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Atlantic Notes: Petry, Bennett, Samoskevich

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Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde told the media, including MLive’s Ansar Khan, that veteran defenseman Jeff Petry is healthy and will play in tomorrow’s game in Boston. Petry has been out with a lower-body injury and has not played since October 21st.

Petry’s return to the Red Wings lineup again puts into focus the logjam of quality defensemen the team is currently dealing with. With Petry healthy, a veteran such as Justin Holl or Olli Määtta would need to exit the lineup in order for Petry to play. Petry himself has been a healthy scratch at times this season, and it’s possible this impressive blueline depth and the ability for Lalonde to rotate his defensive lineup has helped contribute to Detroit’s stellar start to the season.

Some other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Florida Panthers team reporter Katie Engleson relays word from head coach Paul Maurice who says forward Sam Bennett and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov are game-time decisions for the team’s Saturday game against the Seattle Kraken. Yesterday, we covered Bennett nearing a return to play and now Maurice has clarified his status, saying he’s not guaranteed to be in the lineup on Saturday. As for Kulikov, he’s occupied an important second-pairing role next to Niko Mikkola and any injury-related absence from him would represent a significant blow to a Panthers blueline already lacking in depth.
  • Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards reports that the Panthers have returned forward Mackie Samoskevich to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Samoskevich, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, broke camp with the Panthers but was sent down for the Checkers’ road trip to Toronto. He was recalled on the 25th and played 8:16 in the Panthers’ last game. Now he returns to the AHL for what will be his rookie AHL campaign.

Arizona Coyotes Recall Jan Jeník

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The Arizona Coyotes have recalled forward Jan Jeník from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. Jeník was originally sent down on Wednesday but now he returns to the NHL roster in advance of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan wrote on X that Jeník’s recall was likely made for the purpose of him serving as the club’s spare forward for tonight’s game.

Coyotes head coach André Tourigny told the media today that forward Lawson Crouse is sick and is unlikely to play in tonight’s game. So with Crouse likely to miss the contest, veteran Zach Sanford will most probably draw into the lineup in Crouse’s place.

Sanford’s move into the nightly lineup necessitates this Jeník recall so that the team can have an extra forward on its roster as a precaution. The cost of this to the larger Coyotes organization is that Jeník won’t be able to appear with the Roadrunners in their game today against the Bakersfield Condors.

Jeník, 23, has scored at an almost point-per-game rate in Tucson since 2021-22, so not having him in their lineup is a major loss for the Roadrunners.

But the NHL club and its chase of a Central Division playoff spot is of the utmost importance, and this recall gives Tourigny an extra option to work with as he looks to put together a winning formula for tonight’s game against the Kings.

Toronto Maple Leafs Recall William Lagesson, Return Fraser Minten To WHL

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that defenseman William Lagesson has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. In a corresponding move, center Fraser Minten has been returned to the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.

The move regarding Minten, 19, is an expected one. The 2022 38th overall pick had an impressive training camp and preseason, earning Toronto’s third-line center role to start the season.

While he showed some flashes in four regular-season games for the Maple Leafs, it became clear that expecting him to hold down such an important role on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations would not only be a mistake, but also potentially be a detriment to his development.

So Minten will return to the Blazers, who are currently sorely in need of some offensive reinforcements. They’ve scored just 27 goals through 12 games this season, the fewest in the WHL, so adding a former 67-point scorer such as Minten will be a major boon to their nightly competitive chances.

As for Lagesson, the 27-year-old veteran defenseman’s recall was necessitated by the fact that Jake McCabe exited last night’s game with an injury.

The six-foot-two left-shot blueliner has so far played this season entirely at the AHL level but has 60 games of NHL experience.

Lagesson could join fellow Swede Timothy Liljegren on Toronto’s second pairing, or he could even be paired with another Swede, John Klingberg, on the team’s bottom-pairing with Mark Giordano elevated to Liljegren’s pairing.

