Injury Notes: Barzal, Romanov, Caufield, Forsberg, Norris
The New York Islanders have a tall task ahead of them in their first-round playoff matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, as they’re looking to eliminate a club many view as a Stanley Cup contender. They will get some crucial help, though, as one of the team’s top offensive players, Mathew Barzal, is set to return from injury for Game One. (via The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz) Barzal hasn’t played since a February contest against the Boston Bruins, and was on a hot streak with six points in four games before going down with his injury.
In total, Barzal scored 51 points in 58 games this season. He flashed chemistry with mid-season trade acquisition Bo Horvat, and is a proven playoff performer with 38 points in 49 career contests. As relayed by The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner, Barzal said today that he’d been feeling good for a while, but wanted to make sure he was 100% ready to return before entering the lineup once again.
Some other injury notes from across the league:
- Although the Islanders will get Barzal back in time for the playoffs, the same can’t be said for another one of the team’s young talents. Head coach Lane Lambert told the media today, including Kurz, that defenseman Alexander Romanov will not be available for the first game of their series against Carolina. Romanov has been skating by himself and is inching closer to a return, but remains unavailable. Acquired by the Islanders at the 2022 draft, Romanov last played on April 1st and has scored 22 points this season playing nearly 20 minutes a night.
- Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield updated the media, including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, on the state of his injury recovery today. Caufield said that he’s cleared to play golf as of June 1st, and that he’d “definitely” be back to shooting pucks before then. Caufield’s rehab from the shoulder injury that ended his season is an important storyline for Canadiens fans to monitor, seeing as he’s one of the team’s brightest young talents and has an important summer of contract negotiations set to begin.
- As relayed by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan, Ottawa Senators netminder Anton Forsberg is doing well in his recovery from his season-ending injury and will be back on the ice by July. Forsberg suffered a torn MCL in February, which ended his season. The 30-year-old signed a contract extension to remain a Senator last summer and should be expected to remain in the team’s offseason plans for its crease, assuming his recovery continues to move in the right direction.
- Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports word from Senators center Josh Norris that the 23-year-old’s shoulder is feeling good and that he expects to be back on the ice in the next month. Norris played just eight games this season due to a shoulder injury. It was initially reported that Norris would not need surgery, and the optimism that he could return peaked when he was activated and played three games in January. Norris did ultimately need to undergo shoulder surgery, though, and the operation ended his season. That means that 2022-23 ended up a lost season for Norris, who scored 35 goals and 55 points in 2021-22.
San Jose Sharks Sign Artem Guryev
The San Jose Sharks have signed a second 2021 draft pick to his entry-level deal today: fifth-rounder Artem Guryev.
Like today’s other signing, Ethan Cardwell, the Sharks’ exclusive rights to sign Guryev were set to expire on June 1st. After taking nearly all their allotted time to evaluate Guryev and determine whether to extend him an entry-level contract offer, the Sharks have ultimately decided he had earned the invitation to join their organization.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier had the following to say about the signing:
Artem is a gritty and competitive defender. He showed continuous improvement in the OHL and uses his size to his advantage against opponents.
Guryev, a Moscow native, will turn 20 in May. He’s a big six-foot-four, 215-pound defenseman and that size makes him an intriguing project player for the Sharks’ developmental staff. Guryev was included in the Flint Firebird’s blockbuster OHL trade alongside New York Rangers first-rounder Brennan Othmann, and ended up scoring 15 points in 38 games.
While Guryev’s offensive game is still a work in progress, he is, as Grier alluded to, an imposing physical presence. That will help him make an early impression in professional hockey, and likely make him an exciting player to watch for Barracuda fans.
His ultimate NHL upside is still an unknown, but now with this entry-level deal in hand, Guryev can either return to Flint for a final OHL season or turn pro with the Barracuda next year, looking to help them improve on what has been a disappointing 2022-23 campaign.
