Wild Activate Jared Spurgeon, Send Daemon Hunt To AHL
4:10 PM: Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason announced that Spurgeon will, indeed, play in the team’s Friday night outing.
4:00 PM: The Minnesota Wild have activated team captain Jared Spurgeon from long-term injured reserve and sent Daemon Hunt to the minor leagues. Spurgeon has been on injured reserve for the entirety of the early season, battling an upper-body injury.
Getting Spurgeon back is a tremendous boost to a Wild lineup that’s struggled to get on the right side of the win column. The team currently has a 5-6-2 record through 13 games, ranking them sixth in the Central Division. But now they get back a pillar of their lineup in Spurgeon, who has averaged over 21 minutes of ice time for the club in every season since 2011-12. He scored 11 goals and 34 points last season, taking a slight step down from the 40 points he managed in the 2021-22 campaign.
Daemon Hunt appeared in his first five NHL games while helping to fill in for Spurgeon. He wasn’t able to net his first NHL box stat though, going without a point, penalty, or change in his +/-. He’ll return to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, where he’s already played four games this season – failing to record a point in those games as well, although he did record seven penalty minutes and a -3.
With the news of his Friday return, Spurgeon will have missed 12 games to start the season. The 33-year-old defenseman will have the potential to play in, at most, 69 games this season. The team captain is chasing his 400th NHL point, currently sitting 21 points back from the milestone
Injury Notes: Markstrom, Nosek, Zegras, Whitecloud
Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska shared that starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He will sit out of the team’s Friday night game, with Daniel Vladar taking over the starting role.
This is timely news, as the Flames just recalled back-to-back AHL Goalie of the Year winner Dustin Wolf to the NHL club. Wolf has yet to carve out an NHL presence but the 22-year-old goaltender has more than proven his capability, going as far as winning the AHL’s Les Cunningham Award last season, given to the league’s most valuable player. Calgary plays Toronto on Friday and Ottawa on Saturday, which could give Wolf a chance to relieve Vladar.
The team will hope that their backups getting added opportunities can turn into some sort of spark in net. Markstrom has struggled through the early season, recording a .896 save percentage and 2-6-1 record across nine games played. Vladar has managed better outcomes in his appearances, earning a 2-1-0 record in his three games, but carries a .844 save percentage.
Wolf has recorded a .924 save percentage and 5-1-0 record in six AHL games this season.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- Tomas Nosek is expected to return to the New Jersey Devils lineup on Friday, despite head coach Lindy Ruff saying he wanted to see a few more practices from the forward. Nosek has played in two games with the Devils this season, going without a point or any change in his +/-. He’s been battling a lower-body injury and was placed on injured reserve earlier in the year.
- The Anaheim Ducks will be without Trevor Zegras on Friday, as he’s battling a nagging lower-body injury. The dynamic forward is off to a slow start this season, with a mere two points through his first 12 games. Contract negotiations held him out of much of the team’s training camp.
- Zach Whitecloud is set to return make his season debut on Friday. The defenseman went under the knife in early October to address an issue in his hand. He was announced as week-to-week at the time and makes his return nearly one month later, holding to his history as a quick healer. Whitecloud scored 12 points in 59 games last year.
Snapshots: Eberle, Pesce, Perunovich
The Seattle Kraken have shared that Jordan Eberle is doing alright after suffering a deep cut at the team’s Wednesday practice. He won’t play in the Kraken’s Thursday matchup against the Colorado Avalanche but is otherwise considered day-to-day by the team. The Kraken recalled Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton to the NHL lineup in response to Eberle’s injury.
Eberle has appeared in 13 games with the Kraken this season, netting four points, nine penalty minutes, and a -8. He’s appeared in roles throughout the Kraken lineup through the early season, as head coach Dave Hakstol has tried to help Eberle get it going. The 33-year-old winger scored 20 goals and 63 points in 82 games last season, ranking third on the team in scoring and fourth in goal-scoring. It also tied for Eberle’s second-highest scoring season and marked his first time scoring 60 or more points since 2014-15, when he was still with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Kraken received a waiver to the NHL/CHL transfer agreement that would have required Wright to be assigned to the OHL if he didn’t make the Kraken roster out of training camp. As a result, he’s started the season with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he’s scored four goals and six points in seven games. He’s tied for the Firebirds lead in goals. Wright will likely draw into the lineup if Eberle can’t go. He appeared in eight games last season, scoring two points.