Thomas Chabot Out Four To Six Weeks With Fractured Hand

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Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith has announced to the media, including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, that defenseman Thomas Chabot will be out for four to six weeks with a fractured hand.

This loss is a massive one for the Senators and another instance of bad news in what has been a brutal week for the franchise. It began when one of the team’s top young centers, Shane Pinto, was suspended for 41 games. Then last night Erik Brännström left the game on a stretcher due to injury, and now today it’s announced that Chabot is facing an extended absence after fracturing his hand on a shot block.

The Senators have looked at this year as a crucial one, one where they should step out of their rebuild and finally return to the playoffs.

A solid start was seen as essential to the team’s chances of competing in what will be a cutthroat Atlantic Division playoff picture, but as of right now the Senators sit tied for last place with a 3-4-0 record.

Without Chabot, the Senators will need to replace some very important minutes on their back end.

Partnered with Jake Sanderson on the team’s top pairing, the 26-year-old $8MM defenseman hasn’t had the strongest start to the season, though he has weathered major minutes for Smith’s club.

Chabot currently plays the most minutes on the Senators, averaging 24:19 per night. That figure includes over three minutes per night on the club’s power play. He’s proven to be capable of scoring at a 50-plus point pace, and even with some defensive struggles he’s inarguably one of the team’s most important players.

The loss of Chabot means that instead of having a star blueliner on his pairing, Sanderson will likely have to be paired with a less-accomplished blueliner. The ongoing injury to Artem Zub doesn’t help matters either, as Travis Hamonic is playing top-four minutes as a result.

With Zub out as well, it’s likely that the Senators will have to dip into the defensive depth they’ve stashed in the AHL in order to make ends meet at the NHL level. That likely means that a player such as Tyler Kleven or Lassi Thomson will land on the NHL roster.

While the Senators still have quite a a bit of talent on defense even without Chabot (Chychrun and Sanderson are both excellent, for example) this is a major loss for the Senators, a major loss at a crucially important juncture in their season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 10/26/23

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There’s quite a bit of hockey on the schedule for today, including a total of 11 NHL games. Highlights from the NHL include a battle between contending teams when the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Dallas Stars, and an important game for the Edmonton Oilers as they look to turn their season around against the New York Rangers.

Over in Europe, many of the top pro leagues in the continent have contests on schedule today, including the SHL, DEL, and Liiga. With the season well underway in every notable professional league across the hockey world, the transaction wire is active as expected. As always, we’ll keep track of notable moves here.