AHL Shuffle: 04/14/23
With just two games left on the regular-season schedule, today marks the first day of the offseason for quite a few clubs. As a result, many are sending players down to their AHL squads so that their affiliates can have as many reinforcements as possible for crucial late-season games. We’ll keep track of those moves here:
- The Montreal Canadiens have reassigned forwards Lucas Condotta and Joel Teasdale, along with defenseman Frederic Allard, to the Laval Rocket. Condotta memorably got his first NHL goal on his first NHL shift last night, and Teasdale got an assist on the play as well, which was his first NHL point. Allard, on the other hand, is still waiting for his first NHL point with four career games played. All three players will join the Rocket in their final regular-season game tonight, a crucial matchup against the Syracuse Crunch that Laval will hope to win to distance themselves from the Cleveland Monsters for the Northeast Division’s final playoff spot.
- The St. Louis Blues reassigned defenseman Tyler Tucker and goalie Vadim Zherenko to their affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Tucker has played 26 games in the NHL this season and has 21 points in 39 AHL games, last playing for Springfield on April 8th. Zherenko, 22, has a .918 save percentage through 18 games for Springfield this season and was a 2019 seventh-round pick. The Thunderbirds have their playoff spot locked up but with three games remaining can still earn a higher seed.
- The Chicago Blackhawks reassigned forwards Buddy Robinson and Joey Anderson to their affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. The IceHogs are in pole position to claim the final playoff spot in the Central Division and can still feasibly catch the Iowa Wild for the number-four seed. Robinson, 31, is coming off an impressive two-game stretch with the Blackhawks where he scored three points, including his first goal of the year in Tuesday’s stunning 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Anderson, 24, was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Jake McCabe trade and scored six points in 24 games with Chicago.
- The Minnesota Wild reassigned Samuel Walker, Damien Giroux, Nick Swaney, and Marco Rossi to their affiliate, the Iowa Wild, and placed veteran forward Nic Petan on waivers for the purpose of reassignment. The biggest name here is Rossi, 21, the 9th overall pick at the 2020 draft who has 50 points in 51 games.
- The Washington Capitals have reassigned forwards Aliaksei Protas, Joe Snively, and Beck Malenstyn to the Hershey Bears. Hershey is gearing up for what they hope will be a long Calder Cup playoff run, and both Snively and Protas will likely be counted-on scorers for head coach Todd Nelson. Additionally, the Capitals reassigned prospect Alexander Suzdalev to Hershey from the WHL’s Regina Pats, whose reason recently ended. The 2022 70th overall pick scored 38 goals and 86 points this season playing alongside expected 2023 number-one pick Connor Bedard.
- The Boston Bruins reassigned goaltender Brandon Bussi to the Providence Bruins. Bussi, who was recently named to the AHL’s all-rookie team, backed up Jeremy Swayman yesterday during the team’s win over the Montreal Canadiens. The 24-year-old posted a 21-5-4 record and .925 save percentage this season for Providence, who still have a chance to take the number-one seed in the Atlantic Division.
- The San Jose Sharks reassigned forwards Thomas Bordeleau and Tristen Robins, two of the team’s top forward prospects, back to the San Jose Barracuda. The Barracuda are eliminated from postseason contention and have two games left in their season, each against the Tucson Roadrunners. Both players have had productive years, with Bordeleau scoring 22 goals and 41 points in 64 games and Robins netting 17 goals and 38 points.
- The Vancouver Canucks placed defenseman Christian Wolanin on waivers for the purpose of reassignment to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Abbotsford is looking to seize the third seed in the Pacific Division from the Colorado Eagles and getting Wolanin back will absolutely help them do that, seeing as he’s scored 55 points in 49 games this season. The 28-year-old veteran of 86 NHL games is under contract for another season and will likely remain Abbotsford’s go-to offensive blueliner.
- The Winnipeg Jets reassigned forward Dominic Toninato to their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Toninato was recalled yesterday and played 11 and a half minutes in the Jets’ loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Toninato has 19 goals and 33 points in 49 games this season and will now be on hand to help the Moose for their Calder Cup playoff run.
