Los Angeles Kings Place Kale Clague On Waivers
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Los Angeles Kings placed defenseman Kale Clague on waivers today.
This is Clague’s second time on waivers this season. The Kings waived him on October 2, prior to the start of the season, and he passed through unclaimed.
With Drew Doughty returning from injured reserve earlier this week and the re-acquisition of Christian Wolanin on waivers, the Kings had nine defensemen on the active roster. It’s telling that the team opted to expose Clague to the rest of the league rather than send down Michael Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot, or Sean Durzi, all of whom do not require waivers.
Clague’s performed well at the minor-league level in recent seasons, including four assists in five games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign this year, but hasn’t been able to play his way into a full-time NHL role just yet. There’s likely still a bright future ahead for the 23-year-old, who was drafted 51st overall by the Kings in 2016.
In 11 games with the big club this season, Clague has five points in 11 games while registering a -2 rating and averaging 17:49 per game.
Calgary Flames Assign Juuso Valimaki To AHL
The Calgary Flames have assigned defenseman Juuso Valimaki to the AHL’s Stockton Heat, per a team tweet.
Valimaki doesn’t require waivers, so there’s no chance of the Flames losing one of their best defense prospects. However, Valimaki’s cap hit is $1.55MM, and not all of that can be buried in the minors. It appears as though roughly $500,000 of Valimaki’s cap hit will still count towards the cap while he’s buried in the minors.
It’s been a tough start to the season for Valimaki, who hasn’t meshed well with coach Darryl Sutter and has played in just eight games, registering two assists.
He still has the pedigree and potential of a 16th overall pick, however. The 23-year-old was one of the team’s more impressive players last season, playing the full season with the team and scoring 11 points in 49 games.
The assignment to Stockton is an effort to get Valimaki into some more game action, as it’s not doing him much good to just sit on the bench.
The Flames still have Michael Stone, who’s played in just one game this season, to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman.
Minor Transactions: 12/2/21
It’s been a busy day for news at the NHL level, with unfortunately a high number of COVID protocol placements over the past few days. It’s caused a ripple effect across leagues, with teams making rapid roster transactions in order to keep up. Here’s a list of today’s minor transactions across the hockey world:
- Netminder Evan Fitzpatrick has been sent back down to the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Fitzpatrick was a high draft pick (59th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in 2016 but was left unqualified this offseason after some rough stints in the ECHL. He joined the Panthers on a PTO for training camp, didn’t earn a deal, but stayed in the organization on a minor-league deal. He’s having a much better start to this season – despite a 1-3-0 record, he’s posted a .927 save percentage.
Justin Faulk Enters COVID Protocol
The St. Louis Blues announced Thursday, just minutes ahead of their game against Tampa Bay, that defenseman Justin Faulk has been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Faulk, who’s in the second year of a seven-year, $45.5MM contract, is having his best season in a Blues uniform. He leads the team in +/- (+9) and is tied for the team lead in points among defensemen (10), all while averaging more than 23 minutes per game.
He joins forward Tyler Bozak and goalie Jordan Binnington as the Blues on the protocol list. James Neal, Klim Kostin, and David Perron are all injured, adding to their list of absences.
Jake Walman will dress against Tampa Bay in place of Faulk. He’s played in 14 games this season, notching two assists.
East Notes: Canadiens, DeBrusk, Stamkos
The Montreal Canadiens organization is in a state of tumult, seeing their entire front office overhauled over the weekend and losing at home to Vancouver. The news cycle around the team isn’t stopping, however. In today’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger says that Canadiens ownership has an interest in retaining defenseman Shea Weber in a long-term fit with the organization. Weber is currently on long-term injured reserve, and after dealing with injuries for much of the last few seasons, it’s unlikely that he’ll ever be fit to play again. While he hasn’t officially retired yet, if that move comes, it seems as though he’ll still have a place in the industry with Montreal. Pierre LeBrun also mentioned that there’s some uncertainty as to how new hire Jeff Gorton sees the fit of goalie Carey Price in the organization, and while it seems there’s nothing concrete, he notes that “there are teams around the league, some contenders, I can tell you already that are intrigued to find out where that all goes” if the Canadiens opted to rebuild.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- News surrounding Boston Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk has evolved quickly over the past 24 hours, with news of his trade request breaking last night and rumors today that he was drawing significant trade interest. Now, on that same episode of Insider Trading, Dreger said that the Rangers, Canucks, Canadiens, Flames, and Coyotes have all expressed interest in the young forward. He also notes that while they haven’t necessarily called recently, the Blues have been historically involved in DeBrusk trade talks. Regardless, the situation seems favorable for a good return for the Bruins as a bidding war emerges.
