Kraken Place Philipp Grubauer On Injured Reserve
The Kraken placed goaltender Philipp Grubauer on injured reserve Sunday, per a team announcement. Grubauer left last night’s overtime loss against the Lightning with a lower-body injury and did not return. In a corresponding transaction, netminder Chris Driedger was recalled from AHL Coachella Valley and defenseman Jaycob Megna was reinstated to the active roster from his conditioning stint.
Grubauer exited the contest late in the second period, suffering a likely groin injury as he slid across his crease to stop a shot from Lightning center Anthony Cirelli. He skated off the ice under his own power but needed assistance getting up. Backup netminder Joey Daccord entered the contest in relief.
This is not Grubauer’s first run-in with lower-body issues. He missed a combined 24 regular-season and playoff games in the 2019-20 campaign with lower-body injuries as a member of the Avalanche.
Outside of a strong postseason showing last year, Grubauer’s stint in Seattle has been below expectations. After providing solid backup play to Capitals starter Braden Holtby in the mid-2010s and then taking over as the starter for Colorado, Grubauer hit unrestricted free agency in 2021 and cashed in with the Kraken, signing a six-year, $35.4MM deal with trade protection to serve as the team’s starting netminder for the first era of their franchise.
His platform stats entering Seattle were strong. Coming off a 2020-21 campaign that saw him finish third in Vezina Trophy voting and boasting a .920 SV% in 214 career appearances, there was little reason to expect the contract to quickly turn into one of the worst values in the league. Unfortunately, since joining Seattle, Grubauer has been well below average, posting a 40-54-10 record, .890 SV% and 3.07 GAA behind a decent defense. The 32-year-old did post a .903 SV% in 14 games for the Kraken during last season’s run to Game 7 of the Second Round against the Stars, but even that fell well below the playoff stats he had set with the Avalanche over the preceding few years.
Kraken fans hoped that his postseason momentum could carry over into this season, especially with GM Ron Francis opting to stay the course in the crease and bring back Daccord as an internal option to serve as Grubauer’s full-time backup. Unfortunately, Grubauer has responded with his worst numbers yet, conceding 8.4 goals above average in just 17 starts, posting a .884 SV% and a 5-9-1 record in the process. Daccord hasn’t been much better, posting a 3-4-6 record and .894 SV%.
It will be Daccord’s crease for the time being with Grubauer sidelined, though. Without any clarity into the severity of Grubauer’s injury, it’s impossible to predict how long he could be out of the lineup – low-grade groin strains can be treated on a day-to-day basis, while a more severe groin injury would keep him out for months. He’ll miss at least seven days in order to be eligible for IR.
Driedger, who’s also disappointed since signing a three-year, $10.5MM pact with the Kraken in 2021, returns to the NHL roster and will look to make his season debut in the process. The 29-year-old missed most of last season after undergoing ACL surgery and was assigned to the minors upon his return to health, meaning he hasn’t appeared in an NHL contest since May 1, 2022. He started 24 games for the Kraken in their inaugural season, posting a 9-14-1 record, .899 SV% and 2.96 GAA.
Daccord beat out a healthy Driedger for the backup spot in training camp this year, leading Seattle to waive Driedger and assign him to Coachella Valley a few days before the start of the season. The Kraken recalled Driedger for a brief period in November while Grubauer was dealing with an undisclosed injury, but he did not play and was promptly returned to the AHL upon Grubauer’s return.
If Daccord continues to stumble after a hot start to the season, the Kraken hope Driedger’s strong play in the minors this year can again translate to NHL success. In 15 games for Coachella Valley, Driedger has a 2.20 GAA, .916 SV%, 9-5-1 record, and two shutouts.
Megna returns to Seattle after logging a goal and a +3 rating in two contests with Coachella Valley over the weekend. The Kraken assigned him to the minors on a conditioning loan last week after making him a healthy scratch in a remarkable 26 straight games to kick off the season.
Joseph Woll Out Week-To-Week With High Ankle Sprain
Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is sidelined week-to-week with a high ankle sprain, per a team announcement Saturday morning. Woll sustained the injury in the third period of Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Senators after stopping 29 of 31 shots faced.
While this will be a longer-term absence, the Maple Leafs appear to have avoided the worst with Woll. The 25-year-old netminder could not put any weight on his left leg while leaving the ice and needed help getting to the locker room. The injury, which appeared to be initially sustained early in the third period, was aggravated on a rather innocuous-looking play with ten minutes left in regulation. Woll moved slightly across his crease to stop a sharp-angle backhand shot from Senators center Rourke Chartier and collapsed in pain after his left leg hit the post.