Other notes from around the league:
- Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour announced that Brett Pesce will join the team on their upcoming two-game road trip and is a game-time decision for their Friday night game against the Florida Panthers. Pesce has played in five games this season, netting two points and four penalty minutes.
- Scott Perunovich will slot back into the Blues lineup after serving as a healthy scratch. He’s only played in two of the Blues’ 11 games this season, going without a point, penalty, or any change in his +/-. Perunovich has fought through a series of injuries over the last few seasons, only playing in 69 games since the end of the 2019-20 season. 28 of those games were in the NHL, where Perunovich has totaled 10 points between the regular season and playoffs.
Injury Notes: Capitals, Horvat, Forbort, Tuch
The Washington Capitals have shared a slew of injury updates. Anthony Mantha, Joel Edmundson, and Trevor van Riemsdyk will all miss the team’s upcoming two-game road trip, while Nic Dowd‘s availability is to be determined.
Mantha is facing an upper-body injury after taking a shot to the ear on Wednesday. Dowd and Edmundson (hand) are also listed with upper-body injuries, while van Riemsdyk has a lower-body injury.
Mantha and van Riemsdyk have both appeared in 10 games for the Capitals this season. Mantha has scored three goals and four points while averaging just under 13 minutes of ice time. He’s been the focus of a handful of conversations through the early season, facing a healthy scratching earlier in the year and continuing to appear in trade rumors. Mantha is in his third full season in Washington, where he’s totaled 62 points in 128 games. van Riemsdyk is also in his fourth year with the club, although he’s managed to carve out a bit more of a role with the club. The 32-year-old defenseman only has one point this season but recorded a career-high 23 points in 75 games last year. He’s continuing to serve in his modest role with the club this season, averaging 17 minutes of ice time.
Dowd has only played two games this year, while Edmundson has yet to make his Capitals debut, as both players are dealing with nagging ailments.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert declared Bo Horvat a game-time decision for the team’s Thursday night game against the Boston Bruins. He’s facing a lower-body injury after blocking a shot off his ankle in the team’s Saturday matchup against Carolina. The 28-year-old has nine points through 10 games this season.
- Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery shared that Derek Forbort is “probable” to play the Islanders. He is also battling a lower-body injury. Montgomery said that the team will use warmups as the indicator of if Forbort can play.
- Buffalo Sabres forward Alex Tuch has been announced as day-to-day, with the Sabres hopeful that he can play in their Friday bout with Minnesota. He missed practice on Thursday with an upper-body injury. Top draft pick Matthew Savoie took line rushes with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner in Tuch’s place.
Avalanche Reassign Ondrej Pavel
Nov. 8: After skating just 6:59 in yesterday’s win over the Devils, Pavel has been returned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, a team release states.
Nov. 6: The Colorado Avalanche have recalled 6’2″, 205 lbs forward Ondrej Pavel to the NHL. Pavel has appeared in 10 games with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, going without a point and recording six penalty minutes and a +5.
This season is Pavel’s first full year of professional hockey, after joining the Eagles for two regular season games and four playoff games following the conclusion of Minnesota State-Mankato’s season. He netted two points, both assists, through those six games, bringing his career totals to two points through 16 games when combined with his performances this year. That’s fairly low-scoring for the young prospect, although Pavel has never been known for goals and assists. Through three years and 94 games with Mankato, he recorded 41 points.
Colorado signed the undrafted Pavel to a two-year, two-way contract after Mankato’s season ended last year. Colorado was barely able to afford his call-up, which brings with it an $870K cap hit. Interestingly, the team has five other forwards with their AHL affiliate that make the same as, or less than, Pavel. This includes Riley Tufte, who was a recent call-up, and former First Round pick Oskar Olausson. Both players have received one game with the Avalanche – Olausson’s coming last year and Tufte’s coming this year – and neither recorded a point. Tufte represents the only high-end scorer on the Colorado Eagles roster, with 12 points through eight AHL games so far.
