Panthers Assign Uvis Balinskis To AHL
12/4: The Panthers have recalled Balinskis to the NHL roster, after sending him down on December 1st. He missed one Panthers game with his assignment.
12/1: The Panthers announced Friday that defenseman Uvis Balinskis has been assigned to AHL Charlotte. This is the first demotion of his NHL career after signing as an undrafted free agent with the Panthers last summer.
The 27-year-old Balinskis joined Florida after spending the first eight years of his professional career in Czechia and Russia. He’s been a fixture on the Latvian national team throughout that time, representing them at the World Juniors, World Championship (on multiple occasions), and the Olympics. Last season, Balinskis recorded a career-high 35 points in 50 games for Czech Extraliga team Bili Tygri Liberec, drawing NHL interest in the process. It earned him a one-year, two-way deal with an $870K cap hit.
In his first NHL season, Balinskis has largely been effective in a depth role. Skating in 15 games, he averaged just 13:50 per contest, notching a goal and an assist with a +1 rating. His possession numbers have been strong – a 53.9% Corsi share at even strength and strong advanced metrics – but he’s offered little in the way of play-driving ability. He’s been an effective signing for what the Panthers brought him in to do, but with Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour both returning from season-opening injuries last month, Balinskis’ role in the lineup evaporated.
As a first-year NHLer, Balinskis is exempt from waivers. The Panthers can ferry him up and down from the minors as they please this season, and he’ll likely be brought back up at some point. Sending Balinskis to the minors leaves them with six healthy defenders, as Josh Mahura remains on injured reserve and depth puck-mover Mike Reilly was claimed off waivers by the Islanders last week. Because of his age, Balinskis will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Blue Jackets Assign Daniil Tarasov To AHL For Conditioning
The Blue Jackets have assigned netminder Daniil Tarasov to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters on a conditioning stint as he nears recovery from a knee injury, GM Jarmo Kekäläinen announced today.
To do this, the Blue Jackets first moved Tarasov from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve retroactive to the beginning of the season, then assigned him on an LTIR conditioning loan to Cleveland. This sub-type of conditioning stint means Tarasov can remain with Cleveland for up to six days or three games (with a potential two-game extension), after which the Blue Jackets can determine whether Tarasov can return to play. He remains on LTIR during the conditioning stint, although since the Blue Jackets had over $4MM in accrued cap space before placing him on LTIR, it’s irrelevant to the team’s financial picture.
Tarasov, 24, sustained a knee injury early in training camp and was initially listed as day-to-day. His recovery has drawn out much longer than expected, causing him to miss well over two months of action. The intriguing goalie prospect is no stranger to injury troubles, missing more than half of the 2021-22 season after undergoing right hip surgery.
The 2017 third-round pick began last season on the Blue Jackets roster but was eventually demoted due to poor play. He posted a 4-11-1 record, .892 SV%, 3.91 GAA, and conceded 6.4 goals above average in 16 starts, although he was far from the reason Columbus ranked 31st in goals against last season. Now in the second season of a three-year, $3.15MM contract, he has just 19 NHL starts to his name over the past three seasons, and his mediocre play in the minors since coming over from Russia must have the Blue Jackets questioning his long-term stance in the organization.
Assigning Tarasov on conditioning buys some time for Kekäläinen to make a choice regarding current backup netminder Spencer Martin, who’s given the Blue Jackets a solid .903 SV% and 3.20 GAA in nine appearances (seven starts) since they claimed him off waivers from the Canucks during the preseason. Whether the Blue Jackets opt to prioritize Tarasov over Martin remains to be seen, although it would make sense to go with the younger, higher-ceiling player, given the team sits far out of playoff contention. Martin is 28 years old, and his only season as a full-time backup, last year with Vancouver, was disastrous – posting a .871 SV% and conceding 27.5 goals above average in just 29 appearances.
The Blue Jackets could either trade Martin or look to pass him through waivers, although teams looking for goalie help may want to take a flyer on him, given his decent performance to open the campaign. Tarasov is no longer waiver-exempt and would need to be exposed in order to head to Cleveland full-time.
Kings Activate, Reassign Tobias Björnfot
The Kings have activated defenseman Tobias Björnfot off injured reserve and returned him to the AHL’s Ontario Reign on a conditioning loan, per a team announcement Friday evening.
Björnfot, the team’s 2019 first-round pick, sustained a scary injury in a November 21 game against the Kraken’s minor-league affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, which required him to be stretchered off the ice. Thankfully, the injury was neither life-threatening nor long-term, and he’s now ready to return to action.
The 22-year-old was already on a conditioning assignment with the Reign when he sustained the injury. Given he was put on injured reserve (but not long-term injured reserve) in the middle of it, the clock on his conditioning loan has now restarted, and he can remain with Ontario for 14 days before the Kings must reinstate him or put him on waivers for the purpose of assignment.
