Metropolitan Notes: Severson, Roslovic, Daws, Hinostroza
Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson will likely make his return from an oblique injury before Christmas, Columbus team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed Wednesday. Severson, who remains on injured reserve, has missed just over a month since sustaining the injury in a November 19 contest against the Flyers, putting him well ahead of his predicted six-week return timeframe.
The 29-year-old blueliner is in his first season in Columbus after the Blue Jackets acquired his signing rights from the Devils just days before free agency opened last summer, promptly signing him to an eight-year, $50MM deal. Through his first 19 games, he’d given Columbus the level of play we’ve been accustomed to seeing from him over the past few seasons, notching eight points and a +1 rating while logging nearly 21 minutes per game. He remains in first place among Blue Jackets defenders with a 52% Corsi share at even strength, nearly four percentage points higher than second-place Zach Werenski‘s 48.1% mark. While playoffs again are out of the question for a Blue Jackets squad that’s six games below the .500 mark, Severson has been off to a strong start and looks to be an important piece of the team’s defense for the next few seasons.
Svoboda also reported that center Jack Roslovic, who is sidelined with a leg injury, won’t return until after Christmas. Roslovic, 26, is also on injured reserve and has missed 18 games with an ankle fracture.
While the Blue Jackets are at a full 23-player active roster, Severson could be activated during the current roster freeze without a corresponding transaction since it would not affect their cap hit. The Blue Jackets could wait to send down a player to be roster-compliant until December 28, when the freeze lifts.
Other notes from the Metropolitan Division today:
- The Devils assigned goalie Nico Daws to the AHL’s Utica Comets Wednesday morning, a team release states. The team promoted Daws from the minors on Sunday with Vítek Vaněček out with an undisclosed injury, but he did not see any playing time, and Vaněček returned to action last night. Daws, 22, missed the first two months of the season after undergoing offseason hip surgery and has been stellar in his return to play with the Comets, posting a .937 SV% and 2.04 GAA in two contests.
- After clearing waivers a few days back, the Penguins waited to assign winger Vinnie Hinostroza to the minors until yesterday. It was a short-lived move, as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports Hinostroza is back on the NHL roster today. The 29-year-old has a goal and two assists in 13 games with the Penguins this season, his first in Pittsburgh.
Atlantic Notes: Skinner, Lundell, Gadjovich
While Sabres fans likely have a bad taste in their mouth after last night’s 9-4 defeat at the hands of the Blue Jackets, it’s not all bad in northern New York. Star winger Jeff Skinner was a full participant in practice today for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury last Wednesday against the Avalanche and could be a game-time decision against the Maple Leafs tomorrow, head coach Don Granato told reporters (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550).
The injury has kept Skinner out of the last three games, during which the Sabres have gone 1-2-0 with a -4 goal differential. He is one of three Sabres forwards on the injured list, joining Jordan Greenway and Zemgus Girgensons. His absence hasn’t helped a Sabres team that’s slipping further out of the playoff picture every day, now sitting squarely in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-17-3 record and 29 points.
It has been a trying season for the team, but Skinner has done his job for the most part. Through 30 games, he’s tied for the team lead in goals with 12 and is now on pace to score 32 this season if he stays healthy. That would be his third straight season above the 30-goal mark, the longest streak of his career. It’s been quite the revival for the 31-year-old Skinner, who’s rebounded nicely since a 2020-21 campaign in which he scored just seven goals in 53 games. His services may not be worth the $9MM cap hit he’s locked into until 2027, but he remains a bonafide top-six winger and one of the team’s highest-scoring threats.
Skinner is currently on injured reserve, although the Sabres have an open spot on their roster after assigning Brett Murray to AHL Rochester this morning.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division today:
- Panthers center Anton Lundell will be a game-time decision against the Blues on Thursday as he deals with an illness, head coach Paul Maurice said today. Lundell has missed the last three games with the ailment, which was severe enough to warrant being placed on injured reserve on Monday. The 22-year-old is still in the development stage of his career after the Panthers selected him 12th overall in the 2020 draft, but his stagnating offensive totals since his 44-point rookie season cause some concern. Through 28 games this year, Lundell has two goals and ten assists for 12 points and a +4 rating while averaging 15:38 per game.