Unfortunately for Woll, this is not his first ankle injury – he missed significant AHL time in 2020-21 with a similar issue. He and the Leafs hope this won’t become a long-term issue as he slides into the role of Toronto’s starting netminder.
Woll, who’s signed to a bargain-bin contract carrying a $767K cap hit through 2025, has been excellent for the Leafs this season. Starting 13 of their 23 contests, he’s posted an 8-5-1 record, .916 SV% and 2.80 GAA. He’s had a handful of spectacular performances over the past few days, including making 38 saves on 39 shots in a shootout victory against the Panthers and 37 saves on 40 shots in a shootout victory against the Kraken late last month. Per MoneyPuck, Woll has stopped 7.4 goals above expected, which is good enough for 12th in the league.
While the Leafs didn’t issue a specific timeline for recovery, this should not be a months-long absence. A standard high-ankle sprain recovery timeline for athletes is in the four-to-six-week range.
That means it’s Ilya Samsonov‘s crease again in Toronto for the next month or so. After guiding the Leafs to their first playoff series win in nearly two decades, he’s struggled mightily in 2023-24. Through ten starts, Samsonov has a .878 SV% and 3.58 GAA – despite a decent record of 4-1-3, he hasn’t been nearly good enough after posting a career-high .919 SV% in 40 starts last season. He has not played since their 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks on November 24 and was not dressed for Thursday’s game against the Senators, as he’s been sidelined with an illness since the beginning of the month.
The Leafs did not announce a corresponding roster move along with Woll’s injury, suggesting that Samsonov is healthy enough to at least dress for tonight’s game against the Predators. If he’s not fit enough to start, 33-year-old Martin Jones will make his first Maple Leafs start after clearing waivers during preseason. He stopped nine of ten shots faced in relief against Ottawa.
Jones, 33, signed a one-year pact with the Maple Leafs in August to provide competition for the backup role with Woll heading into camp. He’s struggled in brief AHL action this season, his first in a decade, posting a .870 SV% in five games. He’s posted a save percentage below the NHL average in five straight seasons, although he did start 42 games for the Kraken last season, his highest figure since the 2018-19 campaign.
While Toronto would prefer to keep him in the minors for development purposes, 22-year-old Dennis Hildeby has been excellent for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and is available for recall. The 2022 fourth-round pick has a 1.89 GAA, .925 SV% and two shutouts in his first full season in North America.
Senators Recall Jiří Smejkal
The Senators recalled forward Jiří Smejkal from AHL Belleville on Friday, a team release states. This is Smejkal’s first call-up after signing his first NHL contract with the Senators in May.
Smejkal, 27, had spent his entire professional career in Europe until this season. The hulking 6-foot-4 Czech winger does have some experience playing on North American ice, though, playing his final two seasons of junior hockey in the WHL with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kamloops Blazers.
He’s played for a variety of European clubs after going unselected in multiple NHL drafts but didn’t really break out as an elite talent until the last two seasons. He produced over a point per game with Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga in 2021-22 and followed that up with 43 points in 49 games with the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn last season. Alongside three straight World Championship appearances with Czechia, he drew enough NHL interest to earn a one-year, two-way pact from Ottawa.
Although the GM who brought him to Canada, Pierre Dorion, is no longer with the team, new management has obviously liked what they’ve seen from Smejkal thus far in Belleville. He’s posted three goals and nine points in 17 AHL games after rumors swirled he would return to Europe after not cracking the Senators roster out of camp.
The Senators had the cap space to make this recall after placing defenseman Thomas Chabot on long-term injured reserve yesterday. He will miss at least four weeks with a leg injury.
Smejkal is now one of 13 healthy forwards on the Senators roster and could challenge to make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Red Wings. The natural winger could slot in for 27-year-old Zack MacEwen on the team’s fourth line. MacEwen has played ten games, registering one assist and averaging a paltry 4:45 per contest after signing a three-year, $2.325MM contract with Ottawa in free agency last summer.
Devils Activate, Reassign Nico Daws
The Devils activated goaltender Nico Daws off-season-opening injured reserve Friday, per a team release, promptly assigning him to the AHL’s Utica Comets.
Daws, 22, did not participate in training camp and was placed on SOIR before the start of the regular season after undergoing offseason hip surgery. The 2020 third-round pick hasn’t suited up in a game since the Comets were eliminated in the second round of last season’s Calder Cup Playoffs by the Toronto Marlies.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Canadian national impressed mightily during his draft year, racking up a 23-8-6 record and .924 SV% in 38 games with the OHL’s Guelph Storm in 2019-20. It earned him a placement on Canada’s roster for that year’s World Junior Championship, where he backed up St. Louis Blues prospect Joel Hofer en route to a gold medal.
