Bruins Loan Matthew Poitras To Team Canada For 2024 World Juniors
The Bruins have loaned rookie center Matthew Poitras to Team Canada for the upcoming 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, a team release states.
Poitras, 19, is a tremendous addition to a Canada roster that’s thinner on offense than we’re used to seeing. Canadiens prospect Owen Beck is the only returnee from last year’s group, which captured the gold medal thanks to one of the best single-tournament showings of all time from then-17-year-old Connor Bedard. The roster still features six recent first-round picks on offense and one future first-overall selection: 17-year-old Boston University center Macklin Celebrini, who is third in NCAA Division I men’s hockey in points per game.
When Hockey Canada announced the cuts from their preliminary roster last week, they left a spot open for one forward to join the team, hoping an NHL team would part with a rostered under-20 prospect. That spot will go to Poitras, the 54th overall pick in 2022, who few expected to crack the Bruins’ roster out of camp.
Poitras’ 13 points in 27 games rank eighth on the Bruins in scoring, although he’s seen a diminished role as the calendar shifted to December. Head coach Jim Montgomery has made Poitras a healthy scratch in two of the last five games after playing in all of Boston’s first 24 contests.
Still, given how well he fits into the Boston lineup, Poitras is expected to return to the Bruins after the tournament ends instead of being loaned out to his junior team, the OHL’s Guelph Storm. He’s averaged 14:06 per game this season for Boston, ranking seventh among their forwards and solidly positioning him in a top-nine role.
Assuming Canada advances to the medal games, Poitras will miss the Bruins’ next eight games at a minimum. The tournament wraps up on January 5, 2024, making him doubtful for the Bruins’ game against the Lightning on January 6, meaning at least a nine-game absence is most likely.
Blackhawks Place Joey Anderson On Injured Reserve
The Blackhawks placed winger Joey Anderson on injured reserve Monday morning, Tracey Myers of NHL.com reports. Anderson left Sunday’s loss to the Canucks with a left shoulder injury and did not return.
Anderson, 25, will miss at least seven days, although the team has not issued a specific timeline for his return to the lineup. He had played in 13 straight games since the Blackhawks recalled him from AHL Rockford in late November, recording five assists and a +5 rating while averaging 13:21 per game. His 55.8% Corsi share at even strength leads all Blackhawks players by a wide margin.
Chicago is already without two other regular forwards, Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanasiou, due to long-term injuries. Defensemen Seth Jones and Jarred Tinordi remain on injured reserve with shorter-term ailments.
It’s been a strong showing for a player tabbed as an NHL-AHL tweener, passing through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of the season. A third-round pick of the Devils in 2016, Anderson is now with his third NHL organization after spending parts of three seasons with the Maple Leafs. The Blackhawks acquired him from Toronto in February of last season in the Jake McCabe/Sam Lafferty trade and re-signed him to a one-year, two-way deal worth $800K in the NHL and $475K in the minors in June.
Before his recall, Anderson was off to a torrid start in Rockford, posting seven goals and 16 points through 14 games. While he’s been a strong minor-league producer since turning pro with the Devils in 2018, this is his first time producing above a point-per-game pace.
Now with 109 NHL games under his belt, Anderson is slowly approaching full-time depth NHLer status after playing a career-high 38 games last season for Toronto and Chicago. He’s likely to remain on the Blackhawks’ roster when he’s ready to return. As he’s played more than ten games since last clearing waivers, he must clear again if the Blackhawks attempt to return him to the minors.
Anderson will be a restricted free agent next summer. He is eligible for salary arbitration for the second straight season, although he avoided such a fate last summer by signing an early extension.
Jake Oettinger Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
Stars starting netminder Jake Oettinger will be out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury sustained Friday against the Senators, head coach Peter DeBoer informed reporters Monday (via Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News).
