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San Jose Sharks Reassign Martin Kaut

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The San Jose Sharks announced today that forward Martin Kaut has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. The move comes just after Kaut registered an assist in the Sharks’ 4-3 overtime victory against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Kaut’s reassignment is somewhat surprising given the strong form he has displayed in recent games. Since his March 18th recall, Kaut has scored four points in six games, seeing his ice time rise to over 18 minutes on two occasions.

Acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Ryan Merkley in a swap of underachieving 2018 first-round picks, (the deal also involved two other players) Kaut has fit in quite well wherever he’s been assigned in the Sharks organization.

In the AHL, Kaut has scored 13 points in 15 games for the Barracuda, and his overall total for the Sharks is five points in nine games. While he has just 11 career points in 56 games, the Sharks were intrigued enough by what Kaut could bring to the table to surrender Merkley, a player who was once the team’s top defensive prospect.

While it’s still too early to tell if the swap will ultimately pay off for GM Mike Grier, it’s impossible to be anything but encouraged by how Kaut has been playing. Now back with the Barracuda, he’ll be expected to take an important, top-of-the-lineup role as the team looks to close out what has been an uneven AHL campaign.

This reassignment obviously hurts the 23-year-old’s ability to get a few more productive NHL games on his resume before his contract expires over the summer and he hits restricted free agency. But if he can continue to play well in the AHL, he will likely head into offseason negotiations on stronger footing than he entered the year on.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Akito Hirose

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Mar. 29: The Canucks have officially signed Hirose to an entry-level contract, which will last one season. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal confirms the contract is for this season, carrying an NHL salary of $855,000, a minors salary of $82,500, and a $95,000 signing bonus. As CapFriendly notes, because it’s a one-year contract signed late in the season, it has a pro-rated cap hit of roughly $2.11MM. Hirose will report directly to Vancouver.

Mar. 26: The Vancouver Canucks are expected to land their second NCAA free agent of the day: Minnesota State defenseman Akito Hirose.

CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal was first to indicate mutual interest between Hirose and Vancouver, while Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman added that Hirose could join the Canucks this week. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta notes that Hirose’s expected signing with Vancouver “has been in the works” for a few weeks.

While it’s important to clarify that nothing as of yet is official and until an official contract announcement is made anything can happen, this reporting does hint at a widely-held expectation that Hirose will be signing with the Canucks.

The expected acquisition of Hirose comes just after the Canucks announced the signing of Max Sasson from Western Michigan University. With Hirose expected to join the team and Sasson plus former Northeastern University forward Aidan McDonough in the mix, these recent transactions indicate that targeting NCAA talent will be an organizational priority for this still relatively new Canucks front office.

The younger brother of Detroit Red Wings minor leaguer Taro Hirose, Akito has made a name for himself over the past few seasons. He was named BCHL defenseman of the year in 2019-20 and was his conference rookie of the year in 2020-21. Last season, he helped Minnesota State reach the NCAA National Championship game and his stellar defensive play helped contribute to netminder Dryden McKay’s Hobey Baker Award win.

This season, Hirose has been a top-pairing, all-situations minutes-eater for Minnesota State. Paired with Jake Livingstone, a fellow coveted free agent, he led his program back to the NCAA tournament before they fell to St. Cloud State. He finishes his college career with a healthy 68 points in 104 games, and as Friedman notes could get his feet wet against NHL competition sooner rather than later.

Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Jon Gillies On Emergency Basis

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that netminder Jon Gillies has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, on an emergency basis. The move comes after starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins suffered an apparent leg injury during the team’s 8-2 loss last night against the Montreal Canadiens.

Veteran Michael Hutchinson entered last night’s game in relief for Merzlikins and is now likely to take over the starter’s crease for as long as Merzlikins is sidelined. Hutchinson was acquired at the trade deadline from the Vegas Golden Knights in the Blue Jackets’ Jonathan Quick trade and has appeared in eight games in Columbus.

He hasn’t been great in that span and has a .874 save percentage, but it’s important to note that Hutchinson has often been placed in less-than-ideal circumstances having to enter games in relief for other goalies.