  • Veteran defenseman and former NHLer Brandon Manning has reportedly made the decision to leave the German DEL after two seasons with Straubing Tigers. According to SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, Manning has signed with HockeyAllsvenskan’s IF Björklöven. Manning, 33, is a two-time AHL All-Star with over 250 NHL games on his resume. He skated in top-pairing minutes for the Tigers over the past two seasons, which were his first two campaigns playing overseas. He now heads to Björklöven, joining a club that is currently second in the HockeyAllsvenskan standings and looking to make a push for promotion to the SHL.
  • Former Pittsburgh Penguins blueliner Juuso Riikola has signed a one-year contract extension with his current club, SCL Tigers of the Swiss National League. This season has been Riikola’s first with the team, and he’s so far played in 17 games and notched seven points. Riikola was once a key depth piece for the Penguins, who dressed him in 80 total NHL games across four seasons. Riikola’s last campaign in North America was in 2021-22, when he scored 35 points for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Riikola returned to Europe for 2022-23 and skated in 42 SHL games for IK Oskarshamn, scoring 19 points.
  • Jérémy Grégoire, a former Montreal Canadiens prospect, has extended his short-term deal with Ilves Tampere into a full one-year contract. Grégoire, 28, is currently in his second season playing hockey overseas. The Canadian center joined the ICEHL’s Vienna Capitals last season after seven years in the AHL and led them to the playoffs scoring 35 points in 39 games. That performance earned him a chance in one of Europe’s top leagues, Liiga, and so far he’s played in 13 league games for Ilves, scoring three points. Grégoire has played more of a down-the-lineup role for Ilves, and has helped his new team get off to a strong start in the Liiga standings as well as reach the playoffs of the Champions Hockey League.
  • Ilves has made another transaction, loaning Florida Panthers prospect Jakub Kos to HC Kometa Brno in Kos’ native Czechia. The 20-year-old winger was a 2021 sixth-round pick of the Panthers who has spent most of the last few years playing second-division Finnish hockey with KooVee Tampere. Rather than stick in Tampere for another season, though, it appears Kos is opting to play top-level hockey in his home country with Brno, a team that currently sits in the middle of the Czech Extraliga standings.
  • One-time Liiga scoring leader Henrik Haapala has signed a one-year contract with Swiss National League club Lausanne. The 29-year-old Finnish forward has transferred from Genève-Servette HC, the club he scored 10 points in nine games with this season. Haapala is one of the more accomplished in-his-prime scoring forwards in Europe, having served as a point-per-game force for both Ilves and Tappara Tampere. He’ll now likely become a go-to scoring option for Lausanne, joining former NHLers Michael Raffl and Jiří Sekáč with the team.
  • Former Los Angeles Kings prospect Johan Södergran has signed a two-year contract extension with the SHL’s MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik. Södergran was a playoff hero of MoDo’s promotion-winning 2022-23 campaign after he scored just 17 points in 52 regular-season games but added 12 points in 17 postseason contests. He’s started off decently well for MoDo this season, scoring six points in 12 games, and now will get to remain with the club for what it hopes will be a few more seasons in the Swedish top flight.
  • Veteran SHL defenseman Gustav Backström has signed a four-year contract extension with his club Örebro Hockey. This is a somewhat expected transaction, as Backström has been a part of Örebro in some form or another for 11 straight years. Now 28, the six-foot-two blueliner has settled into a top-four, minutes-eating role at Örebro, and has helped them to the playoffs in three straight years. Those performances have been rewarded today with this four-year contract extension.
  • Anthony Firriolo, the former captain of Army’s NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey program has been claimed off of waivers in the ECHL by the Indy Fuel. Firrolo concluded his NCAA career last spring and dipped his toes into the waters of pro hockey with the ECHL’s Jacksonville IceMen, skating in five total games for the club. He signed with the Atlanta Gladiators in July, but did not end up suiting up for the team in any regular-season games. Now he’ll join a Fuel team seeking improved defensive performances after surrendering 10 goals in its first three contests of this young season.
  • Carter Allen has decided to sign in Europe for the 2023-24 season, leaving the ECHL after two years. Allen, 27, is a physical defenseman who broke into the ECHL as a member of the South Carolina Stingrays in 2021-22. He scored 10 points in 63 games for the club, adding on 58 penalty minutes as the team stumbled to a 28-38-6 record. He then split 2022-23 between South Carolina and the Cincinnati Cyclones, who claimed him off of waivers in late March. Now he’s joining the Coventry Blaze, a club in the EIHL, the top division of pro hockey in the United Kingdom. The Blaze have just one win in league play so far this season and have surrendered the most goals in the EIHL, so this defensive reinforcement comes at an urgent time for the team.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Injury Notes: Golden Knights, Boldy, Nedeljkovic

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Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy issued updates on two players today, as relayed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Ben Gotz. According to Cassidy, Alex Pietrangelo will likely be in the Golden Knights’ lineup tomorrow when the team takes on Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. Pietrangelo is one of the Golden Knights’ two most important defensemen, but he has not played since October 12th.

Cassidy also said that center Nicolas Roy is “going to miss a little time.” He’s out for this weekend’s games and is considered day-to-day. Roy has centered the Golden Knights’ fourth line this season in between Keegan Kolesar and William Carrier. He scored 30 points in 65 games last season and has four points through seven games in 2023-24.