Oettinger left the contest in the middle of the first period after making a non-malicious looking save on Senators winger Claude Giroux. He skated off the ice under his own power but did not travel with the team to St. Louis for their game against the Blues Saturday, forcing the Stars to sign former Niagara University backup Joe O’Brien to an amateur tryout to sit on the bench due to salary cap constraints. After playing a goalie short, Dallas released O’Brien yesterday and recalled Matt Murray from AHL Texas under emergency conditions.
Notably, the Stars have not said they intend to place Oettinger on long-term injured reserve. DeBoer said Oettinger’s tests were encouraging, and he’ll likely miss less than the ten-game and 28-day absence required for LTIR.
Oettinger, who turns 25 today, has largely avoided injury throughout his four-year, 160-game NHL career. The 2017 first-round selection missed four games with a lower-body injury early last season, but it didn’t impede him from setting career highs with 61 starts, 37 wins, a .919 SV%, and five shutouts en route to finishing fifth in Vezina Trophy voting. The Lakeville, Minnesota-born netminder failed to replicate his breakout regular season in Dallas’ run to the Western Conference Final, though, posting a subpar .895 SV% and 3.06 GAA in 19 starts as the Stars reached the final four for the second time in the last five seasons.
After putting up consistent above-average numbers in his first three campaigns, Oettinger is off to a significantly more tepid start in 2023-24. Through 21 starts, he has a mediocre .901 SV% and 2.93 GAA. His -1.5 goals saved above average is the first time he’s put up negatives in that stat in his career, and it’s a significant downgrade from the 26.1 goals saved above average he posted last season. With backup Scott Wedgewood posting similarly average numbers, their middle-of-the-pack goaltending is a big reason why the Stars sit 15th out of 32 teams in goals against.
Wedgewood will take the lion’s share of the starts until Oettinger is ready to return. The 31-year-old has a 6-1-2 record, .904 SV% and 3.24 GAA in nine appearances this season.
Slovakia Announces Roster For 2024 World Juniors
Hockey Slovakia has announced its contingent for the upcoming 2024 World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, via Matej Deraj of Dennik Sport.
It’s a testament to the state of Slovak hockey to see a bevy of first-round picks and NHL-drafted names on the roster, even without the country’s two top youngsters in Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky and Devils defenseman Simon Nemec, both of whom will stay with their pro squads and were not loaned out for the event. Nonetheless, they’re still a potential upset candidate for a medal and have a strong, well-rounded offense. The full roster is here:
F Peter Císar (undrafted)
F Alex Čiernik (PHI)
F František Dej (undrafted)
F Dalibor Dvorský (STL)
F Samuel Honzek (CGY)
F Roman Kukumberg (undrafted)
F Patrik Masnica (undrafted)
F Filip Mešár (MTL)
F Martin Mišiak (CHI)
F Juraj Pekarčík (STL)
F Servác Petrovský (MIN)
F Peter Repčík (undrafted)
F Markus Suchý (undrafted)
F Adam Sýkora (NYR)
F Alex Šotek (undrafted)
F Adam Žlnka (ARI)
D Richard Baran (undrafted)
D Jakub Chromiak (undrafted)
D Viliam Kmec (undrafted)
D Marián Moško (undrafted)
D Dávid Nátny (undrafted)
D Milan Pišoja (undrafted)
D Luka Radivojevič (undrafted)
D Maxim Štrbák (BUF)
D Boris Žabka (undrafted)
G Rastislav Eliaš (undrafted)
G Adam Gajan (CHI)
G Samuel Urban (undrafted)
The roster is undoubtedly highlighted by Dvorský, the only top-ten selection on this list. After a disappointing start to the season on loan to the Swedish Hockey League’s IK Oskarshamn, in which he recorded no points in ten games, he signed on with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and has dominated since coming to North American ice. The 18-year-old has 18 goals and 34 points in 20 games on the season, including 11 goals and 22 points in his last ten games at the time of writing. He’s quickly looking like a threat to jump to the NHL full-time in 2024-25.