Hutchinson in total has played 15 games this season, those eight with Columbus and seven in the AHL with the Golden Knights’ affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. He posted a 1-5-1 record and an .897 save percentage with Henderson but does have a .917 career save percentage in the AHL.

The Blue Jackets’ newest netminder is Gillies, 29, a 2012 second-round pick who was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes when Columbus sent Jakub Voracek’s contract to the desert.

The former college hockey star was the backup for five games with AHL Cleveland and has played a total of 15 games this season, all for Arizona’s AHL affiliate. Gillies has a career .893 save percentage in 32 NHL games, with 19 of them coming with the New Jersey Devils last season.

Both Gillies and Hutchinson are on expiring league-minimum two-way contracts this season, meaning the rest of this season serves as an important opportunity for each to put some solid starts on tape and give themselves the best possible footing to enter the offseason.

Philadelphia Flyers Send Tyson Foerster, Egor Zamula To AHL

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The Philadelphia Flyers are providing their AHL affiliate with a major boost for their playoff push. Per a team announcement, Tyson Foerster and Egor Zamula have been loaned back to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

While the Phantoms are unlikely to be able to catch the Hershey Bears for the second seed in the AHL’s Atlantic Division (therefore securing them a bye past the best-of-three first round of the playoffs) they could still feasibly catch the Charlotte Checkers to earn the third seed, which could be a factor that motivated these two loans.

Foerster in particular has made this decision a difficult one due to how well he’s played in his first taste of NHL action. Foerster is riding a five-game point streak with three goals and seven points in that span. The Flyers have won four out of their last five games as well, with their only loss coming in overtime against the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

While this is unlikely to have been any significant motivator to the team sending Foerster back to the AHL, the Flyers are now four points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for the fifth-best odds in the draft lottery.

By sending their red-hot rookie scorer back to the AHL, the Flyers have (perhaps not intentionally) raised their chances of getting back into prime Connor Bedard contention.

There is, of course, a legitimate case to be made that this is the most appropriate choice for Foerster’s development, and that’s likely to be the sole reason the Flyers have sent him down.

Despite how much NHL front offices seem to value gaining the best odds in the draft lottery, a team is still far more likely to make decisions on individual players based on what they believe to be best for the player’s development.

It’s reasonable to believe that having Foerster play a crucial role in meaningful AHL games for the rest of this season will be better for his development than playing some extra NHL contests near the end of what has been a generally miserable Flyers season.

The 21-year-old 2020 first-round pick has excelled in the AHL this season, thoroughly bouncing back after an injury-plagued 2021-22. He’s scored 19 goals and 39 points in 57 games and will be counted on as a top offensive option for second-year head coach Ian Laperriere.

If the Phantoms end up making any noise in the Calder Cup playoffs, it’s likely that Foerster will be a major reason why.

As for Zamula, he heads back to the AHL where he, like Foerster, has spent most of this season. The 22-year-old has scored 16 points in 42 AHL games and has been a top-pairing all-situations blueliner for the team.

Eligible for restricted free agency in the summer, a strong showing as a number-one defenseman for a Calder Cup playoff team would put Zamula in a strong position for offseason contract negotiations, and help support the idea that he’ll be ready to compete for a more regular NHL role in next fall’s training camp.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Boston Bruins Recall Oskar Steen On Emergency Basis

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The Boston Bruins have announced that forward Oskar Steen has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, on an emergency basis. The recall puts Steen in a position to play his first NHL game(s) of the 2022-23 season.

Steen, 25, has been a developmental success story for the Bruins organization, as the 2016 sixth-round pick has 100 points in nearly 200 career AHL games and has 23 total NHL games to his name. That’s a solid return for such a late draft pick, and with an $800k cap hit through next season Steen should serve as capable, energetic depth for a stacked Bruins team.

Steen scored 35 points in 49 AHL games last season and got 20 games at the NHL level, scoring six points. Due in large part to how talented this year’s Bruins lineup is from line one through four, Steen hasn’t yet played in the NHL this season.

But despite that disappointment, he has remained a healthy contributor to Providence, where he has scored 31 points and helped them clinch a Calder Cup playoff spot.