Some other injury updates from across the NHL:

  • The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that Minnesota Wild scorer Matthew Boldy will travel with his team on their East Coast road trip, though he is unlikely to play tonight’s contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. Boldy, 22, is one of the Wild’s most important scorers but hasn’t seen game action since October 14th. Getting him back into the fold would give a major boost to the Wild, who are currently playing Patrick Maroon in Boldy’s vacated second-line right winger role.
  • Yesterday, the Penguins placed netminder Alex Nedeljkovic on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo relayed word from head coach Mike Sullivan today, who confirmed Nedeljkovic’s placement on IR and clarified that the player’s status is currently considered “week-to-week.” Nedeljkovic had seized the Penguins’ backup goalie job behind Tristan Jarry and begun the season with a .914 save percentage through two starts. Now, in his absence, the Penguins will turn to Magnus Hellberg as their backup.

Zack Kassian Announces Retirement

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Zack Kassian has officially ended his playing career, according to a release from the NHLPA.

As part of the release, Kassian issued a statement which reads:

To play in the NHL is one thing, but to make a 12-year career of it is pretty special. From coaches to equipment staff and fellow players I’ve met along the way, I’ve made so many relationships that are going to last a lifetime.

Kassian, 32, signed a PTO with the Anaheim Ducks in August with the hope of making the team and earning a full-time NHL deal.

He ended up released from the PTO, though, and rather than potentially play in the AHL or Europe (which may have been options open to him) Kassian has instead decided to hang up his skates.

The 13th overall pick of the 2009 NHL draft, Kassian’s career was defined by ups and downs. While he never quite became the impactful prototypical power forward at the NHL level that he was drafted to become, he still had a respectable 661-game NHL career with some memorable moments.

A two-time 15-goal scorer, Kassian scored a total of 92 goals and 203 points in his career, to go alongside 913 penalty minutes.

He played in the playoffs in six of his twelve seasons in the NHL and created some memories for Oilers fans in particular, such as with this memorable goal against the Anaheim Ducks in the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals.

Beyond just the NHL, Kassian was an accomplished junior player. Not only did he represent Canada at an IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship tournament, he also took home an OHL championship and a Memorial Cup title.

While Kassian slowed down considerably in recent years (he scored two points in 51 games last season) he did manage to carve out a steady role in the NHL for more than a decade, which is an impressive feat.

We at PHR would like to extend our best wishes to Kassian as enters his retirement.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Calgary Flames Recall Ilya Solovyov

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The Calgary Flames have announced that defenseman Ilya Solovyov has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. The move puts Solovyov, 23, in a position to potentially make his NHL debut.

Solovyov has been a nice developmental success story so far for the Flames, who selected the six-foot-three Belarusian defenseman 205th overall at the 2020 draft. Solovyov had gone undrafted the prior two seasons but after a 40-point performance in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit he finally heard his name called at the NHL draft.

Solovyov then spent 2020-21 playing regular minutes for Dynamo Minsk in the KHL, before coming to North America in 2021-22. Solovyov has been a regular presence for the Stockton Heat and now Calgary Wranglers since that point, and by weathering heavy minutes he has shown his readiness for a shot at playing in the NHL.

The Flames have now lost three straight contests and surrendered a total of 12 goals in that span. With Rasmus Andersson still serving a suspension, the Flames were forced to rely on 26-year-old depth defenseman Dennis Gilbert to play a top-four role next to Chris Tanev. Perhaps with this recall, Solovyov will get a shot to handle that job instead.

In terms of creating the necessary cap space to facilitate this recall, no corresponding move was included in the Flames’ announcement.

But FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike writes on X that the Flames moving Kevin Rooney from standard injured reserve to long-term injured reserve would allow the Flames to exceed the cap by an additional $1.3MM, which would create the necessary space for this Solovyov recall.

