Sabres Recall Matt Savoie, Place Brandon Biro On IR
The Buffalo Sabres have recalled top prospect Matthew Savoie to the NHL and placed recent call-up Brandon Biro on injured reserve. Savoie is coming up from the AHL, after a conditioning stint to help nurse an upper-body injury. The reason for Biro’s assignment to IR hasn’t yet been disclosed.
The news of Savoie’s recall is exciting for Sabres fans who missed the rookie punch that Zach Benson brought to the lineup. Benson is also on IR with a lower-body injury that’s holding him out week-to-week. Savoie and Benson were linemates on the Winnipeg Ice last season and would be slated to be teammates again on the Wenatchee Wild if neither of them can hang onto an NHL roster spot. Benson has two points, both assists, through his first six NHL games.
Savoie has performed well with the Rochester Americans, playing in his first professional hockey games on this conditioning stint. He’s totaled five points and six penalty minutes through his first six games, ranking 10th on the Rochester Americans in terms of points per game so far this season. That’s an encouraging sign for the 19-year-old centerman, who seems to be adjusting well to the pro scene. Savoie alternated line rushes with Victor Olofsson at the team’s Monday practice, suggesting that he may get a chance to replicate his AHL success at the top level, if the team opts to healthy scratch Olofsson again.
And while all attention will surround Savoie, Sabres fans shouldn’t forget about Biro, who has scored his first two NHL goals in the two games he was provided this season. Biro did record a team-low CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) in his two games, although his low sample size makes that metric slightly less concerning. Either way, his value as an NHL talent will likely be tested whenever he’s able to return from injured reserve.
Minnesota Wild Recall Nic Petan
The Minnesota Wild have recalled forward Nic Petan to the NHL roster. Petan has appeared in 10 AHL games so far this season, recording one goal and 12 points. That tally ranks him 15th in the league in scoring, and second in the league in assists.
Petan’s recall comes in the midst of an injury to Frédérick Gaudreau, who has been out with injury since the team’s October 24th game. He’s appeared in six games through the early season, going without a point and a -2. Gaudreau has cemented himself as a serious lineup piece for the Wild through the last two seasons, scoring 44 points in 76 games in his first year with the club and 38 points in 82 games last season. While that’s a step down in total scoring, Gaudreau did score a career-high 19 goals last year, a mark that ranked fifth on the team.
With Gaudreau out with injury, Petan’s recall gives Minnesota another aging centerman with plenty of professional experience. Petan has appeared in 164 career NHL games, most recently playing 10 games with the Wild last season. He scored three points last year, bringing his career point total up to 33. He’s also recorded 44 career penalty minutes.
While Petan hasn’t shown strong scoring at the NHL level, he flashed what he’s capable of in the AHL last year, netting 62 points in 53 games with the Iowa Wild. That was the most on the Iowa Wild – 11 points more than Marco Rossi, who ranked second.
Minnesota is currently tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for seventh in the league in scoring, with 40 goals through their first 11 games. They will look to Petan to help maintain that scoring, if he’s able to slot into the NHL lineup.
Jaroslav Halak Joins Carolina On Tryout Amid Injury Concerns
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that Jaroslav Halak has joined the team via a free-agent try-out in response to Frederik Andersen facing a medical issue. The team shared that Andersen is undergoing further evaluations but provided no further update.
Andersen has played in six games this season, setting a 4-1-0 record and a .894 save percentage. It’s a slow start for a goaltender who has been otherwise stellar in his time with the Hurricanes. Through a combined 92 games with the Hurricanes over the last three seasons, Andersen has recorded a .914 save percentage and a 60-26-4 record. That ties Andersen with Anton Khudobin for the second-highest save percentage in Hurricanes history, among goalies with 50 or more games with the club. Trevor Kidd leads the pack, with a .916 through his 72 games with Carolina. Andersen’s 92 games are also the 10th-most in Canes history.
In lieu of Andersen, Carolina will now turn to another veteran in Halak. The 38-year-old goaltender has continued to find his way into NHL lineups, most recently playing 25 games with the New York Rangers last season. He set a .903 save percentage in those games, contributing towards the career .915 save percentage that Halak has set in 581 career games.
But despite ample experience, it’s been a while since Halak served as a starter, with the last season that he played in over half of his team’s games coming in 2017-18 with the New York Islanders. Halak was unsurprisingly stout in the Islanders net that season, setting a .908 save percentage and 20-26-6 record through 54 games. Halak hasn’t recorded a save percentage below .900 since the lockout year of 2012-13, when he tallied a .899 through 16 games with the St. Louis Blues. He is a reliable, veteran goaltender that should add some consistency to a Carolina goaltending room that’s now without its starter.
New York Rangers Recall Connor Mackey
The New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey to the NHL. Mackey has played in seven games with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, to start the season. He’s recorded two points, 17 penalty minutes, and a +8 through those seven games.