- Sticking with Florida, Maurice also confirmed winger Jonah Gadjovich will remain out with an illness for tomorrow’s game. Since signing a one-year deal with the Panthers a few days after the season began in October, the fourth-line grinder has played in nine games, recording one assist and a whopping 43 penalty minutes while averaging 6:42 per contest. He has been unavailable for the team’s last two contests but was a healthy scratch in three preceding games, meaning he hasn’t suited up since December 8 against the Penguins.
Nolan Patrick Walks Back Reports That He’s Retired
3:00 PM: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported that Nolan Patrick has not officially retired from the NHL, despite previous reports. Friedman shared that Patrick declined to comment further.
11:00 AM: Former Flyers and Golden Knights center Nolan Patrick has officially retired from the NHL, multiple sources reported Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The 25-year-old was an unrestricted free agent and has not played since March 2022 due to a migraine disorder. The Flyers’ 2017 second-overall pick and son of former NHL winger Steve Patrick has been hired as a skills coach by The Power Play, a hockey coaching program run by former NHL forward Jayce Hawryluk.
It’s been challenging to watch Patrick’s consistent migraine issues for all hockey fans. After a 2015-16 season in which Patrick finished fifth in WHL scoring with 41 goals, 61 assists and 102 points in 71 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings, he was viewed as the slam-dunk first-overall pick in the upcoming 2017 draft.
However, Patrick’s significant injury issues began during the 2016 WHL Playoffs. He sustained a sports hernia injury late in the postseason and, despite having prompt surgery to repair the hernia, complications would arise from the surgery early in the 2016-17 season. Those complications limited him to 33 games with Brandon that year, and although he still excelled with 20 goals and 46 points, his point-production pace took a small step backward from the year before. He also missed the chance to play for Canada in that year’s World Junior Championship, leading eventual Devils captain Nico Hischier to usurp him as the first-overall selection in 2017.
Patrick signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers promptly after the draft. However, the team quickly announced Patrick would miss their offseason development activities as he was recovering from a second abdominal surgery performed just days before the draft. Thankfully, it didn’t stop him from being a full-time player at age 19 during his rookie season with the Flyers, in which he logged 13 goals and 30 points in 73 games while averaging 13:43 per game. The season didn’t result in any Calder Trophy recognition, but it did seem like his development into a future star in Philadelphia was back on track. Unfortunately, his 73 games and 13 goals would both be career-highs.
He was able to stay the course and avoid injury issues in the 2018-19 campaign, but his point production didn’t break out like most expected. Playing in 72 games, he matched last season’s goal total and added one more assist, essentially putting up the same stat line despite an increase in ice time.
However, during the following offseason, the Flyers announced Patrick had been diagnosed with a migraine disorder, which the diagnosing physician believed to be genetic and not related to a hockey injury. While he would begin skating with the team months into the season, the COVID pandemic started shortly after that, and he could not participate in the league’s Return to Play protocol, keeping him out for the entirety of the 2019-20 campaign. That was the first of two seasons Patrick would be held out entirely due to migraine issues.
A restricted free agent after the expiration of his entry-level contract, Patrick signed a one-year qualifying offer to remain with the team and cleared medical protocols to begin the 2020-21 season on the active roster, playing his first NHL game in nearly two full calendar years. He was still feeling the effects of his migraine disorder, however, and it reflected in his performance. By any metric, Patrick was one of the worst players in the league that year, posting four goals and nine points in 52 games with a staggering -30 rating, the worst on a Flyers team that failed to make the playoffs but still finished above the .500 mark.
Logically, that season led both the Flyers and Patrick to want an amicable departure and a fresh start for the former high-flying prospect. In July 2021, the Flyers traded Patrick to the Golden Knights in the ill-fated three-way trade with the Predators that saw high-end defenseman Ryan Ellis end up with the Flyers. Ellis played just four games in a Philadelphia sweater before a poorly-handled injury to his psoas muscle ended his career.
After acquiring his signing rights, Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon, who had presided over Patrick’s junior tenure in Brandon, signed him to a two-year, $2.4MM contract. With his migraine disorder still ongoing, however, Patrick would play just 25 games for Vegas in 2021-22, recording two goals and seven points while averaging 11:30 per game. He was one of many Golden Knights players who missed significant time that season, leading the franchise to miss the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
While Patrick was under contract with Vegas last season, he remained on long-term injured reserve for the whole campaign and did not suit up in any games en route to the Golden Knights’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup. Vegas did not tender Patrick a qualifying offer last summer, and thus, he became an unrestricted free agent. The Winnipeg-born center finishes his NHL career with 32 goals, 45 assists, 77 points, and a -36 rating across 222 games.