Honzek is also a player to watch. The 19-year-old sustained an injury at last year’s tournament, which limited him to two appearances, and a separate injury has limited him to just five games with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants this season. If he can remain healthy, the hulking winger will be among the team’s leading scorers at the tournament and will play a key role in helping them to some upset wins en route to a potential medal.
Mešár rounds out the first-round picks on this roster, selected 26th overall by the Canadiens in 2022. Like Dvorský, he’s putting up great production in the OHL, notching 32 points in 20 games. After recording six points in five games for Slovakia at last year’s tournament while serving as an alternate captain, he’ll assume the role of the team’s main leadership figure in Gothenburg.
Things thin out on defense. Kmec is expected to log big minutes for the Slovaks on the back end in his third trip to the World Juniors, although Štrbák will challenge for the de facto number-one role as the only NHL-drafted prospect. Radivojevič, who is 16 years old and not draft-eligible until 2025, is an intriguing inclusion after making his professional debut for the SHL’s Örebro HK this season.
Gajan, a second-round pick of the Blackhawks last season, will hold down the starter’s crease. He excelled in the 2023 World Juniors, recording a sparkling .936 SV% in four appearances en route to a very close quarterfinal loss against the Canadians.
Jakub Zbořil Clears Waivers
12/14/23: Zbořil was not claimed off of waivers, which means he will remain in Providence for the time being.
12/13/23 1:51 p.m.: Zbořil’s waiver placement is not for the purposes of contract termination, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Rather, the Bruins are accommodating a request from Zbořil to be moved to another organization and are seeing if there are any takers out there who will pick up his contract for free.
12/13/23 1:11 p.m.: The Bruins have placed left-shot defenseman Jakub Zbořil on waivers, as reported by Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN. Considering Zbořil has been on assignment to AHL Providence since October 28, the Bruins likely made this move for the purposes of a contract termination.
It is unclear at this time whether a potential contract termination is mutual or for cause. Zbořil, the 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft, was scratched in Providence’s last game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on December 9.
The 26-year-old defenseman was the first of Boston’s now-infamous three consecutive first-round selections in 2015. Their selections of Zbořil, Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn with the 13th through 15th overall picks were immediately followed by the Islanders selecting Mathew Barzal 16th overall, the Jets selecting Kyle Connor 17th overall and the Senators selecting Thomas Chabot 18th overall. While DeBrusk remains an effective top-nine forward, he’s not the caliber of either Barzal, Connor or Chabot.
Zbořil failed to crack the Bruins roster out of camp this year after doing so in 2020, 2021 and 2022. He went unclaimed on waivers in early October and accepted an assignment to Providence, where he’s logged seven assists and a -5 rating in 19 games, his first AHL time in over three years.
Since making his NHL debut in November 2018, Zbořil has played just 76 games for the Bruins, recording one goal, 15 assists, 16 points, and 135 shots on goal while averaging 15:38 per game. He’s never been able to surpass the role of Boston’s seventh defenseman, playing in a career-high 42 games in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. His possession numbers have largely been negligible, although in 22 games for the Bruins last season, he posted a Corsi share of 47.6% at even strength – a disappointing figure given the Bruins’ record-setting dominance.
If this is the end of the road for Zbořil in Boston, it ends a disappointing tenure for the organization’s highest-drafted prospect since they selected blueliner Dougie Hamilton ninth overall in 2011. His contract carries a $1.14MM cap hit with $1.3MM due this season in actual salary, making a potential claim over the next 24 hours extremely unlikely. He was slated for unrestricted free agency in the summer.
Assuming Zbořil is indeed headed for contract termination, he would become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow and can sign with any NHL, AHL or European professional team. It would not be surprising to see Zbořil return to his home country of Czechia, where he last suited up for his hometown club HC Kometa Brno in 2020 while the NHL remained on pause due to COVID-19.
