Zack Kassian Announces Retirement
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
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
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
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.
Carolina Hurricanes Recall Dylan Coghlan
The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled defenseman Dylan Coghlan from his loan at the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
With defenseman Brett Pesce still dealing with a lower-body injury, the addition of Coghlan gives head coach Rod Brind’Amour an additional option as he formulates his defensive lineup for tonight’s contest against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Coghlan, 25, is an undrafted defenseman who arrived in Carolina as part of the Max Pacioretty trade from the summer of 2022. A late bloomer, Coghlan had authored an impressive rookie season as a professional player. He turned himself into a full-time NHLer with the Vegas Golden Knights by 2020-21, only two years removed from when he was playing in the WHL.
Coghlan hasn’t been able to make as much of a dent in Carolina’s defensive depth chart as he’s struggled with injuries. Coghlan played in a total of just 22 games last season, 17 in the NHL and five in the AHL. So far this season, Coghlan has played exclusively in the AHL and registered two points in five games.
The six-foot-two right-shot blueliner isn’t likely to draw into the Hurricanes’ regular lineup. That being said, Tony DeAngelo has struggled so far this season, with his pairing alongside Dmitry Orlov looking particularly dreadful at times. The Hurricanes have let in far more goals to start the season than anyone could have expected them to.
DeAngelo, who turned 28 today, is an exceptional offensive defenseman. But he tends to struggle immensely with the defensive side of the game, and his deficiencies in that area have been exposed paired with Orlov so far this season.
Should the Hurricanes want to offer Orlov (whom they paid a $7.75MM AAV this past summer) some additional insulation and defensive support, it’s possible they call on Coghlan to replace DeAngelo in the lineup.
Montreal Canadiens Recall Gustav Lindström On Emergency Basis
The Montreal Canadiens have recalled defenseman Gustav Lindström from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on an emergency basis.
The move results from the fact that veteran blueliner David Savard is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. It’s more bad injury news for the Canadiens early this season, who have lost a player to injury in three out of their five total games played.
Lindström, 25, was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings in this past summer’s Jeff Petry trade. He didn’t make the Canadiens season-opening roster and cleared waivers, allowing him to begin his season in the AHL with the Laval Rocket.
A defense-first blueliner, Lindström brings decent size (he’s six-foot-two, nearly 200 pounds) to the Canadiens’ back end as well as 128 games of NHL experience.
Should he slot into Savard’s spot in the team’s lineup tonight, those 128 games would actually make Lindström the second-most experienced Canadiens defenseman on the ice behind veteran Mike Matheson.
While he’s undoubtedly a downgrade from what Savard has provided the Canadiens thusfar, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Lindström is capable of providing head coach Martin St. Louis with capable minutes at the NHL level.
The key for the Canadiens may be figuring out the most effective way to utilize Lindström, as its unlikely he’ll be in a position to succeed if he’s asked to play the heavy workload Savard typically shoulders.
Adam Clendening Signs In Finland
According to a team announcement, longtime AHL defenseman Adam Clendening has signed a one-year contract with Ilves Tampere of the Finnish Liiga.
Clendening has yet to make his debut in European professional hockey. He’s spent the past four seasons exclusively in the AHL, including a strong 2021-22 campaign where he scored 42 points in 74 games. Clendening split last season between the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs and Hartford Wolf Pack, before joining the New York Rangers’ training camp on a PTO.
He did not earn a full-time deal with the Rangers, whose minor-league defensive depth chart is crowded with six players on NHL contracts. Rather than potentially return to the AHL, where Clendening has over 500 career games and is a two-time All-Star, he has opted to try his luck in one of Europe’s top professional leagues.
Clendening joins an Ilves team with the opportunity to make an impact on both ends of the ice. The team hasn’t received a ton of offense from blueliners so far this year (their leading scorer from the back end has just six points in 14 games) and despite sitting third in Liiga standings, has surrendered the sixth-most goals in league play.
With Ilves targeting long playoff runs in both the Champions Hockey League and Liiga, getting an experienced defensive reinforcement like Clendening is a major addition. For Clendening, he’ll have the chance to, at 30, begin his overseas career playing in a state-of-the-art arena while competing for some of the continent’s top trophies.
Big Hype Prospects: Roy, Brzustewicz, Stankoven, Lindbom, Iginla
Welcome to PHR’s Big Hype Prospects series. Like the MLB Trade Rumors series of the same name, we’re taking a look at the performances of top prospects from across the hockey world. We’ll look at drafted prospects who are rising, others who are struggling, and prospects for the upcoming draft who are notable.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Joshua Roy, RW, Montreal Canadiens (Laval Rocket, AHL)
5GP 5G 6A 11pts
Perhaps the biggest test NHL prospects face, other than the jump to the NHL itself, is the jump from playing exclusively against one’s peers to playing against men.
