Islanders Recall Grant Hutton As Scott Mayfield Faces Injury
The New York Islanders have brought defenseman Grant Hutton back to the NHL after sending him to the minors on December 11th. This recall comes in light of Scott Mayfield suffering an upper-body injury that will hold him out day-to-day.
Mayfield joins a list of Islanders defensemen facing injury, with the team already without top defenders Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech. The team recently acquired Robert Bortuzzo from the St. Louis Blues to provide depth to the back end. The new addition has appeared in two games with the Islanders, recording two penalty minutes and a -1.
Hutton rejoins the squad to again serve as the team’s seventh defenseman. The 28-year-old has only appeared in two NHL games this season. They were his first appearances in the league since he played 16 games in the 2021-22 season – his only other handful of NHL ice time. Hutton has one goal and four penalty minutes through his 18 combined NHL games.
The Islanders signed Hutton as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of Miami University’s 2018-19 season. Hutton totaled 144 collegiate games over four seasons at Miami, scoring 71 points and recording 114 penalty minutes. He’s spent much of his professional career with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, where he’s played a total of 189 games and scored 67 career points. He’s also added 91 penalty minutes and a -12. These tallies include the five assists, 14 penalty minutes, and -5 that Hutton has recorded in 16 AHL games this season.
Hutton and Bortuzzo will serve as important depth pieces for the Islanders as they look to ride out all of the injuries to their blueline.
Senators Recall Jacob Larsson, Send Jiri Smejkal To AHL
The Ottawa Senators have recalled defenseman Jacob Larsson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators and sent Jiri Smejkal to the minor leagues.
Smejkal made his NHL debut on Saturday and followed it up with an appearance in the team’s Tuesday game. He did not see any changes to his stat line between the two games, other than blocking two shots. The 27-year-old winger is in his first season in North American pros, after spending the last seven seasons between top leagues in Russia, Czechia, Finland, and Sweden. Smejkal spent three seasons in the WHL before moving to European pros, giving him some experience on North American ice.
Larsson will help the Senators make up for the missing Thomas Chabot, who is expected to miss the month of December with a leg injury. Larsson is a former first-round pick, being selected 27th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2015 NHL Draft. But the 26-year-old defender has failed to live up to first-round expectations, recording a mere 172 career NHL games since making his debut in the 2016-17 season. Larsson’s career year came in 2019-20, when he scored a career-high 11 points in 60 games with the Ducks.
The Senators signed Larsson as an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and have kept him on one-year, league-minimum contracts ever since. Larsson has only appeared in seven NHL games with the Senators, going without a point and recording six penalty minutes. Other than that handful of games, he’s spent the last two seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, combining for 21 points in 73 games and a -11.
Morning Notes: Kuzmenko, Pinto, Couture
The Vancouver Canucks could be looking to move high-scoring winger Andrei Kuzmenko, according to The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta. Pagnotta shares that the team has discussed trading him but that, “nothing is close”, citing his $5.5MM cap hit and modified-no-trade-clause as pieces that make a trade challenging.
Kuzmenko is off to a slower start to the season after scoring an electric 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games last season. It was Kuzmenko’s first year in the NHL, with Vancouver signing him out of the KHL, where he had previously played 315 career games and scored 200 points. The 27-year-old winger is now sporting just five goals and 16 points through 26 games this season, on pace for just 50 points in 82 games. Pagnotta shares that Vancouver could be looking for a talent-for-talent swap, attempting to bring in a new face to replace Kuzmenko’s role in the top-six. The left-winger has averaged roughly 16 minutes of ice time through his 107 career NHL games so far.
Other notes from around the league:
- Shane Pinto is expected to resume training with the Ottawa Senators’ skills coaches soon, after doing much of his training at various colleges while serving his 41-game suspension. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch shared expects the forward to sign his qualifying offer, which would give Pinto a cap hit of $874K. Pinto is eligible to resume playing for either the Ottawa Senators or Belleville Senators on January 21st.