Mackey’s recall comes in the wake of Adam Fox‘s move to injured reserve. Fox is expected to miss two to four weeks with a lower-body injury after an awkward collision with Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. His absence is a huge blow to a Rangers defense that doesn’t have much of a sting beyond their Norris Trophy-winning defenseman. To add insult to injury, the Rangers’ Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin is also currently out with injury.
The capable hands of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba will step into the team’s top pair in Fox’s absence but there’s reason to be less confident in the four roster spots behind them. Ryan Lindgren has appeared in 10 games for New York this season, scoring a sole assist and recording a -2 while averaging just shy of 20 minutes each game. Zachary Jones has also found his way into the NHL lineup, playing in two games so far this year but failing to score a point and recording a -3.
Mackey’s recall gives New York more options to patch the holes on their back-end. He has appeared in 39 career NHL games, most recently playing 20 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season. He’s scored 11 points and recorded 70 penalty minutes in those 39 games, including four points and 39 penalty minutes last season. Mackey is an undrafted defender, originally signed by the Calgary Flames following three strong years with Minnesota State-Mankato.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Nick Robertson
The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled top prospect Nicholas Robertson to the NHL lineup. This recall comes after Robertson’s red-hot start to the AHL season, where he’s scored 11 points in only nine games, good for a Top 20 spot in the league’s scoring.
Toronto is granted the roster spot to make this move thanks to the slew of injuries to their defense. They currently have four defensemen facing injuries, including Jake McCabe, who is the only one of the four to not be on injured reserve. Instead, he and fellow defenseman Maxime Lajoie have operated as the team’s two scratches. With so much roster attention needing to go to the defense, Toronto hasn’t been carrying an extra forward.
Robertson will seemingly step into that spot, although his hot start to the season could earn him a crack at the lineup. Robertson has played in 31 NHL games over the last three seasons, scoring three goals and seven points. Five of those points came in the 15 games he received last season; the most he’s played in a single NHL season. But injuries have proven detrimental to the 22-year-old winger, who missed most of the 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury. Now healthy once again, Robertson is looking to make up for lost time in his development curve and prove to the Leafs organization that he’s still the prospect that everyone was excited about following the 2019 NHL Draft.
Toronto is in need of some kind of spark. The team has 36 goals-for on the season, neatly ranking them 16th in the league. Nearly all of their scoring has come from the usual suspects, with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander being the only players to score over-10 points through the team’s first 11 games. Other than the star-studded quartet, four members of the Leafs’ bottom-six have fewer than two points – and two players have zero points – so far. Depth scoring has proven invaluable to recent Stanley Cup champions and will be a virtue that Toronto hopes Robertson can provide.
Avalanche Return Riley Tufte, Caleb Jones To Minors
Nov. 2: Tufte and Jones were returned to AHL Colorado this morning, per an announcement from the Avs. Jones has yet to make his Avalanche debut, while Tufte logged 11:28 in last night’s win over the Blues, recording a -1 rating, four shots on goal and one hit.
Oct. 31: The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Riley Tufte and defenseman Caleb Jones. Both players have started the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where Tufte has scored six goals and eight points in six games and Jones has scored four points in eight games.
With this recall, Jones gets the chance to earn a roster spot on his third NHL team. If he does, this season will become his sixth in the NHL. Jones was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, earning his NHL debut three years later in the 2018-19 season. He became a solid member of the Oilers blue line in 2019-20, playing in 43 games and scoring nine points in his rookie year. He stayed for one more season in Edmonton, before getting coupled with a second-round pick and sent to the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for Duncan Keith and Tim Soderlund. Jones played his most NHL hockey while with the Hawks, combining for 124 games and 31 points for the club over two seasons. But he’s now struggling to find an NHL roster spot, earning a minor league assignment with Colorado to start the 2022-23 season.
Tufte’s scoring has been very impressive through the early season, as he’s currently tied for third in goals in the AHL despite playing fewer games than anyone else in the top 10. He’s received 13 NHL games between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, scoring his first NHL goal but failing to net any other points. Tufte joined Colorado via free agency this summer, signing a one-year, $775K contract that he’ll look to earn with this NHL recall.
Carter Hart To Miss Weeks With Mid-Body Injury
The Philadelphia Flyers are going to be without their top goaltender Carter Hart for an extended period of time, as Crossing Broad’s Anthony SanFilippo shared that Hart could miss anywhere from two to six weeks. Hart left the team’s Wednesday night game with the injury that will now hold him out. The exact moment that the injury occurred is unclear, although there was a moment when Kyle Okposo awkwardly fell on Hart that could have been the inciting incident.
Sam Ersson took over for the Flyers after Hart’s injury. It’s expected that Ersson will hang onto the role, with many anticipating that the team will call up Cal Petersen to operate as his backup. Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate has also had Felix Sandstrom and Parker Gahagen play games for them this season, with Sandstrom recording an overtime loss in his sole AHL game this year and Gahagen repping a team-best .911 save percentage through three games.