Capitals Place Sonny Milano On Injured Reserve
The Capitals placed winger Sonny Milano on injured reserve for undisclosed reasons Thursday, per a team announcement. To replace his spot on the active roster, the team recalled forward Joe Snively from the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Milano, 27, has one point in his last nine games and was a healthy scratch one week ago today against the Stars. It’s been a trying season for the scoring winger, who also missed one game in late October due to illness.
It’s unclear what will keep Milano out of the lineup for the next seven days and four games at minimum. He was a full participant in the Capitals’ last game, a tilt against the Blackhawks last Sunday, in which he logged one shot on goal in 10:15 of ice time.
On the season, Milano has four goals and four assists in 23 games while averaging 12:12 per game. Those numbers are down across the board from last season in the U.S. capital, when he logged 11 goals and 33 points in 64 games. The high-skill winger is coming off back-to-back seasons of 30-plus points.
A 2014 first-round pick of the Blue Jackets, Milano is now on his third organization but has never really managed to become a true everyday NHLer. He’s logged some impressive point totals in limited ice time, but inconsistencies in his game have made him a healthy scratch frequently throughout his career, although it’s a rarer occurrence now. His possession numbers are down sharply from last season, posting a 44.5% Corsi share at even strength compared to last year’s 50.6% figure, which was above the team average.
Milano will be eligible to return from his IR stint on December 21 against Columbus. He is in the first season of a three-year, $5.7MM extension signed with the Capitals last February.
This is the first recall of the season for Snively, who’s played 12 games for Washington in each of the past two seasons. The 27-year-old Yale graduate is a tenacious forechecker who’s been able to produce solid numbers in limited major-league action, posting six goals and five assists in his 24 career appearances while averaging 12:05 per game. Either he or Matthew Phillips will enter the lineup tonight against the Flyers in Milano’s absence. Snively’s off to a good start in Hershey, ranking third on the team in scoring with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 25 games.
Pacific Notes: Rutherford, Myers, Benning, Sturm
Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford is in the final season of his contract with the club, a three-year deal he’d signed after being instated in a permanent role in December 2021. His and GM Patrik Allvin’s short-term surgery on the roster is a significant reason why the surging Canucks find themselves well-positioned to make the playoffs for the second time since 2015.
Speaking with Rick Dhaliwal and Don Taylor on CHEK’s Donnie & Dhali program yesterday, Rutherford said he’s had preliminary extension discussions with team owner Francesco Aquilini but it is not his “top priority right now.” The 74-year-old has been a high-level NHL executive for nearly 30 years, first joining the professional ranks as president and GM of the Hartford Whalers in 1994. Since then, he’s captured three Stanley Cups as a GM: 2006 with the Hurricanes and 2016 and 2017 with the Penguins. He also won the NHL’s General Manager of the Year award in 2016 after making midseason trades to acquire Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin and Justin Schultz, all of whom played key supporting roles in Pittsburgh’s run to the championship. He was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame under the Builder Category in the class of 2019.
Under his watch, the Canucks now find themselves free of most of the bloated contracts signed with former GM Jim Benning at the helm and, in true Rutherford fashion, have already made a sizable trade this season to improve their depth well ahead of the trade deadline, capturing hulking defender Nikita Zadorov from the Flames for a value price.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- In yesterday’s interview, Rutherford also implied the team had not held extension discussions with pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Tyler Myers. The 33-year-old is Vancouver’s second-oldest defender behind offseason free agent signing Ian Cole and is in the final season of an oft-criticized five-year, $30MM contract carrying a $6MM cap hit signed in 2019 under the Benning regime. His name was featured in offseason trade discussions, namely a deal that almost sent him to the floundering Sharks for the Canucks to free up additional cap space. However, holding onto Myers may have benefitted the Canucks. His trade value has never been higher while with the team. He was paid a $5MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season and is due $1MM in actual salary during this campaign, making him a more palatable financial acquisition for teams. His on-ice stats have never been better as a Canuck. While his minutes have been reduced to under 19 minutes per game, he’s responded with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 29 contests, his best points-per-game rate in a full season since he tallied 37 in 80 games with the Sabres during his sophomore season in 2010-11. His two-way game is still an area of major concern, however, as his pairings with Cole and Carson Soucy have been the Canucks’ worst in terms of controlling possession quality this season.