Whether it’s simply looking for fresh faces or a targeted outreach, it’s clear that Colorado sees something special in Pavel. It will be notable to see how the Avalanche deploy the large-framed forward, who has yet to find consistent offense through his professional career.
Tampa Recalls Waltteri Merelä, Places Conor Sheary on IR
The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Conor Sheary on injured reserve and recalled Waltteri Merela back to the NHL lineup. Merelä was sent to the AHL on November 5th, after starting the season with the Lightning, but wasn’t able to play any AHL games before he rejoined the top club.
Sheary left the team’s Tuesday night game after being hit up high by a shot in the first period. It’s hard to tell where Sheary got hit, although it appears the injury could be in his wrist or hand. It’s officially being described as an upper-body injury.
Sheary has appeared in 13 games with Tampa Bay this season, tallying three points, four penalty minutes, and a -3. It’s his first year with the Bolts, after spending the last three seasons with the Washington Capitals. Sheary was brought into Tampa to serve as glue for the team’s top-nine, making his injury that much tougher to bear.
Merelä rejoins the Lightning in Sheary’s absence, after playing 10 games with the NHL club earlier in the season. Merelä went without a point in that span and recorded two penalties. The 25-year-old centerman is in his rookie NHL season, after signing with Tampa as an undrafted free agent out of the Liiga, Finland’s top league. He scored 33 points in 41 games with Tappara Tampere last year, serving as apart of the championship-winning roster. He will look to record his first NHL point now that he’s back with the NHL lineup.
Washington Capitals Recall Michael Sgarbossa, Place Backstrom on LTIR
The Washington Capitals have recalled Michael Sgarbossa and placed top center Nicklas Backstrom on long-term injured reserve. Backstrom took a leave of absence from the Capitals on November 1st and it was quickly revealed that his availability for the remainder of the year was uncertain. The 35-year-old centerman was attempting to return from a hip injury that required resurfacing surgery in June 2022. The surgery limited Backstrom to only 39 games last season and it seems complications are carrying into this year.
Centerman Sgarbossa joins the team in Backstrom’s wake, after appearing in 11 games with the AHL’s Hershey Bears this season. The 31-year-old netted 12 points in those games, maintaining the high scoring that he’s become accustomed to in the minor leagues, netting 58 points in 60 games. Sgarbossa has been a plug-and-play option for NHL teams for the last decade, making his debut with the Colorado Avalanche in the 2012-13 season. He’s played with four NHL clubs since then, never recording more than 30 games in a single season. Sgarbossa’s most prolific NHL tenure came in 2016-17 when he tallied seven points in 29 games with the Florida Panthers. He also received 10 games with the Capitals during the 2021-22 season, scoring four points. He’s a veteran professional, with 541 career AHL games under his belt and a strong 405 points in those matchups.
Sgarbossa will bring competition to the team’s center depth, including Hendrix Lapierre, who has gone without a point through his first three games of the season. The Capitals only have two players with more than six points through their first 10 games and rank second-to-last in terms of goals scored through the early season. With Sgarbossa adding depth, they will look to turn their season around, despite Backstrom’s absence.
Snapshots: Oilers, Andrew Mangiapane, Canucks
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun recently shared that the Edmonton Oilers could be interested in moving their 2024 First Round pick if it means getting their season back on track. TSN’s Darren Dreger added that Edmonton could be looking for a blockbuster deal that would allow them to address multiple needs at once – a deal that would almost certainly require a high-value pick.
This news isn’t surprising. Edmonton currently holds a 2-8-1 record, recording the fifth-fewest goals scored and the third-most goals allowed through the early season. They’re getting little scoring from their depth, with three different forwards appearing in all of the team’s 11 games and failing to score more than one point. And, most notably, they’ve received some of the worst goaltending in the league, with both Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell carrying save percentages below .875. This led the Oilers to waive Campbell on Tuesday, assigning him to the AHL and recalling minor-league veteran Calvin Pickard. It’s been a disaster to start the season, but dangling a First Round pick in a draft as lucrative as 2024 could be enough to turn the tide.
Other
- Andrew Mangiapane is set to return from suspension. The forward received a one-game booking for a cross-checking on Seattle’s Jared McCann. Mangiapane has seven points through 11 games this season, tied for second on the Flames in scoring. Calgary recorded a 4-2 win in the game that Mangiapane sat out.
- TSN’s Darren Dreger shared on the latest Insider Trading that the Vancouver Canucks are reportedly looking for a right-shot defenseman; a position that Dreger notes is much sought after this season. Dreger didn’t expand on any potential targets for Vancouver, although it’s notable that the team had previously made Conor Garland available to other teams. Garland’s $4.95MM cap hit makes him a tougher piece to bargain with but he is still a former 20-goal and 50-point scoring winger. That could be enough to pry away a middle-of-the-pack defender from a team in need. Still, with right defense in such high demand, it will be interesting to see what Vancouver has to add to make a trade work.
Afternoon Notes: Tippett, Drysdale, Vegas
The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco reported that the Philadelphia Flyers are willing to sign 24-year-old winger Owen Tippett to a long-term deal, as long as the average annual value is reasonable. Di Marco added that “long-term” could mean a deal similar to the eight-year extension that Brandon Hagel received in Tampa Bay, although Hagel’s $6.5MM AAV would be “a little high” for Tippett, a source told Di Marco.
The Flyers only have five players currently signed beyond the 2025-26 season. Of that list, only one – 23-year-old Joel Farabee – is under 27. So the interest in signing young players to long-term deals is both timely and refreshing. It’s another step in new general manager Daniel Briere building out something sustainable over time, and locking up core lineup pieces like Tippett is a great way to start. While the young winger hasn’t jumped off the page with his scoring – recording over half of his career scoring when he netted 49 points last season – he’s found other ways to make his impact felt, ranking fourth on the team in CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) since 2021-22, among plays with 25-or-more games.
Tippett’s pending extension, and how it affects other young pieces of the Flyers lineup, will be exciting to monitor over the course of the season.
Other notes from around the league:
- Anaheim Ducks head coach Greg Cronin shared an update on Jamie Drysdale‘s lower-body injury, saying that it’s a hard injury to pinpoint a recovery timeline for. Cronin said that Drysdale is working closely with the team’s training staff and that the Ducks will want him, “fully healed” before he comes back. The exact nature of Drysdale’s injury hasn’t been revealed, although he was placed on injured reserve in late-October, retroactive to October 15th.
- Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy shared a pair of injury updates, noting that Alec Martinez is expected to play in the team’s Wednesday game while Nicolas Roy is expected to sit out, despite skating with the team today. Roy has been on injured reserve since October 29th, nursing an undisclosed injury.
Max Pacioretty Hopeful To Return This Season
Max Pacioretty rejoined the Washington Capitals team skates this week, providing the first big step in his return from his second torn Achilles’ tendon. And now, per NHL.com’s Mike Vogel, both the team and the player are hopeful that a return could come soon. Pacioretty told Vogel, “I feel like I’m getting my life back… I’m having fun. I’ve only skated three times, but this is what I was born to do, so it feels like there’s some normalcy in my life, and I definitely have much more of a smile on my face now that I’m skating.” Pacioretty went on to mention that there was a point where he considered whether this injury would bring an end to his career or not, but that he ultimately felt he had more hockey in the tank.
That’s incredibly exciting news for the Capitals. The club took a flyer on the 34-year-old winger this summer, signing him to a one-year, $2MM contract, despite the second Achilles injury, hoping they could bring Pacioretty back to the goal-scoring prowess that he had earlier in his career. Pacioretty has scored 30 or more goals in six different seasons, including a career-high 39 goals in the 2013-14 season. And despite missing pieces of the last three seasons with injury, he’s maintained his production into his veteran years. The winger scored three goals in five games with Carolina last season, and had 19 goals and 37 points in 39 games with Vegas in 2021-22: his last taste of substantial ice time. In fact, Pacioretty hasn’t scored below 35 points since the 2010-11 season, excluding last year.
That’s encouraging consistency that could be nicely timed for a Washington team faced with the absence of star centerman Nicklas Backstrom. The team hasn’t released an official timeline for when Pacioretty may be able to return but the optimism from both parties hints that it may not be a terribly long wait. Regardless of when he’s able to return, Pacioretty’s eagerness to get back to where he was is exciting to see.