Snapshots: Carlsson, Petry, Devils

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When the Anaheim Ducks made a somewhat unexpected choice at the 2023 NHL draft to select Swedish pivot Leo Carlsson over Hobey Baker winner Adam Fantilli, many had circled today as a date to watch on the NHL calendar. That’s because Carlsson’s Ducks are set to play Fantilli’s Blue Jackets tonight, and with both players likely to be in the NHL today’s contest was viewed to be the first chance to watch the two players go head-to-head.

Fans will have to wait to get that chance, though, as Ducks team reporter Aly Lozoff confirms that Carlsson will not dress for today’s game. Carlsson began this season dealing with an injury and the Ducks have reportedly been attempting to “ease” Carlsson into the rigors of the NHL schedule. That means he’ll sit tonight, and as a result, fans will have to wait until the Blue Jackets travel to Orange County in February to get the chance to see Carlsson and Fantilli face off.

  • Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry did not skate this morning and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, according to Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde. Petry, 35, was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins (via the Montreal Canadiens) this offseason and has thus far skated in four games for the Red Wings. The Red Wings’ defensive depth is an area of strength, so while Petry’s injury is definitely unfortunate, the Red Wings are well-equipped to survive in his absence.
  • As relayed by Devils team reporter Sam Kasan, forwards Erik Haula and Nico Hischier  “will be able to play” in tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, according to head coach Lindy Ruff. Hischier, the Devils’ captain, missed the later stages of the Devils’ last game with an upper-body injury, while Haula hasn’t appeared in the lineup since October 16th. With Tomáš Nosek out with an injury, these two players returning to health is an important development in helping the Devils maintain their impressive strength at the center position.

Minor Transactions: 10/24/23

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It’s the busiest day in the world of hockey in recent memory. Every one of the NHL’s 32 member clubs play tonight as part of the NHL’s “Frozen Frenzy” coverage. In addition to the NHL, teams in the SHL, Liiga, Swiss NL, KHL, AHL, and more are also playing today.

There are far more hours of competitive pro hockey on offer today than anyone could realistically expect to keep up with, though that’s not to say many won’t try. Just as many fans will be looking to keep track of all the hockey on the schedule today, we’ll keep track of all the notable transactions from minor and overseas leagues here.