Regardless of who Philadelphia opts to use as a backup, Ersson is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of Hart’s absence. Ersson is technically a rookie, despite playing in 12 games last season, and has started the season out a bit uneasily, setting a 0-2-1 record and .763 save percentage through three games. He set a 6-3-0 record and .899 save percentage in his 12 appearances last year. He also played in 42 AHL games last year, recording a .900 save percentage and 24-17-1 record. The Flyers drafted Ersson in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Draft, taking him 143rd overall. He’ll operate as the team’s top option for the time being, getting his first shot at the starter’s net.
Snapshots: Haydn Fleury, Olivier, Ponomarev
The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent defenseman Haydn Fleury to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on a conditioning assignment. Fleury has only played in two NHL games this season, serving as a healthy scratch seven times.
Fleury has recorded one assist in his two games with Tampa this year, matching the scoring totals that he reached in 29 games with the club last year. In fact, Fleury has scored fewer than five points in each of the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons despite playing in at least 29 games in each season. The low scoring has represented a fall from grace for the 2014 seventh-overall selection, who was taken one pick ahead of star winger William Nylander. This AHL assignment will provide Fleury with the first AHL games he’s played since the 2018-19 season when he scored 10 points in 28 minor league games with the Charlotte Checkers. The 27-year-old defender has totaled 246 career NHL games and 33 career points since making his NHL debut in 2017-18.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets are healthy-scratching forward Mathieu Olivier, replacing him with Kirill Marchenko. The duo are alternating nights in the lineup versus the press box, although Columbus will need to be mindful in icing Marchenko, as he loses his waiver exemption status with four more NHL games.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have removed Vasily Ponomarev from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. Carolina remains without an AHL affiliate, meaning their assignments are scattered around the league. That’s why Ponomarev will join the Arizona Coyotes’ affiliate, after appearing in his rookie AHL season last year – scoring 46 points in 64 games with the Chicago Wolves, a mark that ranked second on the team. Ponomarev has looked strong in his North American play since coming over in 2021-22 and will look to continue working his way into the NHL lineup now that he’s healthy.
Morning Notes: Pysyk, Clifton, Zub
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL have signed defenseman Mark Pysyk to a professional try-out. Pysyk is a 521-game veteran of the NHL, most recently playing for the Buffalo Sabres in the 2021-22 season.
Pysyk scored 12 points in the 68 games he was awarded in 2021-22, six points shy of his career-high in scoring. He set that career-high with the 2019-20 Florida Panthers, reaching 18 points in 58 games. It speaks to the modest career that Pysyk had, with much of his value being provided on the defensive side of the puck. How Pysyk will be utilized on his newly-signed PTO is up in the air but if he plays AHL games, it will be his first experience in the league since 2015-16. It will also be his first time playing with a minor league club other than the Rochester Americans, whom Pysyk totaled 145 games with throughout the early stages of his career.
Other notes from around the league:
- Buffalo’s Connor Clifton is set to return from the two-game suspension that he was levied for a high hit on Nico Hischier. Hischier remains out with an upper-body injury as a result of the hit, with it being announced yesterday that he is likely to miss at least four games.
- Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub will not suit up for the team’s Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Kings. Zub has been battling a head injury for much of the early season, with a concussion holding the defender out now. Ottawa is also facing injuries to Thomas Chabot and Erik Brännström. Rookie defender Nikolas Matinpalo is operating as the Senators’ seventh defenseman and will likely slot into Zub’s place.
Panthers Recall Forward Rasmus Asplund
The Florida Panthers have recalled Rasmus Asplund from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. This transaction comes in the wake of injuries to Sam Bennett and Evan Rodrigues. Bennett is expected to miss some time with a lower-body injury, while Rodrigues is questionable for the team’s Thursday night game.
Asplund has played in seven games with Charlotte to start the year, scoring two goals and five points. This tally ties him for third on his minor league team in scoring. Asplund has totaled 183 career NHL games, most recently appearing with the Nashville Predators after the team traded a seventh-round pick to the Sabres for him. He appeared in 19 games with the Predators, failing to score any points and recording a -6. The team failed to extend him a qualifying offer before July 1st, making him an unrestricted free agent that Florida signed to a one-year, league-minimum, two-way contract.
The two-way deal is certainly not what a former 33rd-overall selection would hope for in their age-25 season but Asplund will get a chance to prove himself once more after a hot start in the AHL. The Panthers are likely to ask Asplund to suit up at some point during this recall. He is their only extra forward who’s both healthy enough to play and signed to an active contract, although Brett Ritchie remains on a professional try-out. Either way, it doesn’t seem Florida has many other places to turn until they’re able to get key pieces back from injury.