Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Evening Notes: Foligno, Kane, Czarnik

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno is dealing with a nagging lower-body injury and won’t dress tonight when the Wild take on the San Jose Sharks. Foligno missed Tuesday’s practice with the injury and has missed several games throughout this season with what was also described as lower-body injuries.

Despite the lingering issue, the 32-year-old has dressed in 55 games this season with Minnesota, posting 10 goals and 12 assists while playing 14:29 a game. It’s been a tough season filled with starts and stops for the Buffalo, New York native, which has led to speculation from Russo that perhaps the Wild will shut Foligno down for the rest of the season to allow him a chance to heal.

In other evening notes:

  • The Detroit Red Wings will be without the services of forward Patrick Kane this evening as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The Red Wings have been dealing with an illness travelling around their dressing room and it appears that Kane is the latest victim of it. Kane’s absence could loom large as the Red Wings sit two points back of Washington for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and Kane has been hot as of late with nine points in his last eight games.
  • The Red Wings will also be without center Austin Czarnik who is also dealing with an illness. No word on whether Czarnik and Kane are dealing with the same ailment or not but given the issues with sickness this week its likely a safe bet. The 31-year-old was recalled from the AHL two weeks ago and has struggled at the NHL level this season with just a single assist in 25 games. With Kane and Czarnik out of the lineup, Daniel Sprong will draw back in after sitting the last three games as a healthy scratch.

Minnesota Wild Sign Jack Peart To ELC

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman Jack Peart to a three-year entry-level contract that will start in the 2024-25 season. The 20-year-old Peart was drafted by the Wild in the second round (54th overall) of the 2021 NHL entry draft and will begin his professional hockey career after spending the last three seasons at St. Cloud State (NCAA).

Peart dressed in 108 games for St. Cloud State and registered eight goals and 47 assists during that time to go along with a plus-15 rating and 64 PIM. The native of Grand Rapids, Minnesota set a career-high in points during the 2022-23 season when he posted three goals and 21 assists in 39 games. He had an offensive drop this past year, but the Wild saw enough from the young rearguard to lock him up to an ELC.

At the international level, Peart was a member of the U.S. National Junior team during the 2022 and 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships. He dressed in 11 games between the two tournaments and had five assists as well as a plus-3 rating. He won a bronze medal in 2023 as a member of the team.

With Peart locked up for the next three seasons, it leaves the rest of this season up in the air. Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic have reported that Peart has signed an amateur tryout to play for AHL Iowa for the rest of the season and will report to Des Moines today.

Devils Recall Forward Brian Halonen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The New Jersey Devils have recalled forward Brian Halonen from the Utica Comets of the AHL. The timing of Halonen’s recall could be an indication that Devils forwards Kurtis MacDermid or Curtis Lazar may not be available tonight when the Devils face the Toronto Maple Leafs, however, both players were on the ice with the team for their morning skate today and Lazar is likely to play. Devils’ reporter Amanda Stein also tweeted that Halonen’s callup could be insurance at forward in case a forward can’t go tonight.

Halonen has seen NHL action already this season as the Delano, Minnesota native made his NHL debut on February 25th against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 25-year-old registered a single shot in just under 10 minutes of ice time and was able to force a takeaway. He didn’t look out of place on the NHL ice; however, the Devils sheltered his minutes and gave him the bulk of his zone starts in the offensive zone.

Halonen was an undrafted free agent signing out of Michigan Tech and has developed into a reliable scorer at the AHL level in his third season of professional hockey. He’s dressed in 30 games this season for Utica and posted a career-high 16 goals and eight assists.

Morning Notes: Lysell, Quinn, Cumiskey

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Michael Derosa of The Hockey News is reporting that one of the Boston Bruins top forward prospects could miss significant time with an injury. 21-year-old Fabian Lysell suffered an apparent upper-body injury on March 23rd after he fell into the boards in a game against the Charlotte Checkers. The 2021 first-round pick has spent the season in the AHL with the Providence Bruins and has heated up recently registering seven assists in his last five games.

Lysell is in his second season of professional hockey and has posted 15 goals and 35 assists in 56 games this year with Providence. The timing of Lysell’s injury is particularly unfortunate as he was making a case for a call-up with his solid numbers this season.