- Logan Couture spoke with media for the first time in two months on Tuesday, shedding light on the lower-body injury that’s so far held him out of the season. Couture, 34, candidly shared that he had feared the injury could end his career, but that those fears are behind him after he began rehabbing the injury. He is now expecting to return soon, but the Sharks captain didn’t have a timeline yet, calling himself, “truly week-to-week”. Couture has spent his entire career with the San Jose Sharks, totaling 700 points in 927 games with the club.
Blues Do Not Place Jakub Vrana On Waivers, Make Him Available For Trade
1:05 p.m.: Vrana is not on today’s waiver list, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Instead, Friedman relays the Blues have made the depth winger available for trade and that a transaction may be imminent, given he’s not on the wire as expected.
12:14 p.m.: The St. Louis Blues have placed forward Jakub Vrana on waivers, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. This is the second time that the 27-year-old winger has found himself on waivers, with the Detroit Red Wings waiving him in January of last season. He was traded to the Blues ahead of the trade deadline, with St. Louis sending depth forward Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to Detroit.
Vrana has appeared in 19 games with St. Louis this season, netting two goals and six points. It’s a step down from the performance he managed with the club last season, as he scored 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games following his trade to Missouri. Vrana was originally drafted 13th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals, being selected just two picks before Dylan Larkin and 12 picks before David Pastrnak. He played in one season in the SHL after his draft year before joining the AHL’s Hershey Bears at the end of the 2014-15 season. He stayed with the minor league club until the 2016-17 campaign when Washington recalled him for his NHL debut.
Vrana officially played his rookie season in 2017-18, scoring 13 goals and 27 points. But it was his sophomore and junior-year seasons that saw the winger start to break out – with Vrana managing 24 goals and 47 points in 2018-19 and 25 goals and 52 points in 2019-20. The Capitals dealt Vrana to Detroit in the following 2020-21 season, packaging him with Richard Pánik, a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2022 second-round pick for Anthony Mantha. Vrana saw his games played and scoring decline while in Detroit, both things he wasn’t able to build back up while in St. Louis. The Red Wings assigned Vrana to the minor leagues for 17 games last season – his first appearance in the AHL since 2016-17. If he clears waivers, he is expected to join the Blues’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Blackhawks Place Jarred Tinordi On Injured Reserve, Recall Filip Roos
The Chicago Blackhawks have placed defenseman Jarred Tinordi on injured reserve, retroactive to December 5th, and recalled Filip Roos back to the NHL lineup. Tinordi has already been sidelined once this season, moving to IR in mid-November with an oblique injury. He was activated off of IR on December 2nd, making his movement back to the list that much harder to stomach.
Tinordi has appeared in 12 games with the Blackhawks this season, netting one assist, 11 penalty minutes, and a -4. He’s in his second season with the club, although his 2022-23 season was limited by a nagging hip injury and facial fractures that earned him three assignments to IR throughout the season. He managed to appear in 44 games around those injuries, recording eight points, 40 penalty minutes, and a -11. Despite the injuries, these 44 games marked the most NHL games that Tinordi has played in a single season since making his debut in the league in 2012-13. He’s combined for 165 NHL games in the 11 seasons since then, scoring 22 points and recording 181 career penalty minutes. Tinordi has also spent substantial time in the minor leagues, recording 429 career AHL games and recording 75 assists, 96 points, 567 penalty minutes, and a collective +14.
Rookie defenseman Filip Roos will fill in for Tinordi, poised to make his first NHL appearances of the season despite being recalled to fill in for Tinordi’s injury in mid-November as well. While he has yet to make his season debut this year, Roos did appear in 17 NHL games last season, recording three points, four penalty minutes, and a -5. The 24-year-old defender has played in 16 AHL games this year, scoring four points and recording a -6.
Red Wings Recall Three Forwards, Place Three On Injured Reserve
The Detroit Red Wings have recalled forwards Zach Aston-Reese, Jonatan Berggren, and Austin Czarnik on an emergency basis. The team also announced that they’ve assigned J.T. Compher (retroactive to 12/5), Dylan Larkin (retroactive to 12/7), and Klim Kostin (retroactive to 12/9) on injured reserve.