- Sharks defenseman Matt Benning is sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury, head coach David Quinn told reporters yesterday (via Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). Benning last played on November 3 against the Rangers and was moved to injured reserve on Tuesday. Benning had ample opportunity to secure more arduous minutes on a thin Sharks blueline this season, but injuries have dogged him for much of the campaign. He missed ten games with an undisclosed injury in November and one with a lower-body injury in late October. It’s unclear if the injuries he suffered this season are related. The 29-year-old has two assists and a -5 rating in 14 games this season, averaging 18:29 per game.
- Sticking with the Sharks, center Nico Sturm sustained what Quinn called a “mid-body injury” in Tuesday’s game against the Jets and is still being evaluated, Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News relays. According to Pashelka, the team expects more information today and is preparing for him to miss enough time to be placed on IR. Sturm missed one game earlier this month with a lower-body injury and a pair of contests in late November for personal reasons. Now in his second season in the Bay Area, the 28-year-old German (who has no relation to longtime Sharks winger Marco Sturm) has two goals, two assists and a -10 rating in 26 games. If Sturm gets placed on IR today, depth forward Ryan Carpenter is ready to come off the injured list after missing four games with an undisclosed injury.
Sabres Notes: Tuch, Murray, Samuelsson, Greenway
Sabres forward Alex Tuch will be activated off injured reserve and return to the lineup tonight against the Avalanche, head coach Don Granato said earlier Wednesday. Winger Brett Murray was assigned to AHL Rochester later in the day to create roster space to activate Tuch, per a team release.
Tuch’s return marks the end of a four-game absence due to a lower-body injury sustained on December 3 against the Predators. The Sabres promptly announced Tuch was expected out of the lineup for roughly one week, just long enough to be eligible for IR placement. It’s the winger’s second multi-game absence of the season after an upper-body injury sidelined him for three games in November. Before exiting the lineup, Tuch had two goals and four points in his last five games and has eight goals and 17 points in 22 games on the season.
The move also ends Murray’s first call-up of the 2023-24 season, which lasted just two days. He replaced the younger Isak Rosen in the lineup Monday in the team’s win against the Coyotes, recording a -1 rating and one shot on goal in 10:41 of ice time. The 25-year-old Murray, who stands at 6-foot-5 and nearly 230 pounds, has two goals and seven points in 12 games with AHL Rochester this season.
Elsewhere from around the Sabres today:
- Also returning to the lineup tonight is defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, per Granato. No corresponding roster move is needed because Sameulsson remained on the active roster while sidelined with an undisclosed injury, which Granato described as general soreness earlier in the week. Samuelsson did not suit up Monday against the Coyotes, his fourth injury-related absence of the season after he missed three games with a lower-body injury in early November. The shutdown blueliner has three points in 25 games this season and is averaging 20:12 per game, nearly two minutes down from last season’s average – although that number is artificially low due to Samuelsson exiting games early with injuries this season on multiple occasions.
- One player absent from tonight’s contest will be forward Jordan Greenway, missing his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury. He did travel with the team on their road trip, but as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports, he’s not expected to play, which would mean also missing games Friday in Vegas and Saturday in Arizona. He remains on injured reserve for the time being and hasn’t played since leaving the team’s December 2 contest against the Hurricanes prematurely. He’s played in two of Buffalo’s last ten games, missing a trio of contests in November for personal reasons. The 26-year-old has seven points in 21 games in his first full season as a Sabre.
Blues Recall Mackenzie MacEachern
The Blues recalled winger Mackenzie MacEachern from AHL Springfield on Wednesday, a team release states. To stay under the 23-player roster limit, the team assigned winger Jakub Vrána to Springfield after he cleared waivers earlier today.
MacEachern, 29, has 115 games of NHL experience, although none of them have come this season. All those regular-season NHL appearances have come in a Blues uniform after they selected him 67th overall in the 2012 draft. The Michigan State graduate made eight postseason appearances for the Hurricanes last season but spent the entirety of the regular season in the AHL with their former affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
After one year away from the Blues organization, MacEachern returned on a two-year, one-way deal worth $1.55MM last summer. He did not make the team out of camp, however, and was waived in early October as one of their last cuts. He’s responded with four goals, eight assists, 12 points, and a -4 rating in 22 contests for Springfield, ranking seventh on the team in scoring. It’s a sizable step back from the pace he set with the Wolves last season, where he notched 30 points in 37 games.
MacEachern was a Black Ace during the Blues’ run to the 2019 Stanley Cup, appearing in 29 regular-season games that season (the first of his career) but not getting into any playoff action. Since joining the NHL ranks in 2018, MacEachern’s tallied 11 goals, eight assists, 19 points, and a +4 rating while averaging 8:44 per contest. Playing in an exclusively fourth-line role in the majors, MacEachern has historically been a neutral possession force, giving the Blues a bottom-of-the-lineup presence that they don’t have to worry about.
He certainly doesn’t have the scoring upside that Vrána boasts, but given the latter has struggled heavily defensively this season, it makes sense the Blues would opt for a more responsible checking option on the roster. MacEachern will battle with Nikita Alexandrov, Sammy Blais and Hugh McGing for ice time on the team’s fourth line.
Wild Recall Three Players, Move Jonas Brodin To LTIR
The Wild recalled defensemen Daemon Hunt and Dakota Mermis, as well as forward Vinni Lettieri, from AHL Iowa on Wednesday, per a team release. To make the Wild salary cap-compliant, defenseman Jonas Brodin was moved to long-term injured reserve retroactive to December 9. He remains out indefinitely with an upper-body injury sustained last Friday on a hit from Oilers winger Evander Kane.
Doing so gives the Wild a 23-player active roster for the first time this season. Recalling both Hunt and Mermis gives the Wild eight defensemen to choose from on a nightly basis while Brodin is sidelined, while Lettieri will serve as injury insurance as an extra forward with the Wild slated for an East Coast road trip early next week.
This is the fourth recall of the season for Hunt, the 65th overall pick in the 2020 draft. The 21-year-old last suited up for an NHL game on November 9 and has been a healthy scratch in four out of the nine games he’s been rostered for this season.
Including his NHL debut on October 27 against the Capitals, Hunt’s played in five games, recording three shots on goal while averaging a paltry 8:36 per contest. He’s still looking for his first NHL point. The physical two-way defender is beginning to look comfortable at the professional level, notching a goal, eight assists and a +3 rating in 14 games for AHL Iowa this season. He recorded 11 points in 59 games last season, his first in the pros after completing his junior career with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.
Mermis comes back up to the NHL promptly after being sent down Monday to extend his waiver-exempt status, which lasts for 30 NHL-rostered days after he last cleared waivers on November 18. The 29-year-old has played in a career-high 14 games this season, recording two goals and three assists while logging 15:29 per game. After playing 13 straight games between October 17 and November 12, Mermis has frequently been a healthy scratch when on the NHL roster and has played just once in the last month, logging 12:37 and a +1 rating against the Oilers on Friday.
Lettieri, 28, returns to Minnesota after a week-long stint in the minors. The high-end minor-league point producer has split the 2023-24 campaign between leagues after signing with his hometown club in the offseason, recording eight points in ten games for AHL Iowa and three points in 13 games for Minnesota. His last appearance came on November 30 against the Predators.