- The Arizona Coyotes reassigned five players to the Tucson Roadrunners today: Victor Soderstrom, Michael Kesselring, Milos Kelemen, Jan Jenik, and Ivan Prosvetov. The Roadrunners are gearing up for the Calder Cup playoffs, and now get some important players back into their lineup, including Prosvetov, their starting goalie, and Soderstrom, the 11th overall pick of the 2019 draft.
This page may be updated throughout the day
San Jose Sharks Sign Ethan Cardwell
The San Jose Sharks have announced the signing of prospect forward Ethan Cardwell to a three-year entry-level contract.
The Sharks’ exclusive rights to sign Cardwell were set to expire on June 1st, which would have allowed him to re-enter the draft. That won’t happen now, though, as he’s earned the right to make his pro debut with the organization that selected him 121st overall at the 2021 draft.
San Jose general manager Mike Grier had the following to say about the signing:
Ethan had a significant improvement in his OHL career this past year being one of the go-to players for his team in nearly all situations. He has the ability to produce offensively and has helped be a driving force on a quality team as Barrie continues their postseason play.
Cardwell is a right-shot center who will turn 21 years old in late August. As an OHLer playing for the Barrie Colts, Cardwell’s junior career was disrupted by the pandemic-related cancellation of the 2020-21 OHL season.
Instead of getting the chance to be a leading player on an OHL franchise in the lead-up to the draft, Cardwell, like many other OHLers, went overseas. He played for Surahammars IF, a club in HockeyEttan, which is the third level of Swedish hockey below HockeyAllsvenskan.
His time in Sweden went well, and he scored 27 points in just 18 games, but without an OHL season his chance to truly rise on draft boards had been lost. He was selected in the fourth round, and went back to Barrie to play two more seasons.
Last year, Cardwell scored 23 goals and 58 points in 49 games, and then this season his production ramped up quite a bit to the tune of 43 goals and 90 points in 62 games. Cardwell’s strong OHL performances earned him recognition as the Sharks organization’s Prospect of the Year, and is likely what has earned him this entry-level deal.
With such a major offensive explosion last season, it’s likely that Cardwell is best served developmentally by turning pro in the fall. Playing in the AHL is quite a bit of a step up from the OHL in terms of competition, but Cardwell has risen to the occasion throughout his junior career and will be a prospect to watch for Sharks fans moving forward.
Arizona Coyotes Recall Michael Kesselring
The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Michael Kesselring from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. The Coyotes finish their season with a game against the Vancouver Canucks tonight, so Kesselring will have the chance to tack on one last NHL appearance before likely heading back to play for the Roadrunners tomorrow against the San Jose Barracuda.
Kesselring, 23, last played in the NHL in a March 26th loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He registered an assist and just under 16 minutes of ice time in that game, and overall this year has just that one point in eight NHL games. Kesselring has spent most of this season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, having been acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in the Nick Bjugstad trade.
The Coyotes were likely intrigued by the upside Kesselring might have, as he’s an ever-valuable right-shot defenseman and stands six-foot-four, 190 pounds. Offensively, Kesselring’s had an interesting season as he’s scored 14 goals and 14 assists in 59 games.
It’s not often that you see defensemen scoring the same amount of goals and assists, though it’s worth noting that before this year Kesselring had only scored single-digit goals in each prior season of his prospect career.
The Roadrunners have clinched their playoff spot, so it’s likely that Kesselring heads back there after tonight’s game. Kesselring plays a top-pairing role in Tucson, meaning if the Roadrunners go on any sort of run in the Calder Cup playoffs, it’s likely that he’ll be a major reason why.
Montreal Canadiens Recall Lucas Condotta On Emergency Basis
The Montreal Canadiens are rewarding a hard-working AHLer during the final game of their season. 25-year-old undrafted forward Lucas Condotta has been recalled on an emergency basis, allowing him to make his NHL debut tonight against the Boston Bruins.
Condotta signed with the Canadiens last March, inking a one-year entry-level deal. He earned the contract after a strong final season at UMass-Lowell, a year where he captained the team and scored 10 goals and 23 points in 33 games. Condotta had scored 10 points in his previous two seasons of college hockey and just nine points his freshman year, meaning his senior campaign represented a significant increase in both responsibility and production.