Now, Steen will potentially get a chance to play some NHL games and show that can be an option for the team next season. With the Bruins potentially set to be tight against the salary cap’s upper ceiling for next season, Steen’s affordable cap hit and progress in the AHL could make him an attractive candidate for a bottom-six role next season. Now called up to his team’s main roster, Steen will have the chance to make his case in front of Bruins decision-makers.

Chicago Blackhawks Reassign Buddy Robinson

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The Chicago Blackhawks have reassigned forward Buddy Robinson to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, per a team announcement. The move ends Robinson’s latest run of NHL time, a stretch that began when he was recalled on March 13th before a game against the Boston Bruins.

This six-game run began well, with Robinson playing over 11 minutes in his team’s stunning 6-3 victory over the league-leading Boston Bruins. He then helped the Blackhawks to a victory over the Nashville Predators, playing 10 minutes in a 2-1 win. Since that point, though, things have taken a turn for the worse, as Chicago has lost their last four games and been outscored 18-4 in that span.

While Robinson’s ice time has ticked up slightly with each passing game, his contributions did not translate onto the box score. In the losing streak, he registered seven shots on goal and two penalty minutes, and perhaps the most impressive thing he can boast from that stretch is the fact that he had an even plus-minus rating in three of four games despite how decisively Chicago was defeated in those games.

In total, Robinson hasn’t yet found the scoresheet in his seven NHL games this season. He’s been brought to the NHL more for his size and ability to add to a team’s physical game, which is something he leverages his six-foot-six, 232-pound body to be able to contribute.

Now that he’s back in Rockford, Robinson will be able to help the IceHogs in their playoff push. He’s a more accomplished scorer in the AHL than he has been able to be in the NHL, and has 19 points in 45 games this season. His value as a versatile AHL scorer and NHL bottom-six grinder is reflected in the contract he signed last summer, a one-year league-minimum deal that boasted a hefty $475k AHL salary.

If he can help Rockford reach the playoffs and potentially even go on a run, while also bringing bottom-six grit when called upon in the NHL, he’ll put himself in a sound position should he hit the open market in a few months.

East Notes: Barzal, Levi, Kuraly

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New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert issued an update on his team’s star forward, Mathew Barzal, who has been out since the middle of February with a lower-body injury. As relayed by Newsday’s Andrew Gross, Lambert said that Barzal has not yet resumed skating, indicating that he is still a ways away from making his return to the Islanders’ lineup.

While a 7-2-1 run in their last ten games has gone a long way to put the Islanders in pole position for an Eastern Conference Wild Card spot, the Islanders remain a team below their full capabilities with Barzal out of the lineup. Despite facing some significant criticism in recent years due to the fact that he has not yet seen his numbers reach the heights they saw in his Calder Trophy-winning rookie year, Barzal remains the Islanders’ most talented forward and the skater on their roster most capable of taking over a game. He’s scored 51 points in 58 games this season, and his return would give the Islanders a major boost as they look towards a likely first-round matchup where they’ll be a significant underdog.

  • Devon Levi, one of the game’s top goalie prospects, was on the ice today for Buffalo Sabres practice according to The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski. The former Northeastern Husky earned a three-year entry-level deal jam-packed with performance bonuses and remains on the Sabres’ active roster. While it’s not officially clear whether Buffalo plans on getting Levi some NHL action over the course of the rest of this season, his presence with the team and on their roster, rather than with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, indicates that the team could be leaning towards giving Levi a chance against NHL competition.
  • Veteran Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly is returning to the lineup for his club’s game tonight against the New York Islanders. As team reporter Jeff Svoboda notes, Kuraly was originally projected to miss the rest of the season with the oblique strain he suffered on March 2nd, but he now returns with a full 12 games left on the schedule. The longtime bottom-sixer has scored 10 goals and 17 points for the Blue Jackets this season, providing valuable grit and veteran leadership to a young Blue Jackets team.

