Morning Notes: Garland, Norris, Arvidsson
The Vancouver Canucks are receiving interest from multiple teams after granting forward Conor Garland permission to seek a trade earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last night on Saturday Headlines. Friedman singled out the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets as parties that have displayed interest but said there are likely other teams that have called the Canucks.
Garland logged a highlight-reel goal in the Canucks’ season-opener last week, but he’s been otherwise held off the scoresheet through two games and has been used quite sparingly by head coach Rick Tocchet. He’s played less than ten minutes in each of the team’s first two contests against the Oilers, and it’s becoming clear there’s no path to any significant role for Garland in Vancouver. The 27-year-old carries a $4.95MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season and has a history of strong middle-six production, something he’s likely to rediscover in a new environment, given his historically strong underlying numbers.
Friedman also added some clarity on what a Garland trade may eventually look like, noting that GM Patrik Allvin is looking to clear between $1MM and $2MM of cap space in this deal. That could come either via a total contract swap or retaining salary on Garland in a deal for draft picks or buriable players.
Elsewhere around the NHL this morning:
- Also coming from Friedman last night, the Ottawa Senators expect center Josh Norris to return to practice today in a non-contact jersey ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A return for their former 35-goal man is not imminent, but Friedman reports the Senators hope Norris will be able to return to contact practice later this week and offer a more definitive timeline for his return. The team has held off placing him on LTIR up until this point, signaling optimism that he’ll be able to return by the end of the month. Norris’ shoulder injury and subsequent setbacks have limited him to just eight games since the start of last season. Norris is beginning the second season of an eight-year, $63.6MM deal carrying a $7.95MM cap hit.
- Things are not looking up for Los Angeles Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson, who remains on LTIR after missing the first two games of the season with a back injury. It seems this could turn into an even more significant absence, as GM Rob Blake told NHL.com yesterday that Arvidsson “may have to have surgery,” which would put him out on a month-to-month basis and extend his stay on LTIR well past the minimum ten games and 24 days. If he doesn’t have surgery, he will be eligible to return for the team’s November 4 game against Philadelphia. Blake said Arvidsson sustained the injury during practice on the first day of the regular season, and subsequent diagnosis revealed surgery may be an option.
Markus Niemeläinen Clears Waivers
Saturday: Niemeläinen has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. He has been assigned to Bakersfield.
Friday: The Edmonton Oilers announced they’ve placed defenseman Markus Niemeläinen on waivers. With Niemeläinen now cleared to play and eligible for waivers and a subsequent AHL assignment to the Bakersfield Condors, the team will add a forward before tomorrow’s home opener against the Vancouver Canucks, says The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman.
It seems unlikely Niemeläinen will be claimed by another team over the next 24 hours, given he has just one assist in 43 NHL games to date. The 25-year-old Finn is strictly a shutdown defender, and he hasn’t managed to post positive possession numbers despite playing extremely sheltered minutes. His 6-foot-6 frame may be appealing to some teams, though.
He’d been dealing with a short-term undisclosed injury which prevented the Oilers from waiving him before the season started and, in part, forced them to play with 17 skaters due to salary cap constraints in Wednesday’s 8-1 road drubbing at the hands of the Canucks.
Niemeläinen is in the final season of a two-year, $1.525MM contract. While it carries a cap hit of just $762.5K, below the league minimum for this season, he is making the minimum $775K in actual salary this season at both the NHL and AHL levels. In 30 games with AHL Bakersfield last season, Niemeläinen notched two goals, five assists and seven points in 30 contests. Edmonton selected him in the third round, 63rd overall, of the 2016 NHL Draft.
Capitals Assign Clay Stevenson, Recall Aliaksei Protas From AHL
Saturday: With Kuemper back, the Capitals have reversed this transaction, sending Stevenson back to Hershey while recalling Protas.
Friday: The Washington Capitals today recalled netminder Clay Stevenson from the AHL’s Hershey Bears, as starter Darcy Kuemper will miss tonight’s season-opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins after welcoming a son last night. Forward Aliaksei Protas was loaned to Hershey to allow Washington the cap space to recall Stevenson.