All of us at PHR wish Patrick health and fulfillment in his post-playing career.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blues Assign Hugh McGing To AHL
The Blues have assigned forward Hugh McGing to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, general manager Doug Armstrong said today. McGing will get extended playing time in the minors over the holidays while the NHL roster freeze is in effect until December 28.
St. Louis recalled McGing, 25, for his first stint on the NHL roster in 2023-24 earlier this month. He’s played in all five of the Blues’ games since his recall but has struggled mightily, posting no points and a -5 rating while averaging 8:23 per game. The Western Michigan grad attempted five shots, went one for seven in the faceoff circle, and posted a 42.9% Corsi share at even strength.
McGing is in his sixth season in the Blues organization. The Blues acquired his NHL rights by making him the 138th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft after the 5-foot-8, 176-pound forward notched nine goals, 21 assists, 30 points, 40 PIMs, and a -7 rating in 36 games in his sophomore season with the Broncos.
After two more seasons at Western Michigan with similar production and serving as captain in his senior season, McGing inked a two-year entry-level contract with the Blues in March 2020. He’s now on his third NHL contract, inking a pair of one-year extensions after his initial contract expired to remain in the organization.
McGing has played primarily in the minors for the Blues’ top-level affiliates since turning pro in 2020. However, he did earn his first set of NHL recalls last season and made his major-league debut on April 12, 2023, logging 9:37 in a 5-2 loss against the Stars. His AHL production is pacing for career highs this season with four goals, 11 assists and 15 points in 21 games, a 0.71 points-per-game pace. His previous career-high pace was 0.55, set with Springfield last season.
McGing does not need to clear waivers to return to Springfield as he’s played fewer than ten games and remained on the NHL roster for fewer than 30 days since clearing waivers in October when he was cut from the Blues’ training camp roster. The Chicago-born forward will be a restricted free agent next summer and is eligible for salary arbitration. With no corresponding transaction, the Blues have one open spot on the active roster.
Red Wings Place Klim Kostin On Injured Reserve
The Red Wings placed winger Klim Kostin on injured reserve Tuesday, per a team announcement. In a corresponding transaction, the team recalled forward Austin Czarnik from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions.
Kostin, 24, was on injured reserve as late as last week and returned from an undisclosed injury to play a pair of contests. Monday night against Anaheim, Kostin took a minor penalty and logged two shots on goal in 6:30 of ice time before leaving the game in the second period after taking an open-ice hit from Ducks bruiser Radko Gudas. The Red Wings have not disclosed what type of injury Kostin sustained.
This is Kostin’s first season in Hockeytown after Detroit acquired his signing rights from the Oilers in exchange for future considerations and the contract of former Oilers winger Kailer Yamamoto, which the Red Wings promptly bought out, just before the opening of free agency last July. Kostin was not issued a qualifying offer by the Red Wings but swiftly signed a two-year, $4MM contract to stay with Detroit when free agency opened. Slated for restricted free agency with arbitration rights in 2025, Kostin carries a $2MM cap hit and is owed $1.8MM in salary this season.
It’s been a disappointing run so far for Kostin, who scored a career-high 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games with Edmonton last season. The 2017 first-round pick of the Blues missed most of his draft year due to injury, and he hasn’t ever recovered from the loss of development time, failing to advance his offensive game past an NHL fourth-line level. In 23 games with the Red Wings, Kostin has two goals and one assist, averaging 8:40 per game. He’s also been a healthy scratch three times this season.
Czarnik replaces Kostin’s spot on the roster after being assigned to Grand Rapids yesterday. The 31-year-old AHL veteran has played 15 games with the Red Wings this season in a fourth-line role, registering one assist. The veteran of nearly 200 NHL games over the past eight seasons is expected to center a fourth line with Christian Fischer and Daniel Sprong in Wednesday’s game against the Jets.
Capitals Recall Ivan Miroshnichenko, Hendrix Lapierre
10:09 a.m.: Further to this morning’s news, the Capitals have now moved Oshie to injured reserve to free up an additional roster spot, Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post reports. This is Oshie’s second time landing on IR this season after just recently returning from a six-game absence due to an upper-body injury. He’s now out with a lower-body ailment, and the IR placement will be retroactive to December 17, when he missed the team’s game against the Hurricanes. He will miss at least the team’s next three contests during his minimum seven-day stint on IR and will be eligible to return on December 27 against the Rangers.
9:23 a.m.: The Capitals recalled forwards Ivan Miroshnichenko and Hendrix Lapierre from AHL Hershey on Tuesday morning, a team release states. Both are high-end prospects and were first-round selections in the 2022 and 2020 drafts.
This is Miroshnichenko’s first NHL call-up. After spending the 2022-23 season in Russia in the Avangard Omsk organization, he signed his entry-level contract last May and was a late cut from the Capitals’ opening-night roster. He was technically listed on the NHL roster at the beginning of the season for salary cap management purposes but was assigned to Hershey one day later.
The call-up comes earlier than expected for Miroshnichenko, who was once viewed as a likely top-ten pick in 2022 but fell down the board due to some inconsistent play early in his draft year. That became secondary when he received a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis in the middle of the 2021-22 season, ending his campaign. He was cleared to resume training before the draft after three months of treatments, though, leading the Capitals to select him 20th overall.
Thankfully, Miroshnichenko’s journey toward remission was quick and complete, and he returned to play in Russia just a handful of weeks into the 2022-23 campaign. He played in all three primary tiers of Russian hockey last season – the major-pro KHL, the minor-pro VHL and the junior MHL – but spent most of his time in the KHL, notching three goals and an assist in 23 games despite minimal ice time
A high-speed sniper, Miroshnichenko immediately impressed during his first training camp in Washington last summer, consistently earning himself looks among the Capitals’ likely top-six forward group in preseason games. Understandably, the Capitals didn’t want to rush the 19-year-old’s development and let him begin the season in Hershey to acclimate to the North American professional system.
The decision proved to be the correct one. Miroshnichenko hasn’t looked out of place in the minors, scoring eight goals and 15 points in 27 games, good enough for sixth on the team. His two-way play has unexpectedly jumped out as an impressive factor, too, leading Hershey with a +13 rating. It’s quickly looking like he can hit the top-ten potential he was billed for earlier in his development.
With T.J. Oshie expected to miss Wednesday’s contest against the Islanders and veteran minor-leaguer Joe Snively being sent to Hershey yesterday, all signs point to Miroshnichenko making his NHL debut tomorrow. He’s projected to occupy the left-wing spot on the Capitals’ third line alongside countryman Evgeny Kuznetsov and Matthew Phillips.
Lapierre comes up to the Capitals for the second time this season. Washington recalled the 21-year-old center in late October and played him in 11 contests, recording three points and a -2 rating while averaging 10:06 per game before returning him to Hershey two Saturdays ago.
He responded to the demotion well, recording two goals and three assists in five games with Hershey over the past week and a half, including a three-point effort against the Laval Rocket on Saturday. The 22nd overall selection in 2020 remains waiver-exempt and is in the second season of his three-year entry-level contract. He’s expected to sit as a healthy scratch for Wednesday’s game.
Senators Fire D.J. Smith, Name Jacques Martin Interim Head Coach
The Ottawa Senators relieved head coach D.J. Smith of his duties Monday, per a team announcement. Jacques Martin will take over as the team’s interim head coach, while longtime Senators winger Daniel Alfredsson will step into an assistant coaching role on Martin’s staff. Assistant coach Davis Payne was also relieved of his duties.
The news is far from unexpected after an 11-15-0 start to the season put Ottawa on track to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season. After beating the division rival Red Wings 5-1 on December 9, the Senators dropped four consecutive games, all in regulation, and allowed at least four goals in all those losses.
While the team has received below-average goaltending from their tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg, their possession numbers don’t suggest they should be in the playoff picture, either. The team has controlled under 50% of Corsi events, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at five-on-five – disappointing metrics for a team with a supposedly reformed top-six forward group and top-six defense core set to take them to the postseason.
However, those at the top of the lineup aren’t to blame for the Senators’ struggles. Perhaps no team in the league has had a more prominent dichotomy between the performance of their stars and the performance of their depth players this season than the Senators, who have received spectacular two-way play from players like Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Thomas Chabot (when healthy), Joshua Norris, Jake Sanderson, and Artem Zub. However, nearly all their depth skaters have been significant liabilities, and their overall defensive structure has been prone to visible, unforgivable lapses in their own zone.
So ends a disappointing tenure for Smith, who ends his first NHL head-coaching role after parts of five seasons and 317 games behind the Ottawa bench. That made him one of the longest-tenured bench bosses in the league before today’s news.
Ottawa brought on Smith in 2019 after parting ways with Guy Boucher just two seasons after the latter led them to double overtime in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Final against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. While some of his tenure was during a designed rebuild, Smith’s record isn’t pretty – 131-154-32, or a .464 points percentage, never guiding the Senators to a division finish higher than sixth place. Despite investing in acquiring talent over the past few summers, the team hasn’t shown any signs of life of becoming a playoff contender under Smith.
The 46-year-old had spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the Maple Leafs before taking the job in Ottawa. It seems likely an assistant role is what’s next for Smith if he wants to stay behind an NHL bench. He becomes the fourth head coach to be fired in-season, joining the Blues’ Craig Berube, the Wild’s Dean Evason, and the Oilers’ Jay Woodcroft.
Payne, 53, joined the Senators’ bench as an assistant along with Smith in 2019. Briefly the head coach of the Blues in the early 2010s, Payne lifted the Stanley Cup in 2014 while serving as an assistant with the Kings.
It’s both nostalgic and peculiar to see the Senators pivot back to Martin behind the bench, who previously served as their head coach from 1996 to 2004 and remains the franchise’s all-time leader in games coached. The 71-year-old last served behind an NHL bench in 2020-21 as an assistant with the Rangers and was last a head coach over a decade ago with the Canadiens in 2011-12. He rejoined the Senators organization earlier this month in a senior advisor role after holding the same position with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs since 2022.
When Martin was behind the bench last in Ottawa, its leading scorer was a 25-year-old Marián Hossa. Just behind him was Alfredsson, the franchise’s all-time leader in points, who will now work closely with his longtime bench boss to help quickly turn their season around.
The Senators are getting significant experience in Martin, who’s coached nearly 1,300 NHL games for the Senators, Canadiens, Blues, and Panthers. Throughout his nine seasons in Ottawa, Martin only missed the playoffs once in his first year behind the bench, guiding them to their first sustained period of success after they were brought into the league in the 1992-93 season.
This is the 51-year-old Alfredsson’s first chance to show what he can do behind an NHL bench. The team hired Alfredsson earlier this season as a development coach after Michael Andlauer assumed ownership of the team, marking his first time being employed by the Senators since serving as an advisor between 2015 and 2017. Ottawa’s captain from 1999 to 2013 remains their all-time leader in goals (426), assists (682) and points (1,108).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Sabres Place Jacob Bryson On Waivers
12/19: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Bryson has cleared waivers, and may now be freely optioned to Rochester.
12/18: The Sabres placed defenseman Jacob Bryson on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Rochester on Monday, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The move is likely a precursor to the Sabres activating winger Jack Quinn off injured reserve before tomorrow’s game against the Blue Jackets, as head coach Don Granato said earlier today he’s an option to make his season debut after rehabbing an offseason Achilles injury (via Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald).
Bryson, 26, has remained on the Sabres’ roster all season but has been a healthy scratch for all but three games, last suiting up on November 4 against the Maple Leafs. He’s since been a healthy scratch in 20 straight games.
With a significant $1.85MM cap hit, there are unlikely to be any takers for Bryson, so he should clear without issue and head to Rochester tomorrow. He’s in the final season of a two-year, $3.7MM extension signed in 2022 and is eligible for salary arbitration next summer. However, it seems unlikely at this stage that the Sabres will opt to retain his rights – with a $1.9MM qualifying offer due, Bryson is an obvious non-tender candidate and could find himself on the open market as a UFA next summer.
When in the lineup, Bryson has barely played, sometimes dressing as a seventh defenseman. He averaged just 9:26 through his three appearances with the Sabres and was held off the scoresheet, posting a -1 rating.