In other morning notes:

  • Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News is reporting that Sabres forward Jack Quinn joined the team this morning to take part in practice as a full participant. Quinn had surgery on January 29th for a lower-body injury and was expected to miss eight weeks. The 22-year-old hasn’t played since January 27th and has five goals and seven assists in 17 games this season for the Sabres. The Cobden, Ontario native was expected to take a big step this season but has dealt with multiple injury issues in what has turned into a lost season for him and the Sabres. Buffalo has 10 games remaining this season and currently sits six points behind the Washington Capitals who for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals have 12 games left on the schedule. Quinn did not comment on when he will dress for a game, but based on reports from practice it could happen sooner than later.
  • Former Colorado Avalanche defenseman Kyle Cumiskey has reportedly signed a two-year extension with Düsseldorfer EG to continue his career in the DEL. The 37-year-old played 139 career NHL games over parts of six seasons with the Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks and has spent the last four seasons in Germany. The Abbotsford, British Columbia native last saw action in North America during the 2019-20 season when he was a member of the AHL’s Binghamton Devils.

Islanders’ Scott Mayfield Out For Season

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The New York Islanders have announced that defenseman Scott Mayfield had successful surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season. They didn’t make any official announcements regarding the nature of the procedure but did say that the 31-year-old is expected to make a full recovery and shouldn’t have any issues completing his summer training regimen.

Mayfield hasn’t played for over a month and had been dealing with the lingering effects of an ankle injury he suffered at the beginning of the season. He was initially placed on the LTIR and was expected to be out of action for 4-6 weeks. Many speculated at that time that his season could be done and with today’s announcement, the team has made it official.

After a career year last season, Mayfield struggled to play this season with the injury and had also increased expectations after signing a new seven-year contract extension last summer. While he’s never offered much offensively, his underlying numbers fell off a cliff as he has struggled to get around the ice. Mayfield had just five assists in 41 games this season, after posting a career-high six goals and 18 assists in 82 games last season.

With six years left on his contract, his recovery will be an important factor for the Islanders next season if they would once again like to contend for a playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Penguins Recall Sam Poulin, Noel Acciari To IR

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled former first-round pick Sam Poulin from their AHL affiliate and placed center Noel Acciari on the injured reserve.

The 23-year-old Poulin was taken 21st overall by the Penguins in the 2019 NHL entry draft and has spent the bulk of his professional career playing in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. His callup is no surprise given that he has found traction this season posting 13 goals and 14 assists in 36 games. Several Penguins pundits speculated that Poulin would get an extended look after the NHL trade deadline as the Penguins are looking toward next season and which of their younger players can make an impact soon. Poulin has yet to dress for an NHL game this season but did have an assist in three games last year during a short NHL audition.

Acciari on the other hand is back on injured reserve for the third time this season as injuries have limited him to just 55 games in which he has produced just four goals and three assists. The 32-year-old was signed last summer to a three-year $6MM contract as a free agent but hasn’t had the kind of season he or the Penguins were hoping for. Not much is known about Acciari’s injury other than that it is a lower-body injury that will keep him out of the lineup until at least the last game of the regular season as he is designated as LTIR according to Seth Roarbaugh of Tribune-Review Sports.

The Penguins welcome Jake Guentzel back to Pittsburgh tonight for the first time since trading him to the Hurricanes just before the NHL trade deadline.

Seattle Kraken Recall Defenseman Gustav Olofsson

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Seattle Kraken have recalled defenseman Gustav Olofsson from the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL on an emergency basis. The 29-year-old has yet to dress this season for the Kraken but did get into three contests for the team last season in which he was held scoreless.

After earning two NHL recalls last year, Olofsson signed a two-year two-way extension with the Kraken last June and has spent the entirety of this season in the AHL dressing in 41 contests registering a goal and seven assists while posting a +15.

A native of Boras, Sweden, Olofsson was originally drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL entry draft by the Minnesota Wild. He spent five seasons in the Wild organization dressing in 56 NHL games before spending three seasons in the Montreal Canadiens system and then eventually signing with the Kraken in 2021-22.

Since signing with Seattle, Olofsson has seen limited NHL action but has been a key component to the Firebirds AHL success, including dressing in 26 playoff games as Coachella Valley came within a goal of winning the Calder Cup last season.

If Olofsson can see NHL action during his recall he will still be in search of his first NHL goal as he has 11 career assists in 62 career NHL games.

Evening Notes: Fast, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted that Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast has re-joined team practice after missing Carolina’s last three games with an apparent upper-body injury. Fast hasn’t played since March 19th and is “nursing something” according to Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind ’Amour.

Fast had struggled leading up to the injury announcement, tallying just a single assist in his last six games. Fast has never been an offensive juggernaut but has been a consistent 30-point producer and has seen a drop off this season in his scoring. Through 66 games, the 32-year-old has just six goals and 12 assists and his shooting percentage has dropped four percent below his career average to just 8.6% on the season.

In other evening notes:

  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic writes that the Columbus Blue Jackets are unlikely to interview director of player development Rick Nash for their vacant general manager position even though he was just named the general manager of Team Canada for the upcoming IIHF World Championships. Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson spoke with The Athletic on Saturday to discuss his search for the team’s next GM after firing Jarmo Kekäläinen. Davidson reiterated that he is looking to hire a person with experience as an NHL GM and that he planned to look outside Nationwide Arena for the next hire. Davidson told The Athletic that he has spoken with Nash and others within the organization to let them know that they will not get an interview for the position as the timing isn’t right for them to move into the role of general manager.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks had a trio of injured players on the ice today as Taylor Hall, Connor Murphy, and Reese Johnson skated before the teams practice. Hall won’t be back into the lineup until next season after undergoing ACL surgery on his right knee in November. While Hall’s timeline is fairly clear, Murphy’s return date is murky at this point as he has not played since January 13th and may not return before the end of the season. Murphy was initially diagnosed with a groin injury, but that was eventually changed to a core injury. Johnson also joined the other veterans after being ruled out due to concussion protocol. The 25-year-old last played on March 12th and sat out the last five games. He has dressed in 42 games this season for Chicago and has two goals and three assists.

Blue Jackets Recall Tyler Angle

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that they’ve made an emergency recall from the Cleveland Monsters and are bringing up forward Tyler Angle to the NHL roster.  The 23-year-old made his NHL debut last year in April with the Blue Jackets, recording his first career NHL goal in his second career game on April 14th, 2023, against the Buffalo Sabres.

Angle hasn’t seen NHL action since his two-game audition last April and is in the midst of his fourth consecutive season in the AHL with the Monsters. Thus far this season in 34 games, the former seventh-round pick in the 2019 NHL entry draft has seven goals and eight assists. Throughout his AHL career, Angle has 40 goals and 59 assists in 194 career AHL contests.

The Blue Jackets forward ranks have been decimated by injuries in recent weeks which led to Angle getting the emergency recall. Columbus is without the services of forwards Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli, Justin Danforth, Yegor Chinakhov and Sean Kuraly due to injury and is also without Patrik Laine who is out indefinitely after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.

Angle is unlikely to be with the Blue Jackets for an extended period as Kuraly and Chinakhov could be back in the lineup over the next week or two barring any unforeseen setbacks.

Martin St-Louis Re-Joins Montreal Canadiens

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that head coach Martin St-Louis has re-joined the team in Denver after taking ten days away from the club to be with his family. St-Louis will be back behind the bench tomorrow night when the Canadiens take on the Colorado Avalanche. St-Louis thanked Geoff Molson, Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, along with assistant coach Trevor Letowski who had assumed head coaching duties in St-Louis’ absence. He also thanked the entire Canadiens organization for supporting his family.

St-Louis took time away from the Canadiens to be with his family after his youngest son Mason suffered a hockey injury while playing for U15 Mid-Fairfield in Connecticut. A week later the 16-year-old reportedly suffered complications from the injury and ended up in hospital. Since his hospitalization, Mason’s condition has thankfully stabilized, and he is now recovering at home. St-Louis thanked everyone for respecting the privacy of his family and asked that people focus on the team going forward for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

St-Louis’ return could give the Canadiens a boost as they look to close out the season on a high note. The young team will miss the playoffs for the third straight season under St-Louis but is just four points shy of matching last season’s totals with 12 games left to play. The Canadiens have improved in each season under St-Louis and could be poised to contend for a playoff spot next season if they can make some moves this summer to address their roster deficiencies.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top