Stevenson will backup Charlie Lindgren, who will start opening night for the Caps after recording a .899 save percentage in a career-high 31 games last season. The 24-year-old Stevenson has yet to make his NHL debut after signing with Washington as an undrafted free agent in 2022. In his first pro campaign last season, the former Dartmouth standout assumed the starting role for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. He appeared in 36 games there, recording a 2.54 goals-against average, .916 save percentage, three shutouts, and a 19-12-3 record. He also made three appearances for Hershey, going undefeated and posting a sparkling .924 save percentage and 1.96 goals-against average.
In 2023-24, Stevenson will be the primary AHL backup to Hunter Shepard, who broke out for Hershey en route to a Calder Cup win last season and captured the playoff MVP award.
Protas, meanwhile, still does not require waivers to head to the minors and was the odd man out with 2019 first-round pick Connor McMichael locking down a top-six role for opening night. The 22-year-old Belarusian was also a member of the Capitals’ 2019 class and stuck mostly in the NHL last season, notching 15 points in 58 contests. He’ll likely get recalled back to the Capitals’ NHL roster once Kuemper has rejoined the team and Stevenson is returned to Hershey.
Sharks To Place Mikael Granlund On Injured Reserve
San Jose Sharks center Mikael Granlund will be placed on injured reserve after re-aggravating a lower-body injury in last night’s season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports. Granlund logged 15:36 of ice time before leaving early in the third period. No corresponding recall has been made yet, nor has the IR placement been registered with the league.
Granlund is still listed as day-to-day, and it’s unclear whether he’ll miss more than the seven days (and three games, in this case) required to land on IR. Head coach David Quinn told reporters (including The Hockey News’ Max Miller) that Granlund is “not feeling great today” and that he noticed the previous injury rearing its head early in the game. The summer trade acquisition from the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the Erik Karlsson deal missed a significant chunk of preseason with the injury.
Granlund is coming off a brutal end to the 2022-23 season, during which he scored just one goal and five points in 21 contests with the Penguins after they acquired him via trade from the Nashville Predators in March. The 31-year-old never lived up to expectations in Nashville after they acquired him from the Minnesota Wild for then-youngster Kevin Fiala, only eclipsing the 50-point mark once after doing so thrice with the Wild. Last season was also one of the worst of his career defensively, posting a -15 rating and 48.2% Corsi share at even strength.
His injury leaves the Sharks with 12 healthy forwards, meaning a recall is necessary for the Sharks to have an extra on the roster. Most of their likely recall options – namely Ryan Carpenter, Oskar Lindblom or Jacob Peterson – are not waiver-exempt and would need to clear again should they play more than ten games or stay on the roster for 30 days. For now, Luke Kunin is likely to shift to center after playing on Granlund’s wing last night, and Kevin Labanc will likely make his season debut tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche after sitting against Vegas.
Oilers Sign Adam Erne To Two-Way Deal
4:28 p.m.: Erne’s contract carries a $250K salary in the AHL and a $300K guarantee, per PuckPedia.
3:33 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers signed veteran winger Adam Erne to a one-year, two-way deal, per a team announcement. Erne, 28, will earn $775K at the NHL level after spending camp with the Oilers on a professional tryout.
This contract likely won’t be officially registered until tomorrow after defenseman Markus Niemeläinen is off the roster one way or another – he was placed on waivers today. The Oilers currently have just $395K in cap space with a roster of 11 forwards and eight defensemen, per CapFriendly, and two of their defenders (Niemeläinen and Mattias Ekholm) were out with short-term injuries that prohibited them from dressing in Wednesday’s season opener. Putting Niemeläinen’s $762.5K cap hit in the minors – or on another team, if claimed – will afford the Oilers space to put Erne’s new deal on the books, giving them 12 forwards.
Signing Erne will also give them an extra skater for tomorrow’s game against Vancouver, as Ekholm is now expected to play after missing all of camp and the team’s first game of the season with a nagging hip injury. One of Philip Broberg or Vincent Desharnais will likely come out of the lineup to give Edmonton 12 forwards and six defensemen.
Erne is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he scored eight goals, ten assists and 18 points with 21 penalty minutes and a -12 rating in 61 games for the Detroit Red Wings. It was the type of production we’ve come to expect from the bottom-six winger, who’s amassed 40 goals, 49 assists and 89 points in 355 games over seven NHL seasons. Erne, a typical grinder and an early second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, will likely slot in alongside Mattias Janmark and Derek Ryan on the Oilers’ fourth line.