After spending the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign in Germany with the DEL’s ERC Ingolstadt, the Munich-born netminder stepped into significant NHL action the following season with injuries decimating the Devils crease. Daws split the 2021-22 campaign equally between the Devils and Utica, notching a .893 SV% and 10-11-1 record in his first 25 NHL appearances.
With the free agent signing of Vítek Vaněček and the emergence of Akira Schmid as a slightly more NHL-ready netminder in the Devils system, Daws did not see any NHL ice last season, although he was recalled for injury insurance on a handful of occasions. However, Daws still put together a strong campaign with the Comets, posting a .904 SV% and two shutouts in 33 games. He capped off his campaign with a .920 SV% in the postseason while starting all six of Utica’s Calder Cup Playoff games.
Now healthy, Daws will assume the starter’s role in Utica ahead of Isaac Poulter, a 22-year-old undrafted free agent who spent most of last season in the ECHL. Poulter’s taken the reins with the Comets for the time being because Devils offseason free agent signing Erik Källgren, who’s seen a fair amount of NHL action over the past few seasons with the Maple Leafs, has struggled heavily with a .851 SV% and 4.27 GAA in nine appearances.
Should injuries strike either Vaněček or Schmid, Daws will likely be the first callup. Now in the final season of his entry-level contract, he remains waiver-exempt.
Senators To Place Thomas Chabot On LTIR, Out “Minimum” Four Weeks With Leg Injury
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot is facing his second lengthy injury-related absence of the young season. He will miss a minimum of four weeks after undergoing MRIs and other tests to determine the severity of a leg injury, although surgery is not required, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. Further to Dreger’s report, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch confirms the Senators will place Chabot on long-term injured reserve.
Chabot, 26, has spent his entire career in the Canadian capital since Ottawa drafted him 18th overall in 2015. His growth into a top-pairing caliber defender hasn’t expedited the Senators’ post-Erik Karlsson rebuild as they had hoped, but that’s far from being Chabot’s fault. His eight-year, $64MM extension signed in 2019 has aged well, as he’s produced at a 0.62 points per game clip over the life of the deal and has averaged nearly 26 minutes per contest since the 2020-21 campaign began. He’s historically been a positive possession force on a team that’s struggled to control play and remains the most valuable all-around defenseman on the roster.
That’s why a second long-term absence for him this season is so demoralizing for a team that finally looked to be gaining traction, going 6-4-0 in their past ten games. Chabot had played just two games since returning from a right-hand fracture that kept him out for all of November. The Senators are still at the .500 mark and sit only ahead of the Buffalo Sabres in terms of points percentage in the Atlantic Division, and they remain squarely out of the playoff picture as the calendar shifts to December. MoneyPuck lists their playoff odds at 30.9% at the time of writing, though, and given how many games in hand they have on the rest of the league, they’re one hot streak away from putting themselves back in the postseason conversation.
It’ll be difficult without Chabot, however, as his absence creates a domino effect felt throughout the Senators’ blueline. Head coach D.J. Smith has attempted to alleviate this by spreading out the Sens’ three best remaining defenders – Jakob Chychrun, Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub – on three different pairings. That still means giving tougher assignments than desired to depth defenders like Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic, though, and managing his blueliners’ ice time will suddenly become a crucial part of Smith’s job – as long as he still has it. External pressure is mounting for the Senators to make a change behind the bench after an all-too-familiar sluggish start, but under new ownership and management, the Senators appear content to let Smith lead the way for a while longer.
Chabot has four assists in nine games on the season while averaging 24:22 per game.
Avalanche Reassign Oskar Olausson
The Avalanche reassigned forward Oskar Olausson to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Thursday, per a team announcement.
Olausson, 21, was a first-round pick of the Avalanche in 2021. He’s struggled to adapt to the pro game since wrapping up his junior career in 2022, posting 28 points in 83 AHL games dating back to last season. After being sent to the minors prior to the start of this season, the Avalanche brought Olausson up earlier this week and played him in Tuesday’s contest against the Ducks, in which he recorded two shots on goal in 11:50 of ice time playing on a line with Ross Colton and Mikko Rantanen.
It’s been a bit of a disappointing transition for Olausson, who was ranked as high as 13th overall by some scouts heading into the 2021 draft. He was a consensus late-first/early-second-round pick, though, so while he hasn’t flashed his ceiling at the pro level yet, there’s still time for the 6-foot-2, 181-pound youngster to develop.