NHL teams will take advantage of conditioning loans to get oft-healthy scratched players some brief action in the minors without subjecting them to the waiver process. During this time, a player remains on the 23-man roster and counts against the salary cap but is eligible to play for a team’s minor-league affiliate.
The Kings initially sent Björnfot to the Reign for conditioning on November 16 after he had sat out of the lineup for over a month. After logging 10:12 in the team’s season opener against the Avalanche on October 11, head coach Todd McLellan healthy scratched Björnfot for a staggering 13 consecutive games before the team gave him some action in the minors.
Björnfot’s short stint in the minors was negligible – he was held off the scoresheet and posted a +1 rating in three games. He’ll now get some more minor-league action under his belt after spending most of last season with Ontario as well.
The Swede’s trajectory is not terribly promising at this point, at least for a first-round pick. While he’s shown the skills to be a serviceable NHL defender, it doesn’t seem likely he’ll ever elevate above a third-pairing role. The 6-foot, 200-pound defender has 117 NHL games to his name with the Kings over the last five seasons, notching one goal, 14 assists, and a -18 rating.
Canadiens Recall Mitchell Stephens
The Canadiens recalled veteran utility forward Mitchell Stephens from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Friday, according to a team announcement. The news comes after top-six forward Alex Newhook sustained a lower-body injury in last night’s game against the Panthers, suggesting he’ll miss some time.
This is Stephens’ first recall since signing with the Canadiens as a free agent in 2022. The 26-year-old, who has amassed 72 NHL games with the Lightning and Red Wings over the past five years, failed to crack the Canadiens’ roster out of camp in back-to-back seasons and has instead spent the entirety of his Montreal tenure on assignment with Laval. He last skated in the NHL in 2021-22, suiting up in just 27 games with the Red Wings as he missed most of the season with a lower-body injury.
Stephens, who played just 28 AHL games between 2019 and 2022, has taken his return to full-time duty in the minors in stride. He’s off to a good start this season, recording three goals and 12 points through 16 games with the Rocket. The 2015 second-round pick of the Lightning has always been a solid producer at the lower level, notching 137 points in 219 career AHL games across eight seasons.
Stephens is the highest-scoring player among the likely call-up options for the Canadiens at this stage. Team points leader Joshua Roy, selected 150th overall in 2021, is still just 20 years old. The Canadiens likely want to keep Roy with Laval to aid in his development. Second-leading scorer Brandon Gignac is not signed to an NHL contract, while Sean Farrell, who’s tied with Stephens in points, is out indefinitely with an injury sustained this week.
Without the need for a center in the lineup (Newhook was playing on the wing), Stephens will likely sit as a healthy scratch for Saturday’s game against his former team, the Red Wings. Instead, grinder Michael Pezzetta will likely enter the lineup in Newhook’s absence after sitting as a healthy scratch for the last two games.
Stephens, who signed a one-year, two-way deal with a salary guarantee of $385K to remain a Hab last summer, will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.
Devils Place Dougie Hamilton On IR With Torn Pectoral Muscle, Tomáš Nosek Undergoes Foot Surgery
The injury news regarding Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton is worse than initially feared. The team announced Friday that they’ve placed their star defender on injured reserve after a successful surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, retroactive to November 28, and there is no timetable for his return. Additionally, center Tomáš Nosek has re-aggravated a right foot injury that’s sidelined him for all but six games this season and has undergone successful surgery to repair the issue. He, too, is out indefinitely.
New Jersey also confirmed the call-up of top defense prospect Šimon Nemec from AHL Utica, as reported earlier today. He will make his NHL debut tonight against the Sharks, playing a third-pairing role alongside veteran Colin Miller.
This is a tough blow for the Devils and Hamilton, who played all 82 games last season and finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting after recording 74 points and a +23 rating. This is his first stint on IR since a broken jaw kept him out for 17 games in the middle of the 2021-22 season.
The 30-year-old right-shot defender was off to a strong start, leading Devils defensemen with five goals and 16 points in 20 contests. He missed Thursday’s contest against the Flyers after sustaining the pectoral tear in Tuesday’s game against the Islanders. Hamilton, who was also boasting a career-high Corsi share of 58.3% at even strength, is in the third season of a seven-year, $63MM deal carrying a $9MM cap hit and, for now, a full no-movement clause.
No team is well-positioned to lose their number-one defenseman, and it makes for tough waters to navigate as the Devils look to rebound from a sluggish start to the campaign. Hamilton’s absence does, however, provide increased opportunities for rookie Luke Hughes. The 20-year-old is now tasked with top pairing duties alongside Jonas Siegenthaler, which will certainly help his case for being a Calder Trophy nominee at season’s end. He’s already off to an impressive start offensively, notching three goals and 14 points through 21 games – not very far behind Hamilton’s production.