Blue Jackets Place Zach Werenski On Injured Reserve, Recall David Jiricek
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Zach Werenski on injured reserve after sustaining a quad contusion in last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on a hit from forward Garnet Hathaway, which resulted in a minor penalty and $5,000 fine. Werenski will miss between one and two weeks. In response, the team recalled top defense prospect David Jiricek from AHL Cleveland.
This continues to be a tough stretch of injury luck for Werenski, who missed the last 69 games of last season with a shoulder injury. Werenski skated 13:43 last night and recorded a -1 rating before exiting the game, which ended up being a 4-2 loss for Columbus in their home opener. It was the start of a four-game homestand for the Jackets, who don’t play on the road until October 21st at Minnesota.
It opens the door for Jiricek, the sixth-overall pick in 2022, to force his way onto the roster over the next few games. The Blue Jackets are reportedly shopping a defenseman to make room for Jiricek on the active roster, but a trade might now wait until later in the month with Werenski on the sidelines. Jiricek was one of the best rookies in the AHL last season, logging 38 points in 55 games for the Cleveland Monsters and earning a look in four NHL games with Columbus. He’s still looking for his first NHL point, however.
Columbus head coach Pascal Vincent confirmed earlier this morning that it wasn’t likely to be a long-term absence for Werenski, the team’s undisputed number-one defender. However, Jiricek, a right-shot defenseman, won’t be able to directly replace the role of Werenski, who plays on the left side. While Jiricek could get some significant minutes over the next few weeks, the most direct effect of this injury will be on offseason addition Ivan Provorov, who will now likely slide up to the top pairing alongside Damon Severson. Provorov had a tough outing against his former team last night, recording just two shot attempts and a -2 rating in over 25 minutes of ice time.
New York Islanders Recall Simon Holmstrom
The New York Islanders have recalled forward Simon Holmstrom from the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, a team release states Thursday.
New York assigned Holmstrom, 22, to the minors on Monday in order to submit a cap-compliant opening night roster. While most expected he would make the team, he does not need waivers to head to AHL Bridgeport and sending him down was the easiest course of action until the Islanders could make corresponding moves to free up space.
That corresponding move was waiving veteran enforcer Ross Johnston, who was claimed by the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. Johnston, 29, was signed for three more seasons at a $1.1MM cap hit and had registered 283 penalty minutes in 134 NHL contests with the Islanders since joining the team in 2015.
With Johnston off the books, the Islanders now have enough cap space to recall Holmstrom, the 23rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. Last season was his first in the NHL, and it wasn’t what anyone hoped. He registered just nine points in 50 contests, and his production also took a major hit in the AHL, notching just five points in 16 games for Bridgeport.
After a strong showing in camp, however, the Islanders are expecting bigger things out of the Swedish winger this season. The team doesn’t kick off their 2023-24 schedule until Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, but Holmstrom is expected to slot in on the team’s top line alongside Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat. It’s quite the opportunity for Holmstrom, who averaged just 11:05 per game last season under head coach Lane Lambert.
Holmstrom is beginning the final season of his entry-level contract, which carries a $863.3K cap hit. He will not have arbitration rights if he reaches restricted free agency next summer.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Owen Power To Seven-Year Extension
The Buffalo Sabres have signed 2021 first-overall pick Owen Power to a seven-year contract extension carrying an $8.35MM cap hit, the team announced Wednesday night. Per PuckPedia, Power’s total compensation equals $8.35MM in all seven seasons of the contract, which begins in 2024-25, except that he’s due a $2MM signing bonus when the contract begins next summer. He is only eligible for trade protection in the final two seasons of the deal, during which he’ll have a five-team no-trade list.
Buffalo’s cornerstone defenders are now locked up together through the 2030-31 season. Rasmus Dahlin signed an eight-year, $88MM extension two days ago that takes him through the 2031-32 campaign, one season past Power. Power’s agent, Pat Brisson, tells TSN’s Pierre LeBrun that extension talks accelerated over the past few days “with a mutual desire to get it done before opening night.”
It’s quite a significant long-term commitment for a player with just one full NHL season under their belt, but it’s a trend we’re seeing quickly come into view with young defensemen. The Ottawa Senators signed a similar eight-year, $64MM extension with rising sophomore defender Jake Sanderson over a month ago.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has not been shy about getting his core locked up long-term. Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens and Mattias Samuelsson are also all signed through at least the 2029-30 campaign.