The Avalanche hope a bit of confidence injected by the recall can help jumpstart his game with the Eagles. Before the call-up, Olausson had just one assist in his last five AHL games.
The Swedish winger is in the first season of his entry-level contract after being slide-eligible for the last two seasons. Carrying a cap hit of $863,333, Olausson will be a restricted free agent in 2026.
Atlantic Notes: Chabot, Kastelic, Compher, Dahlin
The Senators have once again had a disappointing start to a season, sitting with a .500 record through 20 games and ranking seventh in the Atlantic Division points-percentage-wise. Things are about to get even tougher for them, as head coach D.J. Smith confirmed star defenseman Thomas Chabot will miss a second straight game tonight as he continues to undergo testing on a leg injury, with Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relaying the team expects him to once again be out long-term. Chabot had played two games after returning from a right-hand fracture before exiting the lineup once again.
Garrioch clarified that Ottawa should issue a more comprehensive update on Chabot’s status by tomorrow morning. The 26-year-old has been limited to nine games this year, still managing to average over 24 minutes per contest and logging four assists. He’s been a positive possession force and is a crucial minute-muncher for the Sens, now averaging over 24 minutes per game for the sixth consecutive season. He has five seasons remaining (including this one) on an eight-year, $64MM extension signed in 2019.
More from around the Atlantic Division:
- In slightly more positive injury news for the Senators, Garrioch also reports that forward Mark Kastelic is continuing his recovery from an ankle injury and skated today in a non-contact jersey. Kastelic is listed as week-to-week and has missed 11 games with a high ankle sprain sustained on November 2 against the Kings. The 24-year-old remains on long-term injured reserve and is eligible to return anytime. He has no points in nine games this season and has averaged just 6:55 per game.
- Red Wings forward J.T. Compher is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and won’t play tonight against the Sharks, head coach Derek Lalonde said. Compher has lived up to his billing so far in Hockeytown after signing a five-year, $25.5MM pact when free agency opened last July that was criticized by some at the time. Through 24 games, Compher is tied for fourth on the team in points with 19 and has held down the second-line center position well, averaging 18:52 per game behind Dylan Larkin. His possession numbers have seen a significant dip, however, posting a career-low Corsi share of 44.3% at even strength. He was expected to center a line between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane in the latter’s Red Wings debut tonight, but that role will instead go to 23-year-old Joe Veleno, who has six goals and three assists in 24 games.
- Rasmus Dahlin has been dealing with a lower-body injury over the past few days but hasn’t missed any game time for the Sabres. That may change tonight, as the superstar defender did not participate in morning skate and is questionable for tonight’s contest against the Bruins, according to Lance Lysowki of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old has struggled in his last three outings (as has the rest of the team), posting one goal and a -6 rating. Dahlin, who has 21 points in 26 games and is second on the team in scoring, isn’t likely to miss an extended period of time.
Bruins Place Derek Forbort On LTIR
The Bruins announced today that defenseman Derek Forbort has been placed on long-term injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. In a corresponding transaction, defense prospect Mason Lohrei was recalled from AHL Providence on an emergency basis.
Forbort played the entirety of Boston’s last game, logging 18:09, one shot on goal and a +1 rating on Sunday against the Blue Jackets. The team did not disclose when Forbort sustained the injury this week, but given there’s no public mention of an incident occurring at practice, Forbort likely sustained the injury during off-ice activity. It’s serious enough to keep him out of action for at least ten games and 24 days, putting his earliest potential return on New Year’s Eve against the Red Wings.
While Forbort has been effective again in a shutdown role this season, the Bruins should be able to shoulder his absence. He’s missed four games already this season with various lower-body ailments, all coming in late October and early November. Boston has once again received spectacular possession play from its top four of Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, and Matt Grzelcyk, and veteran free agent signing Kevin Shattenkirk has been solid in a third-pairing role as well. Forbort, 31, has logged four assists and a +9 rating in 20 contests.
His absence does give the Bruins another chance to see what Lohrei can do at the NHL level. Recalled in November in the wake of injuries to Forbort and Grzelcyk, Boston’s 2020 second-round pick notched a goal and three assists in his first ten NHL games while averaging 17:34 per game before being returned to the minors later in the month. He usually occupied a top-four role when in the lineup, but with the Bruins’ defense now at full health outside of Forbort, he’ll likely slide into a third-pairing role alongside Shattenkirk. He’s likely to draw into the lineup tonight against the Sabres ahead of Ian Mitchell, who has posted poor possession numbers in a limited role this season and will sit as a healthy scratch most nights.
Forbort is in the final season of a three-year, $9MM deal signed with the Bruins as a free agent in 2021. He carries a three-team no-trade list.