He made his pro debut last season with the Laval Rocket and skated in seven regular-season contests and 10 playoff games. While he struggled early and failed to leave a mark in the regular season, Condotta’s three points in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Springfield Thunderbirds nearly helped lift the Rocket to their first-ever Calder Cup Final.
This year was Condotta’s first full year as a professional, and he’s carried the momentum he built against Springfield to the Rocket’s regular season. He’s scored 16 goals and 30 points in 71 games, tied for fourth on the team in goal scoring with surprise standout Rafael Harvey-Pinard. Condotta stands six-foot-one, 223-pounds and brings the type of energy and physicality to the ice that quickly endears him to coaches.
While Condotta’s stay in the NHL might be brief, this recall serves as a concrete recognition of how well his debut pro season has gone. Should the Rocket make the playoffs this season, it’s likely that Condotta will be a forward to watch.
Winnipeg Jets Recall Dominic Toninato
The Winnipeg Jets have recalled forward Dominic Toninato from their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. After playing 77 games last season, Toninato has spent most of this season in the AHL, save for a run of four games in November that he spent with the Jets.
The move puts the veteran forward back on the Jets’ roster in advance of tonight’s regular-season finale against the Colorado Avalanche, and serves as a nice reward for the quality season he’s turned in with the Jets’ farm squad. In 49 AHL contests this season Toninato has scored 19 goals and 33 points, and he’s helped the Moose land comfortably as the third seed in the AHL’s Central Division.
At the NHL level, Toninato registered one assist in the four-game run he had in November, although he played under seven minutes of ice time in three of the four games he drew into. Last season, Toninato spent almost the entire season at the NHL level and ended up playing in 77 games, registering 14 points.
He did average about a minute and a half of short-handed ice-time per game, but seeing as the Jets had the fourth-worst penalty kill last season it’s understandable that Winnipeg’s new coaching staff under Rick Bowness didn’t see Toninato occupying the same role this season.
Toninato’s stay on the Jets’ active roster could extend into the team’s first-round playoff series, assuming the organization prefers keeping him around as a reserve player for their NHL squad rather than having him return to the Moose to play in their AHL playoffs.
For what it’s worth, the Moose added two forwards to their roster today (Thomas Caron via recall from the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions and Carson Golden via an ATO from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets) though those additions should not be seen as any sort of barrier to Toninato being sent back down for the AHL playoffs.
Assuming Toninato draws into the lineup tonight against the Avalanche, his game and any minutes he plays in the playoffs represent an important opportunity for his playing future. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in a few months after the expiry of his league-minimum two-way deal, and any quality games he has from this point forward will help him earn his next NHL contract.
Gabriel Landeskog Will Not Return For Playoffs
A significant blow has been dealt to the Colorado Avalanche’s hopes of defending their 2022 Stanley Cup championship. Per a team announcement, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog‘s knee injury will keep him from returning to the active roster and playing in the playoffs.
The announcement makes it official that Landeskog will miss the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign. He underwent knee surgery in October, and at the time his recovery was expected to take around 12 weeks.
Obviously, Landeskog’s recovery hasn’t been quite as fast, and in early March Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar called Landeskog’s recovery a “slow-moving process” that hadn’t yet resulted in his return to practice.
The 30-year-old is, when healthy, among the Avalanche’s most important contributors and when paired with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen can give Colorado what is likely the best line in hockey.
While Colorado hasn’t taken a major step back in his absence (they’re just one point behind the Dallas Stars for the Central Division title with a game in hand) his production has been and will continue to be a challenge to replace.
Landeskog scored 30 goals and 59 points in just 51 games last season and added 11 goals and 22 points in the Avalanche’s successful playoff run last season.
In recent games, the Avalanche have played Evan Rodrigues in Landeskog’s traditional first-line left wing spot, and while Rodrigues is a solid, productive middle-sixer (15 goals and 36 points in 67 games this year) he can’t offer nearly what Landeskog can.
At the very least, Avalanche fans can take solace in the fact that their team has had since the start of the season to find a way to survive without Landeskog, and as mentioned they’ve done more than just keep their heads above water this season.
So while this announcement confirming Landeskog will not return for the playoffs certainly makes winning a second-straight Stanley Cup more of a challenge, it’s still entirely possible that the Avalanche still find their way to hockey’s summit once again.
They remain a deep squad with some of the best high-end talent in the NHL, and they’ve already spent the last few months proving to rival teams that they can still dominate games even without their captain on the ice.
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Boston Bruins Reassign Five Players
April 10: All five have been returned to the AHL today.
April 9: The Boston Bruins have announced that five players have been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, on an emergency basis. The players are: Vinni Lettieri, Oskar Steen, Jack Ahcan, Connor Carrick, and Brandon Bussi.
The moves come as the Bruins deal with some lingering injury issues while having already clinched the President’s Trophy. While former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall has been activated off of LTIR and back on the ice, the Bruins placed two players on Long-Term Injured Reserve yesterday and have contributors such as David Krejci still on their active roster but out of the lineup.
Since the Bruins are taking on the Philadelphia Flyers on the second half of a back-to-back set of games today, these recalls give coach Jim Montgomery the breathing room he needs to rest certain veterans or at the very least avoid overworking certain players in order to cope with the injury-related absences.
For these recalls, only one has suited up in a game for the Bruins this season, Steen. The other four have played the whole season in Providence. Steen, 25, has already played for the Bruins twice this month and has played in three total NHL games this season, scoring one goal. The speedy Swedish forward has scored 14 goals and 31 points in 63 games for Providence.
The other forward to be recalled is the 28-year-old minor league veteran Lettieri. Lettieri scored 10 points in 31 games for the Anaheim Ducks last season and is an accomplished AHL scorer, with 225 career points in 264 games. This season, he’s leading all Providence regulars with 45 points in 45 games, and now has a chance to make his NHL debut this season on one of the winningest teams in league history.
The first of two defensemen to be recalled is the 25-year-old Ahcan, an undersized offensive defenseman who the Bruins signed as an undrafted free agent out of the NCAA’s St. Cloud State in 2020. Ahcan got off to a fast start to his pro career, scoring 10 points in 19 AHL games and earning three games in Boston with the Bruins.
The following season, 2021-22, Ahcan’s AHL performance was less consistent. But although he finished with an underwhelming 23 points in 46 games, he did manage to earn six NHL games.
Ahcan has taken a step forward this season and become Providence’s number-two scoring option from the back end, producing 31 points in 65 games.
Despite that increase in production, though, Ahcan hasn’t earned time on the Bruins’ roster until today.
The other defenseman to be recalled is Carrick, a veteran of nearly 250 NHL games. The 28-year-old was once seen as a promising up-and-coming blueliner in the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs organizations, but a mix of major injuries and inconsistent performance scuttled his hopes of delivering on that promise in his early-to-mid twenties.
Despite that disappointment, Carrick has over the past two years established himself as a difference-making minor-league blueliner who can contribute on both ends of the ice and help his team make the playoffs. Last season he scored 32 points in 59 games for the Charlotte Checkers, and this season he leads all Providence defensemen with 41 points in 60 games.
Of this group of five players that has been recalled, Carrick is the one who possesses the most NHL experience. The opportunity for him to get NHL minutes is a significant one, as Carrick is on an expiring league-minimum two-way deal and getting some solid NHL shifts on tape before he hits the market in a few months could be extremely useful.
The final player recalled is a goalie, Bussi. Unlike the four skaters recalled with him, the 24-year-old hasn’t yet suited up for an NHL game. In fact, Bussi only made his professional debut last season. He has had a strong 31-game season in Providence, though, and his 21-5-4 record and .925 save percentage are highly respectable figures.
It’s unclear whether Bussi will get any time in the Bruins’ crease as they close out their regular season, but given Vezina Trophy contender Linus Ullmark‘s injury history over the course of his career, it seems logical that the Bruins would want to add another name to the mix in their crease to ensure their two established netminders are able to get the rest they might need before the playoffs.
Seeing as Providence doesn’t play until Saturday whereas Boston has a game today (after playing yesterday) and two more this week, it seems these recalls were made to help add some fresh legs to the Bruins’ roster with their regular-season fate already decided.
Since these moves likely won’t impact their AHL team’s chase of an Atlantic Division title, bringing them to the active roster to possibly allow some Bruins veterans to take a game off seems like a wise decision for a squad looking to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Chicago Blackhawks Reassign Lukas Reichel And Alex Vlasic, Recall Buddy Robinson
The Chicago Blackhawks have shuffled their roster, sending two young players (forward Lukas Reichel and defenseman Alex Vlasic) to the AHL while recalling a veteran (forward Buddy Robinson) to the NHL.
The move allows two of the team’s more promising young players to join the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs as they look to fend off a push from the Chicago Wolves for the final playoff spot in the Central Division, paving the way for the two to play a major role in any playoff series the IceHogs qualify for.
Since the Blackhawks have three games remaining on their schedule, though, an NHL replacement was needed, so the player chosen as the recall is Robinson, who was reassigned to the AHL by the Blackhawks on March 26th.
The biggest name of this group is Reichel, a 20-year-old German winger who was the 17th overall pick at the 2020 draft. While some of his fellow 2020 first-rounders have already played more than 100 games in the NHL, the rebuilding Blackhawks were more patient with Reichel’s development, and that patience seems to have paid off.
Reichel was drafted so high on the back of a strong draft season playing pro hockey in the DEL for Eisbaren Berlin, where he scored 12 goals and 24 points in 42 games. While it was ten points less than third-overall pick and current Ottawa Senators star Tim Stutzle managed that same year, it’s still an impressive feat for any draft-year player to be a productive regular in a professional league playing against grown men.
The Blackhawks opted to have Reichel spend 2020-21 with Berlin, and that choice paid off as Reichel scored 27 points in 38 regular-season games and five points in nine DEL playoff games.
That successful sophomore season in Germany’s top pro league gave the Blackhawks the green light to bring Reichel across the Atlantic, and they allowed him to spend most of his year in the AHL, save for some brief cameos at the NHL level.
Reichel was a star AHL rookie, scoring 57 points in 56 games, an extremely strong number for a player who spent most of the season still in his teens.
This season, knowing that their roster was unlikely to provide Reichel the most comfortable developmental environment, the Blackhawks opted to keep Reichel in the AHL, and he scored well yet again, potting 46 points in 51 games.
A three-point performance in an overtime victory over the Calgary Flames likely gave Chicago increased confidence that Reichel might be ready for a more extensive stretch in the NHL, and they gave him just that in the month of March. Reichel began growing into more of a go-to option for head coach Luke Richardson, and he now likely finishes his season with a strong 15 points in 23 games.
If he can help Rockford go on a deep playoff run, or at least put some finishing touches on what has been a successful sophomore season, Reichel will likely enter next year’s training camp with his spot on the team’s NHL roster virtually guaranteed.
As for Vlasic, he’s spent almost the entirety of the season with the IceHogs, save for the past two weeks or so that he’s been on the NHL roster. The 21-year-old is a hulking six-foot-six blueliner who turned pro last season after three years at Boston University.
While there isn’t a ton of offense to speak of (he scored 20 points in his NCAA career and has 17 in 52 AHL games this year) Vlasic is an imposing physical force with serious crease-clearing potential. He’s been utilized as a top-pairing blueliner for the IceHogs, and the organization is hopeful that he can soon develop into an NHL option.
As for Robinson, he’s a 31-year-old minor league veteran who has 60 NHL games on his resume. The six-foot-six crash-and-bang winger last played in the NHL in a March 25th, 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild and has not yet registered a point in seven NHL games this season.
With 20 points in 50 AHL contests, any NHL games Robinson can skate in during the remainder of the Blackhawks’ season will be an important opportunity as his one-year league-minimum two-way deal is set to expire, meaning he’ll want to put some quality play on tape before he possibly lands on the open market in a few months.
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