Rick Bowness Still Dealing With COVID Symptoms
As announced today by the team, Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness is still dealing with post-COVID symptoms after testing positive last week and will not be behind the bench for tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues. Assistant coach Scott Arniel will once again resume coaching duties in Bowness’ absence.
Bowness first tested positive on October 14, missing the team’s season-opening game against the New York Rangers. He returned from COVID for just one game, a 4-1 loss Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The veteran head coach was feeling generally unwell today and cut his media availability short this morning due to dizzy spells.
The Jets are off to a 2-3-0 start to the season, limited in part due to a crucial injury to Nikolaj Ehlers. The Jets did outshoot the Leafs in Bowness’ lone appearance, but the team overall has scored 12 goals over the course of five games, one ahead of the last-place Blues who have played just three times. Arniel will need to focus on sparking depth scoring in his return to interim duties, as no forward outside of the team’s top six not named Sam Gagner has scored this year.
PHR sends its well wishes to Bowness in his recovery.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Gavin Bayreuther
According to a team release, the Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled defenseman Gavin Bayreuther from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
The move comes after rookie defenseman Nick Blankenburg left last night’s game with an upper-body injury, speculated to be an injury to his left arm. The 24-year-old undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Michigan had two points through his first four games this season and had even earned a look on the team’s top pairing alongside Zach Werenski. His brief emergence pushed another young defender, Adam Boqvist, out of the lineup. Boqvist had been held off the scoresheet in three games this season and averaged just a few ticks over 16 minutes per game, though.
Bayreuther comes up from Cleveland to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman, suggesting Blankenburg may miss some time. Blankenburg has not been placed on injured reserve, but there’s no pressing need to as the team was carrying 22 out of a maximum of 23 players anyways. The 28-year-old Bayreuther has three assists in his first three games in Cleveland and is in the second year of a two-year, $750,000 cap hit deal which is a one-way contract for 2022-23. Bayreuther spent the majority of the 2021-22 season on the Jackets’ active roster, usually as a healthy scratch, registering eight assists in 43 games.
Latest On Patrik Laine
The Columbus Blue Jackets got some tough news last week when star winger Patrik Laine sustained an elbow sprain in the team’s season opener and had to be moved to injured reserve immediately. Fortunately, though, it seems his three-to-four-week recovery timeline is still right on schedule, if not a bit ahead. The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger reported today that Laine skated on his own in full gear for the past two days at the team’s practice facility. Hedger also noted the Finnish star is confident he’ll be ready to play by the first week of November when the Blue Jackets travel to Finland to play a set of games against the Colorado Avalanche.
That’s obviously a huge deal for Laine personally, but also the league, as Laine is the most marketable hometown player who’ll skate in the back-to-back set of games in Tampere. Laine hails directly from Tampere, and while his Avalanche counterpart in Mikko Rantanen may have more publicity overall, there’s nothing like getting to see one of your town’s best-ever hockey products play an NHL game on home soil.
A quick return from Laine is also crucial for Columbus’ playoff hopes. While Johnny Gaudreau has held up his end of the bargain, recording four points in his first four games as a Blue Jacket, their lack of quality offensive depth has been exposed by Laine’s injury. Minor-league and European league journeyman Justin Danforth was the team’s first option to replace Laine on the top line, which is obviously a less-than-ideal situation.
Buffalo Sabres’ Ilya Lyubushkin Out Day-To-Day
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin is out on a day-to-day basis after sustaining a foot injury in yesterday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, the team announced Wednesday.
Lyubushkin has impressed early on after signing a two-year, $2.75MM AAV contract with the Sabres in free agency last offseason. He’s notched one assist and has a +1 rating through three games, but he was perhaps most notable against Edmonton in his performance that was cut short due to injury. The 6′ 2″, 208-pound defenseman played an imposing and intimidating game that highlights his strengths, limiting chances against and laying big hits. A massive open-ice hit he laid on Oilers forward Dylan Holloway was his highlight of the night, and he only received a two-minute minor for roughing after the play.
His defensive performance has stood out in a good way, and his plays are a significant reason why the Sabres are off to a strong 2-1-0 start to the 2022-23 season. Hopefully, he won’t miss more than a handful of games and can continue building on his strong start sooner rather than later.
In the meantime for Buffalo, Casey Fitzgerald will likely step into a bottom-pairing role alongside Jacob Bryson. The team also has Lawrence Pilut stashed in the minors who does not require waivers, and he could be a call-up option if the team desires a more offensively-inclined replacement on the backend. It’s not a likely scenario, however, as Fitzgerald remains a slightly better stylistic fit for Lyubushkin’s game.
Jakub Vrana Placed In NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program
As announced today by the NHL, Detroit Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana has been placed in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Vrana will be unavailable for an indefinite period of time while he receives care as prescribed and overseen by the program.
Vrana will return to game action for Detroit when he is cleared for on-ice competition by the program’s administrators, according to the release.
26 years old, Vrana is entering his second full season with the Red Wings. The Prague-born forward had a goal and an assist in his first two games with Detroit this year after he missed 56 games last season with a shoulder injury.
PHR sends its best wishes to Vrana while he gets the help he needs.
Snapshots: Buchnevich, Allen, Ingham
The St. Louis Blues could be without an impact piece tonight when they visit the Seattle Kraken. Top-six winger Pavel Buchnevich left the ice early during their morning skate today and will be a game-time decision tonight with a lower-body injury, according to head coach Craig Berube.
The Blues were one of the last teams to open their season and, as a result, have only played one game so far. Buchnevich was one of their best players in a road outing against Columbus, though, notching a goal and an assist and leading the team with a +3 rating. The Russian winger is coming off a gargantuan season in which he broke the point-per-game plateau for the first time, scoring 76 points in 73 games. If Buchnevich can’t go, the team would either replace him in the lineup with Josh Leivo or dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen, getting Calle Rosen in for his season debut.
- Goalie Jake Allen will return to the Montreal Canadiens crease tomorrow night after welcoming the birth of his third daughter. Allen is expected to get his third start of the season against the Arizona Coyotes, who are coming off an impressive 4-2 win in Toronto. The 32-year-old Canadian has a sparkling .943 save percentage through two games this season, his third as a Canadien.
- A top goalie prospect for the Los Angeles Kings is set to undergo surgery. Mayor’s Manor’s John Hoven reports that Jacob Ingham had back surgery yesterday and is expected to be out for five to six months. It’s a tough blow for Ingham, who’s played sparingly in both the AHL and ECHL over the past two seasons since turning pro. The Kings selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Minnesota Wild Reassign Mason Shaw To AHL
The Minnesota Wild announced Wednesday via Twitter that the team has reassigned forward Mason Shaw to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
With forward Jordan Greenway now ready to go after missing the team’s first three games of the season with an injury, the team had no use for a second extra forward on the active roster. Greenway missed training camp and the beginning of the season as he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.
Shaw is the captain of the Iowa Wild, but he’s also poised to be at the top of Minnesota’s call-up list throughout the season. The 23-year-old does now require waivers, but as he passed through less than 30 days ago, he can be shuttled up and down at will for the time being. He played one game during his call-up, skating just 5:46 in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Top prospect Marco Rossi is set to reenter the lineup now after getting minuscule looks in his first two games of the season, and he could get a shot on a more offensively inclined line between Frederick Gaudreau and Matt Boldy. Connor Dewar will likely be the team’s 13th forward, for the time being, making room for Greenway to return to his checking line role with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno.
Matt Kiersted, Seth Barton Activated From Season-Opening Injured Reserve
A pair of defensemen have been activated from season-opening injured reserve (SOIR) and are headed to their respective teams’ AHL affiliates. The Florida Panthers have assigned Matt Kiersted to the Charlotte Checkers, per CapFriendly, and the Detroit Red Wings have assigned Seth Barton to the Grand Rapids Griffins, per the team.
Season-opening injured reserve is generally used for players who did not make the team out of training camp, but can’t be involved in any NHL to AHL transactions due to their injured status.
Kiersted, 24, is a candidate to find himself back in the NHL sooner rather than later given the organization’s weak defensive depth. An undrafted free agent signing out of the University of North Dakota in 2021, Kiersted’s appeared in 17 NHL games over the past two seasons, registering a goal and an assist and averaging 14:31 per night. He had 20 points in 63 games with the Checkers last season in his first professional campaign, and he’s destined to play a top-four role again there when not on the NHL roster.
Barton was a third-round selection by the Red Wings in 2018. He’s entering his second full professional campaign after spending three seasons at UMass-Lowell from 2018 to 2021 and recorded six points in 20 AHL games during his rookie campaign with the Griffins in 2021-22. It’ll be a struggle for playing time in Grand Rapids, which now boasts some of the team’s top defense prospects such as Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, and Eemil Viro. A return to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, where Barton played five games last season, could be in the cards.
Buffalo Sabres Activate Riley Sheahan
The Buffalo Sabres have activated F Riley Sheahan off injured reserve, according to CapFriendly.
Sheahan suffered a muscular injury during training camp and was originally classified as day-to-day, but the injury was severe enough to warrant placing him on injured reserve to begin the season. It did open up a roster spot for both Jack Quinn and John-Jason Peterka to make the opening night roster, though.
Interestingly enough, the Sabres opted not to send either of them down to make room for Sheahan on the active roster. Quinn and Peterka do not require waivers, and Quinn is a healthy scratch for tonight’s game after a somewhat rough start to the year. Instead, the team opted to waive Anders Bjork, who had not played yet this season. He passed through today unclaimed.
Sheahan returns to the Sabres organization after spending the 2020-21 season there, where he recorded 13 points in 53 games. Signed to a two-way contract in August, it’s unclear how long Sheahan will be on the team’s NHL roster before he too gets exposed to the waiver wire.
Canadian Notes: Price, Dermott, Wideman
Rumors have swirled over the future of Carey Price‘s career ever since the severity of his knee injury became apparent. Those rumors intensified today when Sportnet’s Eric Engels said Price was scheduled to speak with the media on October 24. However, Engels notes that this is not a retirement announcement as many people first thought when his media availability was reported.
Price and his $10.5MM cap hit remain on long-term injured reserve, and he’s not expected to play at all this season as he continues his recovery from his knee injury. Price played just five games last season after missing nearly the entire year, and he certainly won’t top that number in 2022-23. The future Hall of Fame goaltender still wants to resume his playing career if he can, and he does have four years remaining on his deal to make an improbable recovery.
- Things are looking up for the Vancouver Canucks defense as they continue to get healthier. After Tyler Myers was activated from injured reserve today, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported that Travis Dermott was skating today. Dermott has yet to play this season and remains on injured reserve, classified as day-to-day with a concussion.
- Engels also notes that Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman suffered a fractured nose in last night’s game, but isn’t expected to miss any time. Wideman sustained the injury in a collision with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Josh Archibald. Wideman, 32, does not have a point in four games this season.