Hughes’ possession numbers are similarly strong, albeit in slightly easier minutes. He’ll now be given a prime chance to flash what his ceiling can be – first-pair duties and, expectedly, first power-play unit duties will be quite the test for the youngster, whom the Devils selected fourth overall in the 2021 draft.
Meanwhile, Nosek exited the Devils’ lineup earlier in the month and had already been placed on IR. He last played November 18 against the Rangers and skated just 2:55 in that game, his fourth since returning from the initial injury sustained in mid-October. He, like Hamilton, will presumably be out long-term, although it doesn’t change the picture much for the Devils, given how little he’s played.
Devils’ Brendan Smith Suspended Two Games
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Friday that they’ve suspended Devils defenseman Brendan Smith for two games for slashing Flyers forward Travis Konecny in last night’s contest. Konecny was also fined $5K, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for cross-checking Smith on the same play. Smith will be eligible to return to play on December 7 against the Kraken.
NHL Player Safety described the incident as follows:
With the puck having been cleared to the other end of the ice, Konecny delivers a sharp cross-check to the body of Smith, for which he has been fined. In retaliation, and in complete control of his actions, Smith turns towards Konecny, winds up, and delivers a forceful two-handed strike to Konecny’s arm with his stick.
Regarding their determination around supplemental discipline, Player Safety issued the following statement:
It is important to note that this is an intentional and forceful slash delivered well away from the puck and solely for the purpose of retribution. This is not a hockey play, nor is this a battle where players are physically engaged and a stick comes up carelessly due to the body contact between the players. Smith is in complete control of his stick at all times, and while we recognize Smith’s assertion that he is cross-checked first in this sequence, players are not excused from illegal acts just because of a prior foul by an opponent.
Smith has been suspended once before, an eight-game ban during the 2011 preseason while a member of the Red Wings for a hit to the head of then-Blackhawks forward Ben Smith. Given the distance between the two incidents that required supplemental discipline, the previous suspension was not factored into this punishment.
With Smith ineligible to play and star blueliner Dougie Hamilton sidelined with a short-term injury, 2022 second-overall pick Šimon Nemec is expected to make his NHL debut tonight against the Sharks after being recalled this morning.
The 34-year-old Smith had played in all 21 Devils contests this season, oftentimes suiting up as the fourth-line left wing with injuries affecting the team’s forward group. He plays the veteran utility player role well, providing solid possession numbers while averaging 14:43 per game. He does have just two assists on the season, although the 2007 first-round pick hasn’t been relied upon for offensive production in quite some time.
Smith is in his second season with the Devils after spending the majority of his 13-year, 652-game career with the Red Wings and Rangers. In those 652 games, Smith has 33 goals, 92 assists, 125 points, a -5 rating, and 725 penalty minutes.
Predators To Recall Spencer Stastney, Alexandre Carrier Out Week-To-Week
The Predators will recall defenseman Spencer Stastney from AHL Milwaukee while fellow defender Alexandre Carrier is sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury, Nick Kieser of Nashville Hockey Now reports. Carrier sustained the injury early in yesterday’s loss to the Wild, skating less than two minutes in the contest. The Predators had two open spots on the 23-man roster and, therefore, do not need to place Carrier on IR to accommodate Stastney’s recall.
After signing a one-year, $2.5MM contract as a restricted free agent in July, Carrier continues to see a more limited role than the top-four duties that earned him a tenth-place Calder Trophy finish in 2021-22. He has, however, been a steady fixture in the lineup. He’s played in all 22 of Nashville’s games thus far after appearing in just 43 out of 82 contests last season. He’s been paired almost equally with Jeremy Lauzon and Ryan McDonagh this year, posting high-quality possession numbers with the latter and posting a goal and eight points.
Stastney, 23, returns to the NHL roster just three days after being returned to the minors. After being cut from the roster during training camp, the Predators recalled Stastney for a two-week stint with the team in late November, playing him in five contests. The 2018 fifth-round pick now has 13 NHL appearances to his name after finishing out last season in the NHL, notching one goal, two assists, and a strong +9 rating in 16:44 of average ice time. The Notre Dame grad, now in his second full season of pro hockey, remains a strong two-way prospect who could convert these early call-ups to an eventual long-term role on the Predators’ second or third pairing.
The Woodbridge, Illinois-born defender will battle depth defenders Dante Fabbro and Luke Schenn for playing opportunities while on the roster, although he projects to serve as a healthy scratch with Carrier as the only injured defenseman. Stastney is in the final season of a two-year, entry-level contract and will be eligible for salary arbitration in the summer.
Kraken Recall Max McCormick, Issue Injury Update On Jaden Schwartz
The Kraken have called up veteran winger Max McCormick from AHL Coachella Valley, a team statement released Friday afternoon reads. In a corresponding transaction, another minor-league veteran, Andrew Poturalski, was returned to their minor-league affiliate. Additionally, after placing him on injured reserve yesterday, the team announced that winger Jaden Schwartz‘s upper-body injury is expected to keep him out for approximately six weeks.