Panthers Sign Josh Davies To Entry-Level Contract
The Panthers have agreed to terms with 2022 sixth-round pick Josh Davies on a three-year, entry-level contract, per a team release. Davies’ contract will slide to the 2024-25 season given he plays less than ten NHL games this season, a likely scenario. After signing the deal, the Panthers immediately returned Davies to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, according to CapFriendly. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Davies, 19, can play left-wing and center and was selected from the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos two years ago. He was a consensus mid-to-late-round pick coming into the draft, as his offensive production was mediocre (36 points in 64 games), but his physicality was intriguing. Despite his 5-foot-9, 196-pound frame, Davies is a tenacious checker and is not afraid to fight, as evidenced by his 100+ penalty minutes in the last two WHL seasons.
This season, however, Davies’ offense has exploded in his last season in junior hockey. An offseason trade to Portland has breathed life into his game, and he currently sits fourth on the Winterhawks in scoring with 19 goals and 31 points in 22 games. Described as a “diverse shooter” by Elite Prospects, he’s growing into an intriguing all-around talent who may have an NHL future ahead of him.
Given the delay in his offensive breakout, though, Davies’ ceiling is likely as a bottom-six energy winger with some scoring upside. Still, he’s one of the brighter spots in a Panthers’ prospect pool that’s been decimated over the past few years as the team has moved into a championship-contending window, especially among forwards – outside of 2021 first-round pick Mackie Samoskevich, who has ten points in 16 games with AHL Charlotte in his first full professional season.
Maple Leafs Have Shown Interest In Rasmus Ristolainen
Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is now healthy after missing the first 20 games of the season with a lower-body injury. The Maple Leafs have shown interest in the 29-year-old in their efforts to add to their blueline, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The 2013 eighth-overall pick has never been a beacon of defensive acumen throughout his 687 games with the Sabres and Flyers. However, his advanced defensive metrics saw major improvement last season, bringing his on-ice value closer to what you’d expect from a player carrying a $5.1MM cap hit.
After sitting in the bottom tenth percentile of overall even-strength defensive impact during the end of his time in Buffalo and his first season with the Flyers after a 2021 trade, Ristolainen’s defensive play rocketed up to the 87th percentile of all NHL defenders, per wins against replacement data from public analyst Patrick Bacon. His pairing with Nick Seeler last season put up remarkable defensive numbers, allowing less than two expected goals against per 60 minutes on an otherwise defensively weak Flyers team, per MoneyPuck.
In a small sample this season, the trend looks to continue. His partner since returning from injury has been veteran Marc Staal, and the two have controlled a staggering 70.3% of expected goals together – the third-best of any defense pairing this season with at least 30 minutes played together.
That being said, this increase in defensive impact has also come with a significant decrease in usage. In 2021-22, his first season in Philadelphia, Ristolainen logged nearly 19 minutes per game at even strength. Last season, when his possession quality numbers spiked, that number dropped to nearly 16 minutes per game. This year, he’s averaging just 14:30 per game at even strength through five games.
Needless to say, it’s apparent Ristolainen’s sudden increase in value is a little bit of smoke and mirrors. He’s putting up these numbers against much easier competition than the minutes he shouldered early on in his career. His analytics suggest he can be a high-end third-pair defenseman but not much more. Given he’s played a similarly reduced role this season and has just one assist since returning from injury, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for a cap-strapped team such as Toronto to take on his inflated cap hit, which runs through 2027.
Considering the Flyers aren’t in a position to offload assets for less than market value, a trade makes even less sense for the Maple Leafs, given the significant return they’d have to put on the table. As Friedman notes, the Flyers are playing decent hockey, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference with a .560 points percentage and remaining in the playoff race as the holiday season rolls around. That’s much better than anyone expected, and as such, Friedman doesn’t believe the Flyers are actively shopping Ristolainen.
While having T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, and Ristolainen would be a strong complement of right-side defenders, the Maple Leafs simply don’t have the financial flexibility to make a Ristolainen deal worth it for the limited role he would play – or, at least, the limited role he should play to be effective. Limiting chances against during 5-on-5 play is an area of need for Toronto (they’re below the league average in that area), but there are better targets to pursue that can shoulder more minutes with more success.
Take Calgary Flames pending UFA Chris Tanev, for example, as a better bet to improve the team’s defensive play while shouldering over 20 minutes per game. They’ve demonstrated interest in him as well, and he’s higher on their wish list by all accounts. As Friedman also mentions, the Maple Leafs would make a Tanev deal with the confidence that they can extend him given his hometown roots and his connection with ex-Flames and current Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving.