Training Camp Cuts: 9/25/24
Teams will begin to make more aggressive cuts from their training camp roster as we enter the second week of camp activities. Players continue to be released from amateur tryouts and returned to their junior clubs, while those already in the organization on AHL contracts are also being returned to teams’ minor-league affiliates. As always, we’ll update this article with all of Wednesday’s camp cuts.
Last updated: 6:42 p.m.
Edmonton Oilers (per team announcement)
G Brett Brochu (released from PTO to AHL Bakersfield)
D Connor Corcoran (released from PTO to AHL Bakersfield)
F Jayden Grubbe (to AHL Bakersfield)
D Alex Kannok-Leipert (released from PTO to AHL Bakersfield)
F Matvey Petrov (to AHL Bakersfield)
F James Stefan (to AHL Bakersfield)
G Connor Ungar (to AHL Bakersfield)
F Jasper Weatherby (released from PTO to AHL Bakersfield)
F Cameron Wright (released from PTO to AHL Bakersfield)
Philadelphia Flyers (per team announcement)
G Carson Bjarnason (to WHL Brandon)
F Sawyer Boulton (released from PTO to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Nick Capone (released from PTO to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Émile Chouinard (released from PTO to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Alexis Gendron (to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Spencer Gill (to QMJHL Rimouski)
G Sam Hillebrandt (released from ATO to OHL Barrie)
D Matteo Mann (to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Matthew Miller (released from PTO to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Ethan Samson (to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Sam Sedley (released from PTO to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Carter Sotheran (to WHL Portland)
F Zayde Wisdom (to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Josh Zakreski (released from ATO to WHL Portland)
Pittsburgh Penguins (per team announcement)
D Finn Harding (released to OHL Brampton)
F Tanner Howe (released to WHL Regina)
Tampa Bay Lightning (per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times)
D Jan Golicic (to QMJHL Gatineau)
F Ethan Hay (to OHL Saginaw)
G Harrison Meneghin (to WHL Lethbridge)
F Kaden Pitre (to OHL Flint)
Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)
F Berkly Catton (to WHL Spokane)
F Carson Rehkopf (to OHL Brampton)
F Nathan Villeneuve (to OHL Sudbury)
Utah Hockey Club (per Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune)
F Kyle Crnkovic (released from PTO)
F Reggie Newman (released from ATO to WHL Victoria)
PHR Live Chat: 9/25/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson will host his weekly live chat today at 2:00 p.m. Central. You can use this link to join now and submit your questions.
Atlantic Notes: Matthews, Järnkrok, Dahlin, Ullmark, Eliasson
Maple Leafs forwards Auston Matthews and Calle Järnkrok remain absent from practice Wednesday after they were given injury designations by the club yesterday, per Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star.
Matthews’ ailment appears to be the most minor of minor injuries. He’s not listed as day-to-day by the club, which instead said he’s out for maintenance today. Head coach Craig Berube said Tuesday that he’d sustained a minor upper-body injury that caused him to leave practice early, but that there wasn’t much cause for concern.
Järnkrok, meanwhile, is still listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and is still a little bit away from returning. Both should be considered doubtful for Thursday’s preseason match against the Canadiens at this stage, especially for a game with no standings implications.
More news and notes from around the Atlantic Division:
- Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is with his teammates in Germany today and has shed his non-contact jersey ahead of Friday’s exhibition game against EHC Munich, the team said. He’s been held out of preseason action thus far after sustaining an undisclosed injury one week ago. It appears he’ll be ready to go for the overseas contest later this week, and should be all systems go for their regular season opener against the Devils in Prague in nine days.
- Senators goalie Linus Ullmark is back at practice Wednesday, per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. He was held out of practice for the past couple of days while battling an undisclosed injury. He could be an option to play in Thursday’s home game against the Sabres’ B-squad, Garrioch added.
- Still with Ottawa, they now know where 2024 second-round pick Gabriel Eliasson will play this season. After being cut from their training camp roster earlier this week, the Swedish defenseman’s major junior rights were picked up by the OHL’s Barrie Colts today in a trade with the Niagara IceDogs. The hulking 6’7″, 216-lb 18-year-old is expected to sign a scholarship and development agreement and report to the Colts for his first season in North America after spending the last two seasons in his native Sweden in HV71’s junior system.
Ryan Lindgren Out “At Least” Multiple Weeks With Upper-Body Injury
Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren will miss “at least a few weeks” with an upper-body injury sustained in last night’s win over the Islanders, head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters today (including the New York Post’s Mollie Walker).
Lindgren’s availability for the start of the regular season is now squarely in doubt. He did not return after fighting Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield in the first period. The fight followed a knee-on-knee hit that Mayfield laid on Rangers center Filip Chytil, temporarily knocking him out of the game, but he later returned and isn’t expected to miss any time.
The 26-year-old Lindgren is no stranger to injuries. He powered through to play 76 games last season, but he was rarely healthy – manifesting in the form of the worst possession play he’s displayed in his six-year NHL career. His -3.0 relative CF% and 48.6 xGF% were career-lows despite still seeing routine top-pairing usage at even strength alongside Adam Fox.
When healthy, Lindgren is a minute-munching stay-at-home defender who regularly contributes between 15 to 20 points and hovers around 20 minutes per game without being a possession liability. The Rangers were banking on him returning to that form alongside Fox once again, but they’ll have to wait to get him back in the regular rotation.
In the meantime, it’s a premier opportunity for 23-year-old Zachary Jones. He’s now slated for top-four duties to start the campaign after spending most of last season in the press box as the Blueshirts’ seventh defenseman, limited to 31 appearances. The 2019 third-round pick has 17 points and a -10 rating in 69 career NHL appearances over the last four seasons, averaging 15 minutes per game.
He’ll see a sharp uptick in usage, especially if he’s deployed as a direct replacement for Lindgren alongside Fox. That could very well be the case, allowing the Rangers to keep having K’Andre Miller anchor his own pairing behind Fox.
Lindgren’s season-opening absence also means a left-shot defenseman previously expected to start the season with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack will be on the NHL roster instead to assume third-pairing duties as Jones was expected to. Line rushes today indicate that it could be 28-year-old Connor Mackey, who skated alongside Fox, per Walker. Mackey made a lone appearance for the Rags last year but has 40 total NHL appearances to his name. He posted 11 points, 82 PIMs and a +12 rating in 44 contests for Hartford in 2023-24.
Utah’s Nick Bjugstad Expected To Miss Start Of Season
Utah center Nick Bjugstad is expected to miss the franchise’s first-ever regular season game with an upper-body injury, a source tells ALL Utah Hockey’s Craig Morgan. The 32-year-old pivot has yet to participate in training camp due to the injury and was listed as week-to-week when it opened last week.
It’s a tough break for a solid veteran fixture that’s done well to shed his injury-prone label. Bjugstad has appeared in 70-plus games in each of the past two seasons, his first time doing that on back-to-back occasions since the 2013-14 and 2014-15 campaigns.
The Minneapolis native spent the last two years with the Coyotes, aside from a brief post-trade deadline stint with the Oilers in 2023, returning to Arizona as a free agent the following offseason. He’s entering the second season of a two-year, $4.2MM deal and followed the rest of the former Coyotes roster to Utah this summer.
Last season marked a career resurgence for Bjugstad, a first-round pick of the Panthers back in 2010. His 22 goals, 23 assists, 45 points, and +11 rating in 76 games were all his best totals since posting a career-high 49 points with Florida in the 2017-18 season. He also logged a career-high 17:27 per game for the Yotes last year, finished seventh among qualified Arizona skaters with a 49.4 CF%, and finished fifth on the team with 118 hits.
The 6’6″, 209-lb pivot is projected to be an all-around fixture for Utah in its first season when he returns to health. But for now, his absence is a good indication that 22-year-old Josh Doan, who finished last season with five goals and nine points in 11 games for the Coyotes after a call-up from AHL Tucson, should crack the opening night roster and take the ice on Oct. 8 for their home opener against the Blackhawks.
In better injury news, defenseman John Marino has been upgraded from week-to-week to day-to-day with his upper-body injury, Morgan said. Marino, acquired from the Devils in a trade for draft picks on June 29, also has yet to skate in training camp. The 27-year-old posted 25 points (4 G, 21 A) with a -6 rating in 75 games for New Jersey last year, averaging over 20 minutes per game for the fifth straight season to begin his NHL career. He’ll slot into Utah’s top four to begin the season.