AHL Notes: Hurricanes Prospects, Pouliot, St. Cyr

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The AHL’s Chicago Wolves brought two players in from Europe today, Hurricanes prospects Tuukka Tieksola and Ville Koivunen, according to a team announcement. Tieksola, 21, has already played 40 games for the Wolves this season, scoring 15 points. He was loaned back to Karpat in Liiga in February to help with their playoff push, but now after their elimination from Liiga’s playoffs, he’s back in North America. The 2019 fourth-rounder had five points in 11 games on his loan.

Koivunen, 19, is now put in a position to make his North American professional debut. The 2021 second-round pick has spent most of this season with Karpat and has scored a highly impressive 12 goals and 28 points in 52 games. By allowing him to get some games under his belt in Chicago, the Hurricanes organization is giving Koivunen a head start on getting the positive qualities of his game to translate to North American ice surfaces. While the Wolves have struggled immensely in their post-Calder Cup Championship season, adding two promising Finns to their lineup could spark a more energetic finish to their campaign.

  • The San Jose Sharks have reassigned defenseman Derrick Pouliot to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. The 29-year-old Pouliot has been in the Sharks’ lineup mix since early March, and has played in a total of eight games for the team. He played a steady diet of minutes for coach David Quinn, and finishes with two points on his score sheet. With the Barracuda hoping to make one final push to conclude what has so far been a disappointing season, getting Pouliot (who has 21 points in 28 AHL games this year) will certainly give them a boost.
  • Dylan St. Cyr, a 23-year-old former NCAA goaltender, has signed an ATO agreement with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, per a team announcement. The signing comes off the heels of a solid final collegiate season for St. Cyr, who posted a .915 save percentage for the Michigan State Spartans. St. Cyr is the son of Olympic silver medalist and Tampa Bay Lightning exhibition goaltender Manon Rheaume, and he will get a chance to play some professional hockey just as she did.

Coyotes Notes: Ritchie, Dauphin, Imama, Smith, Farinacci

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Several updates on the Arizona Coyotes have come in today via PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan, news regarding five players. The first bit of information is that trade deadline acquisition Brett Ritchie is returning to the team’s lineup after he missed their game against the Edmonton Oilers with an upper-body injury. Ritchie got off to a hot start in the desert, scoring four points in his first three games, but he was moved off of the team’s top line and received just nine minutes of ice time in Arizona’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and has not registered a point since his three-point game on March 12th.

Now presumably back to full health or at least a healthier position, he’ll have the chance to re-enter coach Andre Tourigny’s lineup and put a good string of games together as the Coyotes enter the final stretch of their season. The 382-game veteran is on an expiring league-minimum contract and will be hoping that some quality play will earn him another NHL contract in a few months.

  • Coyotes forward Laurent Dauphin is injured and out on a day-to-day timeline. Though the 27-year-old is scoreless through 16 NHL games in Arizona this season, he has been a difference-maker for the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate, scoring 16 goals and 41 points in 45 games. Like Ritchie, he’s on an expiring league-minimum two-way contract.
  • Forward Bokondji Imama is being sent down to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, per Morgan. He replaced Smith in the lineup for the team’s game against Edmonton and skated in just under seven minutes of ice time. He’s been up and down quite a bit from the NHL and AHL recently and has five total NHL games played in 2022-23. In the AHL, he has 13 points and 96 penalty minutes in 43 games.
  • To replace Imama on their roster, Arizona is recalling forward Nathan Smith. The former Winnipeg Jets prospect played in 10 NHL games last season after signing from Minnesota State University but hasn’t gotten onto NHL ice this year. He’s scored 11 goals and 25 points for Tucson, and will now be in a position to test his mettle against NHL competition once more.
  • Harvard University was defeated by Ohio State University in the first round of the NCAA’s Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, ending their season. With that loss as a backdrop, Morgan reports that it won’t be a surprise to see one of Harvard’s key players, John Farinacci, “sign quickly” with Arizona. The 22-year-old is a 2019 third-round pick who scored 19 points in 18 games this season as Harvard’s captain and would be expected to play a role in Tucson with the hope of developing into an NHL option.

