $6.125MM not counting against the books.  As soon as he’s cleared, that comes back onto the books which will wipe out most of the rest of the pool.  They’re also expecting Landeskog to play at some point this season; his $7MM comprises the bulk of their LTIR pool.  With that in mind, it’s not as if GM Chris MacFarland has a lot of financial flexibility to work with at the moment.

Knowing that, it stands to reason that he is shopping more for depth upgrades over trying to bring in an impactful piece he can’t afford for much longer.  In particular, those depth pieces likely need to be at or below $1.15MM, the maximum amount that can be buried in the AHL when a player is sent down while the ideal candidate likely makes closer to the league minimum of $775K, making it possible he sticks around even as others return.

Despite their struggles between the pipes, Colorado has a 5-6-0 record to start the season, putting them only a point out of a tie for a playoff spot.  But with limited cap space and several question marks remaining in goal, it will be interesting to see if MacFarland can find a swap that gives them a low-cost upgrade up front without taking away from any trade chips of note that might be needed make a bigger splash in goal.

West Notes: Demko, Stone, Hague, Hartman

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Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko has taken another important step back in his recovery from a popliteus muscle injury.  Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province reports that the netminder worked on the ice today with goalie coach Marko Torenius before practice today; it’s believed this is his first day back on the ice after working out on his own over the last few weeks.  Demko has yet to play this season due to the injury, one that took him out early in the first round of the playoffs back in the spring.  That resulted in Vancouver signing Kevin Lankinen early in training camp, a move that has worked out well as he has posted a 2.29 GAA with a .920 SV% in his first six starts.

More from the West:

  • Golden Knights winger Mark Stone missed practice today for personal reasons, the team announced (Twitter link). The 32-year-old is off to quite the start to his season, leading the league in scoring with five goals and 14 assists in 11 games.  Stone has dealt with lingering back issues for the past several years but fortunately for Vegas, this absence isn’t injury-related.  It’s unclear if he will be available for their next game Saturday versus Utah as his wife is ready to give birth to their second child.
  • Still with Vegas, the team also noted (Twitter link) that defenseman Nicolas Hague was back at practice today. He has been dealing with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for three straight games but he wasn’t moved to injured reserve.  The 25-year-old was off to a slow start before the injury, notching one goal, 11 blocks, and nine hits in eight games so far.
  • With the Wild back at home for the first time in nearly three weeks, they will indeed welcome Ryan Hartman back to the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo (Twitter link). That was the expected outcome after Liam Ohgren was returned to the minors yesterday.  Hartman missed the last five games with an upper-body injury after scoring twice in his first four outings.

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