  • Former AHL All-Star Andy Welinski has signed a PTO with the AHL’s Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement. Welinski, 30, split last season between the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and Rockford IceHogs, scoring 19 points in 54 games. The injury situation facing the Minnesota Wild’s blueliners (Jared Spurgeon and Alex Goligoski are injured) has had a ripple effect for Iowa, as two of its more important defenders (Daemon Hunt, Dakota Mermis) have been called up to the NHL. Welinski will provide some cover for the Wild in the midst of these injury issues, offering nearly 300 games of AHL experience. His experience looks needed at this moment, as Iowa has surrendered the second-most goals against in the AHL so far this season and has won just one of its first four games. Seeing as the development of top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt is a major priority for Iowa this season, Welinski could even have a chance to earn a full-time AHL contract if he plays well, as Iowa may not want to let a quality defensive player go after he settles into their lineup.
  • Rihards Bukarts, a 27-year-old forward and hero of Latvia’s historic bronze medal-winning run at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships, has signed in Switzerland. The National League’s EHC Biel-Bienne have signed Bukarts to a contract set to run through the end of January. Citing injury issues, Biel-Bienne have added Bukarts to reinforce an offensive attack that has sputtered so far this season, scoring the third-fewest goals in league play. Bukarts, once the top rookie goal scorer in the WHL for the Brandon Wheat Kings, played for Klagenfurt in the ICEHL last season and scored 25 points in 28 games.
  •  TPS Turku of the Finnish Liiga have signed netminder Julius Pohjanoksa to a contract valid through November 4th. Starting goalie, former Pittsburgh Penguins farmhand Filip Lindberg, is currently dealing with an illness and backup Eetu Anttila is injured, prompting the need for an extra body in net. Pohjanoksa has played in 17 games total for TPS, most of them coming in 2019-20. He spent last season in Finland’s second division, Mestis, posting a .909 save percentage in 18 games for TUTO Turku.
  • Another team is making moves in net: the EIHL’s Cardiff Devils. The Welsh squad, who compete in the EIHL, the top tier of professional hockey in the United Kingdom, have parted ways with former Carolina Hurricanes prospect Callum Booth and replaced him with former New York Rangers prospect Tyler Wall. Booth, 26, signed in Wales after bouncing between three teams last season, but didn’t end up skating in any league games for the Devils. As for Wall, the 25-year-old starred at UMass-Lowell during his college hockey days. As a professional, Wall has struggled to see the ice but last season finally got a chance to be a full-time member of a tandem. He posted a solid .912 save percentage for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, posting a 22-10-1 record in the process. Wall will compete with longtime Devils goalie and three-time EIHL Netminder of the Year Ben Bowns for starts in Cardiff.
  • 23-year-old German-Swedish forward Magnus Eisenmenger has signed a one-year contract with AIK of the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second tier of pro hockey. Eisenmenger is a defensive center at heart, having led his peers in face-off percentage playing in Sweden’s U-18 level. He cut his teeth in professional hockey with the Frankfurt Lions, then of the German second-tier DEL2, before breaking into the DEL full-time with the Augsburg Panthers in 2021-22. Last season, Eisenmenger split his season between the Lions in the DEL and the Allsvenskan’s Almtuna IS. While he’s not much of a scorer, (Eisenmenger has just three points in 20 career Allsvenskan games, and 13 points in 87 DEL games) this signing could help bolster AIK’s forward depth in the midst of some injury issues, and help them patch up a team defense that has surrendered the seventh-most goals in league play.
  • Polish-Geman defenseman Arkadiusz Dziambor has signed a contract with the DEL’s Schwenninger Wild Wings. Dziambor is a 21-year-old left-shot defenseman with above-average size at six-foot-two, nearly 200 pounds. Despite his young age, Dziambor already has 91 career DEL games under his belt, mostly coming with Adler Mannheim between 2021 and 2023. Dziambor even got to represent Mannheim in eight Champions Hockey League contests, though he didn’t make Mannheim’s squad for this season. So far this year he’s played on loan with the DEL2’s Bietigheim Steelers, but now with this signing, he’ll return to Germany’s top league with the Wild Wings.
  • Big changes have hit the historic Romanian club SC Csíkszereda. The 15-time Romanian Cup champions have gotten off to a horrific start in the Erste Liga, a league comprising of Hungarian and Romanian pro teams. The club has lost all of its first 10 games and has surrendered 53 goals against, with the next-highest team having surrendered just 32. As a result, the team has released head coach Bradley Gratton, as well as two import players: Fabrizio Ricci and Brandon McNally. Gratton has coached across Europe and once in the ECHL, including last season with the AlpsHL’s Meran/Merano. Ricci, 28, is the former captain of the EIHL’s Dundee Stars and former ECHL All-Star who scored six points in seven games in Romania. McNally, 31, is a former ECHL power forward who scored three points in seven games for Csíkszereda. The trio will now continue their careers elsewhere as the club they leave behind looks to turn around what has so far been a dreadful campaign.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Dávid Skokan has announced his retirement on social media today. The 34-year-old was a 2007 seventh-round pick of the New York Rangers who played three total seasons of hockey in North America, all in the QMJHL with the Rimouski Oceanic. Skokan had a long and successful career in Europe, winning a Slovak Extraliga title in 2011-12 and Slovak Extraliga All-Star honors in 2020-21, after a scored 52 points in 49 games for HK Poprad. Skokan also had the honor of representing his country internationally over the course of his career, earning Slovakia caps at three IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship tournaments and two IIHF Men’s World Championships.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

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