The players who oftentimes have years of experience playing professional hockey under their belt present a steep challenge for those prospects who might have been accustomed to using purely physical, skating, or skill-based advantages to success without layering those skills together into a more comprehensive package.
Oftentimes, successful players at the major junior level, for example, will find the tactics that worked for them against their peers to be wholly ineffective against pros. They’ll find their habits need changing, their strategies in need of a tweak, and perhaps their entire identities as players need to be re-examined.
That doesn’t seem to be something Roy, a Canadiens prospect, will have to consider. The 150th overall pick at the 2021 draft, Roy has always been a player of tremendous upside. He was the first overall pick at the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft, but the struggles of his first two seasons in the QMJHL dramatically decreased his NHL draft stock.
After his fifth-round selection, Roy exploded to score 51 goals and 119 points the very next season. In his final season in the QMJHL, Roy’s production dipped slightly as the player focused his efforts on developing not only the defensive side of his game but also more pro-ready offensive habits.
Those efforts have paid off massively to start the 2023-24 season. As a rookie pro player, Roy currently leads the entire AHL in scoring with five goals and 11 points in just five games. He’s become the genuine offensive centerpiece of the Laval Rocket, and has begun to build chemistry with another top Canadiens forward prospect: Sean Farrell.
The recall of Joel Armia in the place of the injured Kirby Dach indicates that the Canadiens would prefer to keep Roy in the AHL and hopefully have him continue playing like a dominant offensive force.
But if he can keep up his scoring at this kind of level, one has to imagine that an NHL call-up isn’t too far off for the 20-year-old fifth-rounder.
Hunter Brzustewicz, RHD, Vancouver Canucks (Kitchener Rangers, OHL)
10GP 5G 15A 20pts
Looking to revamp their prospect pool at a position of need, the Canucks spent their top two draft choices, including the 11th overall selection, on right-shot defensemen last season. So far, while Tom Willander is certainly performing up to expectations at Boston University, it’s Brzustewicz who has impressed the most to start the season.
The 75th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Brzustewicz has become the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers’ true number-one defenseman. He’s responded to that important role with stellar production, and he currently leads the entire OHL in scoring with 20 points in 10 games.
Brzustewicz has helped the Rangers look like a true offensive powerhouse early this season, with the team currently averaging a whopping 5.1 goals per game.
Although Brzustewicz still has some work to do on the defensive side of things to truly place himself in consideration for an NHL job down the line, his early form this season makes clear that his offensive talent is undeniable.
Logan Stankoven, C/RW, Dallas Stars (Texas Stars, AHL)
4GP 4G 3A 7pts
Although there is always worry that high-scoring junior players will struggle to translate their scoring to the professional level, those worries are typically amplified when a player stands just five feet, eight inches tall.
One of the CHL’s most dynamic scorers over the past two years, Stankoven has long been tagged with concerns from some scouts that the things that made him so prolific for the Kamloops Blazers simply won’t be accessible in a professional environment.
So far, Stankoven has shown that he can, in fact, remain a dynamic offensive scorer in the challenging environment of the AHL.
Stankoven currently leads AHL Texas in scoring through four games, with four goals and seven points in that span.
The truly special aspects of Stankoven’s game seem to have traveled with him to Texas, and the progress he made in his final WHL season in terms of making his offensive approach more pro-ready has shown itself so far this year.
Stankoven has thus far thrived despite the immense physicality of the AHL, and so far his size has not limited his effectiveness in the areas he’s counted on most.
The Stars have a lot of offensive talent at the NHL level, so there may not be room for Stankoven to get an NHL shot this season without injuries.
But regardless of which level he plays in this season, these first few games have shown that Stankoven should be a force to be reckoned with, even at the pro level.
Carl Lindbom, G, Vegas Golden Knights (Färjestad BK, SHL)
7GP 5-2 0.99 GAA .950 sv% 1 shutout
When an NHL team spends a seventh-round pick on a goaltender, the selection is typically motivated more by a desire to retain the exclusive rights to sign that player as he develops rather than any realistic expectation that the goalie will become a big part of his NHL team’s future.
While first-rounders are almost always assured entry-level contracts due to their draft position, no such assurances exist for seventh-rounders. A seventh-round selection allows a team to keep tabs on a player, letting the player’s development guide whether he ultimately receives an NHL contract offer.
This past summer, Lindbom’s stellar development earned him an entry-level deal from the Golden Knights.
In the 2019 and 2020 drafts, the seventh round yielded some elite netminder prospects, namely Devon Levi of the Buffalo Sabres and Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames. From the 2021 class, Lindbom appears to have the best chance of continuing that streak.
Picked with the third-to-last selection in the class, Lindbom, 20, is a goalie who relies more on his athleticism and speed than his size. Last season was his first as a regular member of a tandem at the professional level, and he was exceptional. He posted a .930 save percentage and 1.86 goals-against-average in 36 games for Djurgårdens IF in the HockeyAllsvenskan.
This season, Lindbom has moved from Sweden’s second tier to its first-tier (SHL) and has excelled despite the increase in talent level and challenge.
Currently playing in tandem with former Golden Knight Maxime Legace, Lindbom has put up video game numbers. He’s 5-2 through seven games with a 0.99 goals-against-average and a .950 save percentage. His club, Färjestad BK, has given up just 20 goals through 12 games this season, which ranks third-best in the entire SHL.
While it’s fair to question how much a favorable defensive environment in Färjestad has contributed to Lindbom’s early success this season (Legace has also put up strong numbers, after all) it’s clear that the jump from the Allsvenskan to the SHL likely won’t be the source of major issues for Lindbom.
If he can keep up his success from these first few games into the rest of the season, Lindbom could very well find himself playing for the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights next year, placing him within arm’s reach of the NHL.
Tij Iginla, C, 2024 Draft Prospect (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
11GP 12G 7A 19pts
As the son of Jarome Iginla, an era-defining NHL superstar, Tij Iginla will always be a player with high expectations following him.
As a top-10 pick of the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft, Iginla was, before this season, viewed as a bit of a disappointment. He struggled to make a dent in an absolutely stacked Seattle Thunderbirds forward corps last season and was not widely considered a top prospect for the 2024 draft.
It’s early, but Iginla’s current form with the Kelowna Rockets is doing wonders to change that narrative. The 17-year-old forward is, despite an August birthday, currently in third place in the entire WHL in goal scoring. He’s tallied 12 goals in 12 games, and his 19 points rank second among the league’s under-18 forwards.
Iginla has already crossed his point total from last season despite playing in 37 fewer games and has formed a deadly partnership with Washington Capitals 2023 second-rounder Andrew Cristall.
While he’s not quite the prototypical power forward his father was, (he’s a little shorter, weighs quite a bit less, and is notably more disciplined) it’s not easy to avoid seeing at least some of Jarome whenever Tij snipes the puck straight past a WHL goalie.
There’s still a lot of the season left to be played, and the 2024 draft class is filled with talented players. But so far, Iginla has done more than most draft prospects in terms of raising his stock in the early part of the season.
Just how far he’s able to climb will be one of the more intriguing storylines in the WHL this season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minnesota Wild Reassign Sammy Walker To AHL
The Minnesota Wild have reassigned forward Sammy Walker to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. The move lands Walker back in the AHL just four days after he was originally recalled.
Walker, 24, played in two games for Minnesota on this most recent call-up. Walker struggled in both contests and saw his ice time decline to just 7:26 last night, despite the game extending into overtime.
As the team has suffered back-to-back losses, it appears Minnesota will likely call up a different forward to fill Walker’s vacated spot on their roster with the hope that a fresh addition can help spark a return to winning ways.
This reassignment will also help out AHL Iowa, who have struggled to start the season. The team is currently 1-3 with a -10 goal differential despite playing just four games. Two of the team’s losses have been genuine blowouts and Iowa’s 11 goals scored rank 21st in the AHL.
Walker was a star rookie for Iowa last season, scoring 27 goals and 48 points in 56 games. The consistent offense he displayed as a Minnesota Golden Gopher seemed to translate to the AHL level, meaning his return to Iowa should give the team a better chance of winning games.
The priority for Minnesota, though, lies at the NHL level where the team is looking to keep pace in what will be a highly competitive Central Division.
In terms of candidates to fill Walker’s vacated role on a line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, 336-game NHL veteran Jujhar Khaira could get a shot if the team wants more of a defensive flavor in their call-up, while Nic Petan or prospect Adam Beckman would give more of an offensive touch.
Buffalo Sabres Assign Matt Savoie To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Buffalo Sabres have sent 2022 eighth-overall pick Matt Savoie to the AHL’s Rochester Americans on a conditioning loan.
Savoie was injured at the team’s prospect tournament and has been on injured reserve to start the season. This loan will allow Savoie to get some games under his belt in the AHL, a league he played two playoff games in at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
Savoie, who will turn 20 on January 1st, misses the cut-off for automatic AHL eligibility by just one day. The Sabres have reportedly petitioned the WHL to give Savoie an exemption and allow him to play in the AHL, but while Seattle Kraken prospect Shane Wright received one such exemption from the OHL, the Sabres have reportedly not been optimistic about Savoie’s odds of receiving one from the WHL.
That reality means that once Savoie’s conditioning assignment has concluded, he’ll in all likelihood be on his way back to the WHL, where he’ll play for the Wenatchee Wild.
The WHL’s Wild have struggled so far this season without Savoie or Zach Benson, who was a surprise addition to the Sabres’ NHL roster to start the season. Savoie scored 95 points in the WHL last year and would be a massive, difference-making addition for Wenatchee.
There’s also always the chance that Savoie ends up called back to the Sabres’ NHL roster, although that possibility becomes more unlikely if Benson maintains his hold on a spot in head coach Don Granato’s lineup.