This is McCormick’s first recall of the season. He was summoned to the NHL roster on two brief occasions last season without appearing in a game. The 31-year-old cleared waivers during training camp and can be returned to Coachella Valley if he stays on the Kraken roster for less than 30 days and plays less than ten games. McCormick, a veteran of over 450 AHL games, is off to a spectacular start, serving as Coachella Valley’s captain and leading the team with eight goals and 17 points in 16 games.
The 2023 AHL Second Team All-Star has been a frequent recall option for teams ever since making his NHL debut with the Senators in 2015-16. He’s accumulated 93 games of NHL experience across six campaigns, most recently in a ten-game stint with the Kraken in their inaugural season in 2021-22. McCormick has been used exclusively in depth roles, however, averaging just 8:28 per contest while managing a respectable eight goals and 13 points across his career. He’s rarely been a significant defensive liability and is a solid, replacement-level option to fill bottom-six injuries.
McCormick will slide into the lineup Saturday against his former team, the Senators, if Brandon Tanev cannot return from his second lower-body injury of the season. He is expected to skate in a fourth-line role alongside Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and recent fellow call-up Marián Studenič. He would replace Poturalski in the lineup, who now returns to the minors after recording no points and a -1 rating in 6:52 of average ice time across the Kraken’s last two contests.
Missing Schwartz for such a significant period of time is a blow to the Kraken’s depth in no uncertain terms. The veteran winger had 15 points in 23 games on the season, on pace for his best offensive showing since joining the expansion Kraken during free agency in 2021. It’s not great news for a Seattle team that’s now fallen two games below the .500 mark and remains outside of the Western Conference playoff picture.
Senators Activate Thomas Chabot
The Senators have officially removed defenseman Thomas Chabot from long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly. Chabot can now officially return to the lineup Friday against the Blue Jackets, where he’s expected to comprise the team’s second defense pairing alongside Artem Zub.
Tomorrow will mark Chabot’s first appearance since October 26, when he sustained a right-hand fracture in a game against the Islanders. The team immediately announced he would miss four to six weeks and placed him on LTIR, freeing up precious salary cap space for a team that had to open the season short a skater due to cap constraints. Just a few days into his projected return window, Chabot is ready to go.
His recovery has forced some cap gymnastics, as CapFriendly notes. Forwards Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic, who have been out of the lineup since early this month, were both retroactively placed on LTIR to free up cap space. Given that LTIR requires a player to miss at least ten games and 28 days due to an injury, Greig and Kastelic will miss at least two more games with their lower-body injuries. They remain listed as week-to-week and will be eligible to return on December 5 against the Rangers.
Even under LTIR, the Senators now have only $148K in available cap space with an active roster of 21 players.
Outside of the financials, this news is quite pertinent for a Senators team looking to dig itself out of last place in the Atlantic Division and get back into the playoff conversation by New Year’s Day. Injuries have limited Chabot over the past few seasons – he’s missed roughly 25% of Ottawa’s games dating back to the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. When in the lineup, though, he remains an extremely valuable piece of the Senators’ puzzle. He routinely averages the most ice time of nearly any defender in the league, staying over the 24-minute mark for six straight seasons. He has a long history of positive relative possession numbers, too, and has produced at a 0.64 points-per-game clip since transitioning into a top-pairing role in 2018.
Before sustaining the fracture, Chabot had logged three assists and a -1 rating in seven appearances.
Canucks Reassign Cole McWard
The Canucks assigned defenseman Cole McWard to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks on Thursday, per an announcement from GM Patrik Allvin.
Vancouver signed McWard, 22, to a two-year entry-level contract in April. The undrafted free agent signing out of Ohio State University joined the team immediately, recording one goal in five games and burning the first year of the contract. He did not crack the Canucks roster out of training camp in 2023-24, though, and was assigned to Abbotsford to begin the season.
There, he started off his minor-league career with a goal, three assists, four points, and a +5 rating in 15 games before earning a recall from Vancouver last week. With Carson Soucy sidelined with a foot injury, the Canucks have been rotating players on their bottom defense pairing, including McWard, Mark Friedman, Akito Hirose, Noah Juulsen, and now Matt Irwin, who the Canucks recalled from Abbotsford yesterday and will make his season debut tonight against the Golden Knights.
McWard was rostered for three games during his recall but only played in one, logging one shot on goal in 9:05 of ice time against the Ducks on Tuesday. The right-shot defender, who remains waiver-exempt, will now resume a regular role in the minors. He will be a 10.2(c)-designated RFA at the end of the season, meaning he is ineligible to elect salary arbitration and ineligible to sign an offer sheet.