Larkin and Compher have operated as Detroit’s top two centers so far this season, scoring 25 and 19 points respectively in 24 games each. It’s been an especially exciting season for Compher – a University of Michigan alum in his first year with the Red Wings. Detroit represents the first organization that Compher has played for outside of the Colorado Avalanche, despite being originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres.
Larkin’s injury caught social media attention, as the top centerman was cross-checked in the head during a scrum in front of the net by Ottawa’s Mathieu Joseph. The 27-year-old Larkin is leading Detroit in scoring, scoring the same amount of points as winger Alex DeBrincat in two fewer games. It’s Larkin’s ninth NHL season, with the Michigan native totaling 608 career games and 462 career points over that span.
Among the wave of emergency relief is Zach Aston-Reese, who signed with Detroit in early October after originally signing a professional try-out with the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the season. Aston-Reese played in 77 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, scoring 10 goals and 14 points. Detroit becomes one of four organizations that the 29-year-old forward has played for in the last four seasons. He’s spent the start of this season in the minors, appearing in 20 games and recording seven points, 16 penalty minutes, and a -2.
Blue Jackets Recall Daniil Tarasov, Send Jet Greaves To Minors
The Columbus Blue Jackets have swapped backup goaltenders, recalling Daniil Tarasov and sending Jet Greaves down. Greaves has appeared in two games with the Blue Jackets since being recalled on December 6th. He set a 1-1-0 record and recorded 72 saves on 77 shots, good for a .935 save percentage. The pair of games were Greaves’ second and third games in the NHL, after making his debut last season. Greaves has looked strong in his limited minutes, totaling a .937 save percentage through his three career games.
Greaves, 22, has also appeared in 12 AHL games this season, setting a 9-3-0 record and 0.899 save percentage. He set the same save percentage through 43 AHL games last season, going 19-16-5. The pair of consistent seasons brings Greaves’ career totals in the AHL up to 84 games played, a 40-31-7 record, and a combined .901 save percentage. Greaves was on an emergency recall with the Blue Jackets, who are without typical starter Elvis Merzlikins.
Tarasov is in a similar spot to Greaves, with both players being young goaltenders who have received minimal chances in the NHL and set strong numbers in the minor leagues. The 24-year-old Tarasov has played in four AHL games this season, recording a 2-1-0 record and .915 save percentage. The early season brings his career AHL totals to 32 games played, a 16-11-3 record, and a 0.897 save percentage. Tarasov has also appeared in 21 career NHL games, including 17 last season. He’s set a combined 4-13-1 record and .900 save percentage in the NHL. Tarasov will join Spencer Martin in Columbus’ goalie room. Martin has played in 11 games and set a .892 save percentage this season.
Tony Granato Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Former University of Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday to share that he’s been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and will be taking a temporary leave of absence from his roles with NBC Sports Chicago and NHL Network.
Granato, 59, has had an illustrious hockey career. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 1982 NHL Draft – going to the New York Rangers at 120th overall, one spot lower than goaltender Ron Hextall. Granato played in four seasons at the University of Wisconsin after his draft selection, totaling 100 goals and 220 points in 152 games with the school. He moved to the IHL for one season after Wisconsin, where he was recruited to represent the United States at the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored eight points in six games at the event and made his NHL debut a few months later, with the 1988-89 season marking his rookie year. Granato kicked off his career with a bang, recording 36 goals, 63 points, and 140 penalty minutes in 78 games with the Rangers. The performance was enough to land Granato third in Calder Trophy voting that year, behind winner Brian Leetch and runner-up Trevor Linden.
The Rangers traded Granato to the Los Angeles Kings after just two seasons, sending him in a package deal for former 150-point-scorer Bernie Nicholls. Granato would go on to spend seven seasons in L.A., recording the best years of his career between 1990 and 1993, when he totaled 229 games, 106 goals, 214 points, and 512 penalty minutes. But despite the eventful stat line, Granato didn’t receive any more award votes until joining the San Jose Sharks in 1996-97, when he won the Bill Masterton Trophy, the league’s sportsmanship award. Granato received the award after returning from a head injury suffered in the second half of the 1995-96 season that left him with a brain bleed and required surgery. He played in five more seasons with San Jose before retiring in 2001.
Granato took just one season off before joining an NHL bench, initially stepping into an assistant coaching role for the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the 2002-03 season; although Granato would go on to replace Bob Hartley mid-season and serve as the team’s head coach through the 2003-04 season. Granato also served as the Avalanche’s head coach for the 2008-09 season, replacing Joel Quenneville. He otherwise served as an assistant coach throughout his 13-year NHL coaching career. In 2016, Granato returned to the University of Wisconsin, replacing Mike Eaves and carrying on the torch of a former player serving as the team’s head coach.
Granato ranks third on Wisconsin’s all-time goals list and fourth in points. His college showings were the start of a 40-year career around the Big 10 and NHL. We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our thoughts to Tony and his family.
Sabres Recall Brett Murray, Send Isak Rosén Down
The Buffalo Sabres have recalled winger Brett Murray to the NHL club and sent rookie Isak Rosén to the minors. Rosén has appeared in his first seven NHL games since being recalled on November 25th, failing to score a point and recording a -3.
Rosén started the season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, scoring eight goals and 19 points through his first 16 games with the club. Rosén remains the team’s top scorer, even after missing four games because of his NHL stint. He’s paced by Jiří Kulich, who has managed 13 goals and 19 points of his own through 19 AHL games. Kulich received his NHL debut on the same night as Rosén but was sent back to the minors shortly after. Both players are former first-round selections by Buffalo, with Rosén being drafted 14th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft and Kulich going 28th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. With the debut of Kulich and Rosén, the Sabres have now seen every first-round selection they’ve made since 2017 suit up for them at some point this year – save for winger Jack Quinn, who is working back from Achille’s tendon surgery and Noah Ostlund, who remains in Sweden.
Filling in for Rosén is AHL veteran Brett Murray, who currently has two goals and seven points through 12 games with the Rochester Americans. The scoring brings his career AHL totals up to 217 games played, 58 goals, and 132 points. Murray appeared in 21 NHL games between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, playing in 19 games and scoring six points in the latter campaign. The Sabres originally drafted Murray 99th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, selecting him out of the CCHL before his pursued a career in the USHL and NCAA’s Big 10.
Morning Notes: Eklund, Connor, Hutton
Top San Jose Sharks youngster William Eklund was held out of the team’s Sunday night shootout-loss versus the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. No further update was provided about the 21-year-old’s injury.
Eklund narrowly avoids the ‘rookie’ title this season, as playing more than six games in each of the last two seasons removes his eligibility. Regardless, he’s performed well for the Sharks this season, netting six goals and 13 points in 27 games. Four of these points have come in just his last two games – both overtime wins. The 21-year-old has managed this production while serving in a second-line role on the resurging Sharks. Eklund would be tied for seventh in rookie scoring with Philadelphia’s Bobby Brink, if he were eligible.
Eklund has totaled 44 career NHL games since making his debut in 2021-22. He’s managed eight goals, 20 points, and 20 penalty minutes in that span, also recording a career -16. The Sharks drafted Eklund seventh overall in the 2021 NHL Draft,
Other notes from around the league:
- Kyle Connor was forced out of the Winnipeg Jets’ Sunday night loss after suffering a lower-body injury. The top forward appeared in just eight minutes of the 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks, recording three shots. Connor is tied with Sam Reinhart for third in the league in goals, scoring 17 through 26 games.
- The New York Islanders have sent defenseman Grant Hutton to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, opening space for Sebastian Aho to be activated from injured reserve. Hutton has served as New York’s seventh defenseman since being recalled on November 25th, appearing in two games and recording four hits and a +1.