LeBrun’s Latest: Swayman, Kessel, Shattenkirk, Ullmark, Draft
The Bruins and RFA netminder Jeremy Swayman are only discussing long-term contract options at this late stage in negotiations, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic wrote Tuesday. But beyond that, there’s still a sizeable gap between the two sides in desired AAV/cap hit, and there’s no sign of movement with under two weeks to go until Boston’s regular-season opener.
If it gets done before the season, it’ll likely be with little time to spare before Oct. 8, LeBrun writes. Swayman isn’t expected to participate in the remainder of the preseason at all.
That leaves plenty of opportunity in the run-up for Joonas Korpisalo, who’s looked decent early on in camp after struggling to the tune of a .890 SV% in 55 appearances with the Senators last season. Acquired in the Linus Ullmark swap to be Swayman’s backup, he’ll be thrust back into a No. 1 role if the contract stalemate extends into the regular season.
There’s more from LeBrun:
- Over a week into training camps and two weeks after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated he was still hoping to catch on, free agent winger Phil Kessel still isn’t considering retirement, LeBrun said. Teams can still sign players to professional tryouts, and while it’s rare to do so after the start of camp, it does happen. “A couple of teams” have stayed in contact with Kessel’s camp while waiting to see how some early training camp battles played out, so there could be some movement there in the coming days. “He’s also not begging for a job, but he genuinely believes he can still help someone,” LeBrun wrote.
- Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk finds himself in a similar situation, LeBrun said, although he at least logged NHL minutes last year. In fact, he did fairly well with the Bruins, posting 24 points and a -2 rating in 64 contests while averaging 15:47 per game. “I would imagine Shattenkirk will land somewhere on the cheap over the next few weeks,” LeBrun said, indicating Shattenkirk could remain unsigned past opening night but sign somewhere quickly if an early-season injury arises.
- It’s also status quo between Ullmark and his new home in Ottawa on a lack of extension talks, LeBrun relays from colleague Chris Johnston on Tuesday’s edition of Insider Trading. “GM Steve Staios wants to give Ullmark time to get as excited about the team and city as the organization is already about having him in the fold,” wrote LeBrun.
- There were some slight rumblings that the NHL’s general managers would reverse their October 2023 vote to decentralize the league’s entry draft starting in 2025 after the success of the 2024 event in Vegas at Sphere. Those rumblings will go unfulfilled; as the league told LeBrun, “At the request of a large majority of clubs, it is moving forward with plans for a decentralized draft for June 2025.” Prospects will still attend an event, but team staff won’t be traveling.
East Notes: Fox, Panarin, Kulemin
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox is back to full health after playing through a re-aggravated strained MCL in his right knee in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he told the New York Post’s Mollie Walker on Tuesday.
“It’s funny because I missed 10 games, but it feels like you’ve missed like 30 when you’re sitting out and everything,” Fox said, referring to when he initially sustained the injury in November of last season. “I think when people get hurt, you maybe come back and you’re tentative. I think it’s a normal reaction. I think overall, still, the year was good. Obviously, now, that’s in the past and I feel healthy now. Not too worried about any of that stuff anymore.”
The re-occurrence of the injury during the Rangers’ First Round win over the Capitals did limit Fox’s effectiveness, keeping him to a rather pedestrian eight assists in 16 games. But it didn’t hamper him at all upon his return during the regular season. The 26-year-old managed the best offensive showing of his five-year NHL career, torching opponents for 56 assists and 73 points in 72 games – not career-highs, but his first time breaking the point-per-game plateau. He averaged north of 23 minutes per game and finished top five in Norris Trophy voting for the fourth year in a row.
There’s more out of the Eastern Conference:
- The Rangers had a contender for the most memorable game of the preseason Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, erasing a 4-1 deficit in the final 6:10 of regulation to defeat the Islanders 6-4. But it came with a price – star winger Artemi Panarin left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury and is still being evaluated, head coach Peter Laviolette said last night. There’s yet to be an update on the 32-year-old, who finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting last season after leading the Rangers in scoring with 120 points (49 G, 71 A) in 82 games. The team also lost top-four defenseman Ryan Lindgren to an upper-body injury, likely sustained in his fight with Islanders defender Scott Mayfield after the latter laid a knee-on-knee hit on Rangers center Filip Chytil. Chytil, who played just 10 games last season due to concussion symptoms, was able to return.
- Many eyebrows were raised when the Senators signed 38-year-old winger Nikolai Kulemin to a professional tryout a few weeks ago. After all, he hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2017-18 season and spent the past six years as a serviceable but non-dominant force in the Kontinental Hockey League. Kulemin recently told Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic that his son, Aleks Kulemin, will play U-16 hockey with the Toronto-area Don Mills Flyers this season and wasn’t ready to part with his family or his playing career, leading him to once again pursue opportunities in North America, preferably north of the border.
Panthers Notes: Verhaeghe, Nosek, Knight
Carter Verhaeghe immediately cemented himself as a core top-four piece for the Panthers after initially landing there as a free agent in 2020. Now in the prime of his career, the 29-year-old could be one of the top unrestricted free agents on the market next summer with a major chance to cash in.
But Verhaeghe has been working on an extension to stay in Florida ever since he became eligible to sign one on July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported at the time. The forward recently told the Associated Press’ Colby Guy for Pucks and Palms that the goal remains to sign a new deal and that he’s not concerned about starting the regular season without a contract.
Verhaeghe hit the 30-goal and 70-point marks last season for the second year in a row and is entering the final year of a three-year, $12.5MM deal that’s proven to be one of the best values in the NHL over the past few campaigns. His 11 goals in 24 postseason games in 2024 led the Panthers en route to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
More from Florida:
- The club could be without free agent addition Tomáš Nosek to start the season. Head coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday that the center will be out “weeks, not days,” with an upper-body injury he sustained during preseason action against the Predators on Sunday (via The Hockey News’ David Dwork). Maurice added it’s not a concussion-related injury. Nosek signed a one-year, league-minimum pact when free agency opened and was expected to start the season as their fourth-line center. He’s coming off an injury-plagued season with the Devils that limited him to six points in 36 appearances with a -11 rating.
- All signs point to Spencer Knight returning to the NHL ranks this season and beating out veteran competition Chris Driedger for the backup job to Sergei Bobrovsky to open the season. Maurice told Dwork that the 23-year-old has looked strong in training camp and is “back on that curve” in regards to development. Knight hasn’t played an NHL game since entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in February 2023 and spent all of last season on assignment to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, where he had a .905 SV% and 2.41 GAA in 45 games. The 2019 13th overall pick has two years left on his contract at a $4.5MM cap hit.
Training Camp Cuts: 9/24/24
Training camps have been ongoing across the league for almost a week already. With the preseason schedule now officially in full swing, teams will begin to think about making more sweeping cuts to their rosters. We’re keeping track as teams continue to trim their rosters on Tuesday. This article will be updated throughout the day as more transactions come in.
Boston Bruins (per Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe)
D Loke Johansson (to QMJHL Moncton)
Calgary Flames (per team release)
F Jacob Battaglia (to OHL Kingston)
D Axel Hurtig (to WHL Calgary)
D Eric Jamieson (to WHL Everett)
F Hunter Laing (to WHL Prince George)
F Luke McNamara (released from ATO to OHL Kingston)
D Henry Mews (to OHL Ottawa)
F Luke Misa (to OHL Brampton)
D Étienne Morin (to QMJHL Moncton)
Chicago Blackhawks (per Tracey Myers of NHL.com)
D Ty Henry (to OHL Erie)
F Martin Misiak (to OHL Erie)
F Alex Pharand (to OHL Sudbury)
F Marek Vanacker (to OHL Brantford)
Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)
D Charlie Elick (to WHL Brandon)
G Evan Gardner (to WHL Saskatoon)
F Tyler Peddle (to QMJHL Saint John)
Dallas Stars (per team announcement)
D Tristan Bertucci (to OHL Barrie)
F Emil Hemming (to OHL Barrie)
Edmonton Oilers (per team announcement)
F Connor Clattenburg (to OHL Flint)
G Nathaniel Day (to OHL Flint)
F William Nicholl (to OHL London)
F Dalyn Wakely (to OHL North Bay)
New Jersey Devils (per team release)
F Cole Brown (to OHL Brantford)
G Zach Pelletier (released from ATO to QMJHL Gatineau)
F Kasper Pikkarainen (to WHL Red Deer)
D Spencer Sova (to OHL Brampton)
St. Louis Blues (per team release)
D Quinton Burns (to OHL Kingston)
D Lukas Fischer (to OHL Sarnia)
F Jake Gudelj (released from ATO to WHL Tri-City)
F Adam Jecho (to WHL Edmonton)
D Matthew Mayich (to OHL Ottawa)
D Will McIsaac (to WHL Spokane)
F Tomas Mrsic (to WHL Prince Albert)
F Juraj Pekarcik (to QMJHL Moncton)
F Jakub Stancl (to WHL Kelowna)
G David Tendeck (released from PTO to ECHL Florida)
Toronto Maple Leafs (per team announcement)
D Noah Chadwick (to WHL Lethbridge)
Washington Capitals (per team announcement)
D Ayodele Adeniye (released from PTO)
D Cam Allen (to OHL Guelph)
G Garin Bjorklund (to AHL Hershey)
F Grant Cruikshank (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
G Seth Eisele (released from PTO to ECHL South Carolina)
F Ryan Hofer (to AHL Hershey)
D Brad Hunt (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
D Jayden Lee (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Eriks Mateiko (to QMJHL Saint John)
D Leon Muggli (to NL Zug)
F Justin Nachbaur (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
D Aaron Ness (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
D Dmitry Osipov (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Garrett Roe (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Brennan Saulnier (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Matthew Strome (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Patrick Thomas (to OHL Brantford)
D Hudson Thornton (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Tyler Weiss (released from PTO to AHL Hershey)
F Oasiz Wiesblatt (released from ATO to WHL Medicine Hat)
Winnipeg Jets (per team color analyst Mitchell Clinton)
D Dylan Anhorn (released from PTO to AHL Manitoba)
D Dawson Barteaux (released from PTO to AHL Manitoba)
F Kevin He (to OHL Niagara)
F Jacob Julien (to OHL London)
F Ben King (released from PTO to AHL Manitoba)
F Connor Levis (to WHL Vancouver)
F Chaz Lucius (to AHL Manitoba)
F Markus Loponen (to WHL Victoria)
F Henri Nikkanen (to AHL Manitoba)
D Ashton Sautner (released from PTO to AHL Manitoba)
F Kieron Walton (to OHL Sudbury)
F Danny Zhilkin (to AHL Manitoba)
Maple Leafs Notes: Matthews, Jarnkrok, Lorentz, Clifford
Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews sustained a minor upper-body injury during practice Tuesday, head coach Craig Berube said (via The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel). He wasn’t slated to play in tonight’s preseason contest against the Sens anyway, and his absence isn’t expected to stretch into regular-season play.
It’s not a particularly auspicious start for the star centerman, who’s led the league in goals in three of the last four seasons. Last season’s career-high 69 were the most by any player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.
One of the league’s most well-rounded players, the 27-year-old Matthews finished fourth in Hart Trophy and third in Selke Trophy voting in 2023-24. He scored and had a +1 rating in Toronto’s 6-5 overtime loss to Ottawa on Sunday.
Other injury updates out of Toronto:
- Versatile depth forward Calle Järnkrok is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, the team told David Alter of The Hockey News. Various injuries limited Järnkrok, who turns 33 on Wednesday, to 52 appearances last season, recording 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points. He’s entering the third season of the four-year, $8.4MM contract he signed with Toronto in free agency in 2022.
- Camp invite Steven Lorentz and AHL depth piece Kyle Clifford were back on the ice today after missing brief sections of camp with upper-body injuries, per Alter. It’s a crucial step for the 28-year-old Lorentz, who’s looking to earn a contract and a roster spot in Toronto after playing a depth role for the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers last season. A fourth-line piece at most, he had three points and a -9 rating in 38 games for Florida. Clifford, 33, is signed with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this season after posting 28 points in 53 games there last year.