Power, 20, finished third in Calder Trophy voting last season behind Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner and former University of Michigan teammate and Kraken center Matthew Beniers. He notched 35 points in 79 contests and posted solid possession metrics, showing some room for improvement defensively but displayed the elite play-driving senses and 6-foot-6 frame that earned him the first-overall choice over two years ago.
Those numbers are even more impressive considering the role he was able to carve out for himself, still managing to average nearly 24 minutes per game despite playing second fiddle to Dahlin. His 23:48 average places him fifth all-time among defenders in their rookie season and the highest since Drew Doughty averaged 23:50 for the Kings in his rookie campaign, 2008-09.
The contract keeps Dahlin and Power anchoring the Sabres’ top two defense pairings for the better part of the next decade for a combined cost of $19.35MM per season. CapFriendly now projects the Sabres with $25MM in cap space next season with a roster size of 12. Their most notable unsigned talent for next season is center Casey Mittelstadt, who is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
On that note, this extension offers Power a direct path to unrestricted free agency after just his rookie season. The contract buys out two UFA seasons.
This season is the third and final one of his entry-level contract, meaning his services will come at the cost of just $917K against the cap for another year before the massive extension kicks in. He’s projected to reprise his role on the team’s second pairing behind Dahlin, likely flanked by Henri Jokiharju on his right.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Brett Howden Suspended Two Games For Illegal Check To The Head
Vegas Golden Knights winger Brett Howden was issued a two-game suspension today for an illegal check to the head of Seattle Kraken winger Brandon Tanev in last night’s game, per the NHL Department of Player Safety.
In the short term, expect a domino effect for the Golden Knights. With winger William Carrier also injured in their season-opening win, head coach Bruce Cassidy said earlier today that Pavel Dorofeyev will draw into the lineup tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks after serving as a healthy scratch last night. With Howden suspended, Cassidy also said the team will recall forward Jonas Røndbjerg from AHL Henderson.
Howden was assessed a match penalty by officials on the play. NHL DoPS ruled that Howden made the head the principal point of contact “on a hit where such head contact was avoidable.” The 25-year-old forward has no previous fines or suspensions on record with DoPS.
Howden skated 11:57 before being removed from the game, recording the primary assist on Chandler Stephenson‘s game-opening goal. The 25-year-old signed a two-year, $3.8MM contract to remain a Golden Knight this summer after notching 10 points in 22 postseason games on the team’s run to the 2023 Stanley Cup.
Blue Jackets Notes: Boumedienne, Boll, McCarthy
A day before they kick off their 2023-24 schedule, the Columbus Blue Jackets have filled the assistant coaching vacancy on their bench. The team hired Josef Boumedienne today to fill the role vacated by Pascal Vincent’s sudden recent promotion to head coach, per a team announcement.
It’s a nice promotion for the former NHL defenseman, who has been a member of the Blue Jackets since retiring from his playing career a decade ago. First joining the squad as a European scout for the 2013-14 season, he was promoted to the team’s Director of European Scouting three years later. He jumped up the ladder again in 2021 to serve as their Director of Professional Scouting, and now, two seasons later, he’ll be behind an NHL bench for the first time.
This is not Boumedienne’s first coaching experience, although his previous résumé in coaching roles is limited. He briefly served as the head coach for SHL club Brynäs IF for the league’s play-out round in 2021, and he held a coaching role within the Blue Jackets’ youth program last season. Now 45, Boumedienne skated in 47 NHL contests between 2001 and 2004 with the Capitals, Devils and Lightning.
Some other coaching news out of Columbus today:
- Columbus also announced one-year extensions for their other assistants, starting with longtime Blue Jackets enforcer Jared Boll. The 37-year-old has been a member of the Blue Jackets coaching staff since 2018. He initially started as an assistant development coach before transitioning into the role of an assistant coach for this season. Between playing in Columbus and shortly in Anaheim, Boll accumulated 28 goals, 38 assists, and 66 points, along with 1,298 penalty minutes, over the course of 579 games played during his 11-year tenure in the NHL.
- Steve McCarthy, also once an NHLer, received a one-year extension to match Boll. The 42-year-old has been in the Columbus organization since 2016 when he was brought on as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. He was promoted to the NHL bench in 2021. The 42-year-old was once a first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks and skated in over 300 NHL games across eight seasons.