It’s been difficult for Bryson since his extension platform year of 2021-22 when he played a career-high 73 games and averaged significant minutes for the Sabres while being one of their better possession-controlling defenders. His defensive game has lapsed significantly over the past two seasons, however, and the 2017 fourth-round pick now finds himself on the fringes of an NHL job.
If he clears waivers and heads to Rochester, it will be Bryson’s first AHL games since the 2020-21 campaign.
Red Wings Activate Dylan Larkin
12:51 p.m.: Detroit made the transaction official Monday afternoon. To create space on the active roster, the team assigned forward Austin Czarnik to AHL Grand Rapids.
10:38 a.m.: The Red Wings will activate captain Dylan Larkin off injured reserve before tonight’s game against the Ducks, head coach Derek Lalonde said Monday morning.
Larkin landed on injured reserve last Monday with a head injury sustained on December 9 against the Senators. The 27-year-old center took a cross-check from Senators winger Mathieu Joseph during a net-front scrum late in the first period and was briefly unconscious on the ice.
Thankfully, Larkin didn’t sustain a severe injury on the play and is ready to return to game action just over a week after the incident. However, Detroit is still without winger David Perron, who has two games left to serve in a six-game suspension assessed for cross-checking Senators defenseman Artem Zub in retaliation after Larkin went down. Perron will be eligible to return for this Friday’s game against the Flyers.
Larkin’s return comes at a crucial time for the Red Wings. The team went 1-3-0 in their captain’s absence and has undone most of the standings gain created by a late November hot streak. Their 15-11-4 record is a .567 points percentage, which still puts them fourth in the Atlantic Division but behind the Islanders (.600) and Devils (.569) for the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference.
The Waterford, Michigan-born center remains the only point-per-game player on the roster and has 11 goals and 14 assists through 24 contests, leading Red Wings forwards by averaging 19:24 per contest and winning a team-high 52.7% of faceoffs. His 52.8% Corsi share at even strength is the highest among any Red Wings forward to suit up this season.
Tonight marks the second full game with both Larkin and Patrick Kane in the Red Wings lineup. Kane’s Detroit debut came December 7 against the Sharks, Larkin’s last full game before exiting with injury. The two are expected to be linemates tonight, with 23-year-old Joe Veleno riding shotgun at left wing.
Larkin is in the first season of an eight-year, $69.6MM extension with trade protection inked last March. His 462 career points in 608 games rank 18th in Red Wings franchise history.
Blue Jackets Place Patrik Laine On Injured Reserve, Recall Brendan Gaunce
The Blue Jackets have placed forward Patrik Laine on injured reserve retroactive to December 14, per a team release. In a corresponding transaction, the team recalled forward Brendan Gaunce from AHL Cleveland under emergency conditions.
The team already announced Laine was expected to miss six weeks of action after sustaining a clavicle fracture in Thursday’s game against the Maple Leafs. The move does not change his timeline for a return and is purely for roster management purposes.
2023-24 is quickly becoming a season to forget for Laine. This is now the third time he’ll be held out of the lineup for an extended period of time this year, missing nine games near the beginning of the season with an upper-body injury and missing three games earlier this month due to illness. He was also made a healthy scratch for a game against the Flyers on November 19, bringing his absence total to 14 out of Columbus’ 32 games this season.
When in the lineup, Laine has been a shell of the near-point-per-game player he’s been over the last two seasons in Columbus. He’s scored just six goals and nine points in 18 games on the season, and his ice time has dipped to a career-low 15:13 per game under first-year head coach Pascal Vincent.
Gaunce comes up to the NHL on his first recall of the season. The 29-year-old minor-league veteran was in the later rounds of the Blue Jackets’ cuts from training camp and cleared waivers in early October.
The 2012 first-round pick does have over 150 games of NHL experience dating back to his debut with the Canucks in the 2015-16 campaign. He made a quick stop in Boston and spent one season overseas with the Swedish Hockey League’s Växjö Lakers before arriving in Columbus in 2021. Since then, he’s primarily served as a top-six option for Cleveland, racking up 61 points in 80 AHL games over the past three seasons. So far this season, he ranks third on the team in scoring, with six goals and 15 points in 24 games. Slated for unrestricted free agency next summer, Gaunce will serve as the team’s 13th forward for the time being and is unlikely to draw into the lineup tomorrow against the Sabres.