Minor Transactions: 03/20/23

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It’s been a busy day across the hockey world, with multiple top European professional leagues in the thick of their playoffs. In Sweden, Djurgardens IF took a step towards promotion back to the SHL with a 4-1 victory over BIK Karlskoga, while both Skelleftea and Vaxjo completed dominant wins in their own playoff contests. In Finland, eight teams did battle in playoff matchups with highlights including a 1-0 overtime victory for HIFK Helsinki thanks to a goal from former Edmonton Oiler Iiro Pakarinen. As hockey fans across the globe enjoy all the action from Europe to the NHL, teams are still making adjustments to their rosters. We’ll keep track of those transactions here.

  • Montreal Canadiens prospect Alexander Gordin had his contract terminated by his KHL club, HK Sochi. The 2020 sixth-round pick spent most of the season at the second-tier VHL level, scoring eight goals and 12 points for HK Rostov. He notched two points in six KHL games for Sochi, although he didn’t see a whole lot of ice time, including one game where he played just 25 seconds. The Canadiens have the exclusive rights to sign Gordin indefinitely, and although there is no word on whether he’s planning on heading to North America, this contract termination does give him options for where to continue his development.
  • Five-year NCAA veteran Michael Underwood, 24, signed a PTO agreement with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles today. Underwood spent this season with Michigan State University in the Big 10, scoring five points in 38 games. The six-foot-one stay-at-home defenseman won the ECAC with Clarkson University in 2018-19, and will get his first taste of pro action with the Eagles, who are currently trying to lock up a Calder Cup playoff spot.
  • The ECHL’s Florida Everblades signed Chayse Primeau, who is the son of former NHLer Keith Primeau and the brother of Montreal Canadiens AHL netminder Cayden Primeau. The 25-year-old has spent the past five seasons with playing college hockey, spending four years with the University of Nebraska-Omaha before transferring to Notre Dame for his final year. He has amassed 95 points in 154 career games, and was named an NCHC Second-Team All-Star in his senior season at Nebraska. He’ll now join the Everblades, who are right in the thick of a competitive race for the ECHL’s South Division title.
  • After four seasons as a regular contributor at the SHL level for Vaxjo, netminder Viktor Andren struggled after signing a two-year deal with Brynas IF. He was eventually loaned down a level, to HockeyAllsvenskan, and has spent most of his time there over the past few seasons, save for brief cameos with the top division. This season, though, Andren has thoroughly impressed, posting a 2.04 goals-against-average and .921 save percentage for Almtuna IS. While he was unable to earn his club promotion to the SHL, his strong performance could pave his way back to Sweden’s top league. SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that Andren has decided to play for Djurgardens next season. As previously mentioned, Djurgardens is currently in the race to be promoted back to the SHL, and should they make it there Andren would see time in their crease, potentially in a tandem arrangement with Vegas Golden Knights prospect Carl Lindblom.
  • HockeyAllsvenskan’s IF Bjorkloven has signed two key players to contract extensions: 2018 Buffalo Sabres fourth-round pick Linus Cronholm, and two-time Champions Hockey League winner Mattias Norstebo. Both blueliners have played regular minutes for Bjorkloven and are currently attempting to defeat Vasteras IK in the chase for promotion to the SHL. The Sabres let Cronholm’s rights expire this past summer, choosing not to sign him to an entry-level contract, but he nonetheless seems to be fashioning himself a solid pro career in Sweden.
  • Patrick Obrist is extending his playing relationship with Swiss club EHC Kloten for a ninth season. The 30-year-old Austrian was on hand when the team suffered relegation from Switzerland’s top league in 2017-18, and helped lead them to promotion last season. This season, he scored five goals and nine points in 47 games and helped Kloten avoid relegation.
  • After spending the last year with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL, forward Tyler Kobryn has been released, according to the ECHL’s official transactions wire. The 26-year-old has scored 26 points in 120 career ECHL games, including six goals and nine points in 39 games this season. The former NCAA Division III forward’s release could be motivated in part by the recent signing of college free agent Mitch Walinski, who has scored three points in his first five games in the ECHL.
  • The ECHL’s Wichita Thunder have released forward Brett Van Os, a player they acquired in a January trade from the Norfolk Admirals. The former Western Michigan University forward scored 12 points in 25 games for Wichita, but may be ceding his spot on the team to recent signing Jason Pineo and trade acquisition Brett Boeing.

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