- Per the team, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos is absent from Tuesday’s game against St. Louis, returning home from the road trip to be present for the birth of his second child. While the team is now without their star trio of Stamkos, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov, they still sit in a good position with a 12-5-3 record. Stamkos leads the team with 24 points in 20 games this season, an underrated story considering his trouble with injuries in recent seasons.
Brendan Lemieux Suspended Five Games For Biting
The NHL Department of Player Safety today suspended Los Angeles Kings forward Brendan Lemieux for five games for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk.
The incident occurred in a game Saturday, a 4-2 Los Angeles victory. Lemieux was originally assessed a match penalty and two roughing penalties on the play, which occurred with 6:09 left in regulation.
The Department of Player Safety’s argument for the suspension revolves mainly around the clear and evident biting motion of Lemieux, as demonstrated by video evidence. Their video explanation of the ruling states as follows:
Tkachuk spins and drops his gloves to immediately engage with the player who has grabbed him. Lemieux drops his gloves and the two grab a hold of each other, wrestling briefly before Tkachuk takes Lemieux down to the ice. While on the ice, Lemieux, feeling Tkachuk’s hands on his face as they wrestle, bites Tkachuk on his bare left hand and does so with a substantial amount of force.
While circumstantial evidence supports the argument that Lemieux may have bitten Tkachuk multiple times during this fight, we are limiting our review of this incident to the bite that occurs almost immediately after the players fall to the ice… due to a lack of evidence, this decision does not include an analysis of how Tkachuk ended up bleeding from his right hand. We have heard Lemieux’s argument that the puncture may have been caused in this moment by Tkachuk punching him on the tooth with force sufficient to cause a puncture wound. The video evidence does not support this version of events. This is not a hockey play.
Lemieux has already been fined once and suspended twice, adding to the gravity of the suspension.
Snapshots: Doughty, Brind’Amour, Clarke
Ahead of Tuesday night’s rivalry game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Kings activated defenseman Drew Doughty from injured reserve today, per a team tweet. Doughty is expected to draw back into his usual top-pairing role alongside Michael Anderson. He’s missed the last 16 games after a knee-on-knee collision with Dallas’ Jani Hakanpaa that the NHL Department of Player Safety deemed accidental. Prior to his injury, Doughty was off to a raucous start with seven points in just four games. Despite having three points in his first two NHL games, it appears as though Sean Durzi will come back out of the lineup to make room for Doughty. With Doughty back in the fold, the Kings will look to improve on their 9-8-3 record and make noise in what could be a very tight Wild Card battle in the Western Conference.
Some other news and notes from around the hockey world today:
- According to a press release, the NHL fined Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour $25,000 today for inappropriate conduct during the team’s Sunday game against Washington. With 4:30 remaining in the third period, Brind’Amour could be seen pacing back and forth around the bench and yelling at the officials, although nothing’s known about what Brind’Amour actually said. He’s racking up a penchant for these fines, as a $25,000 punishment is becoming seemingly a yearly occurrence. The money from the fine will be donated to the NHL Foundation.
- In a shocking move, Los Angeles Kings defense prospect Brandt Clarke, whom they drafted eighth overall in 2021, won’t be invited to Team Canada’s selection camp for the upcoming World Junior Championship as originally reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. Clarke, who was named captain of the OHL’s Barrie Colts prior to the start of this season, is off to a torrid start with 23 points in just 17 games. Widely regarded as a top-five pick and one of the best defenders available, there was some surprise in the scouting community when Clarke fell to the Kings at eighth overall. The omittance of Clarke from the selection roster is even more shocking when considering his performance at other international tournaments for Canada, including a point-per-game effort last season at the under-18 World Juniors.
Logan Shaw Clears Waivers
Nov 29: Shaw has cleared waivers and can be assigned to the AHL.
Nov 28: In addition to the Sharks’ Evander Kane hitting waivers today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Ottawa Senators are waiving forward Logan Shaw as well.
With forward Drake Batherson becoming the last Senator to be activated from COVID-19 protocol, Ottawa needed an additional roster spot with waiver claim Adam Gaudette joining the team.
Shaw’s gotten into 16 games with the Sens this season, scoring a goal and two assists while averaging just 9:26 of ice time per game. He spent the entirety of the 2020-21 campaign with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, which is where he’ll be going if he clears waivers on Monday.
Shaw, a veteran of 231 NHL games with Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal, Anaheim, and Florida, is in the second year of a $1.45MM two-way contract.
Injury Notes: Zuccarello, Joseph, Kase
Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello was absent from Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an upper-body injury. While the Wild were able to take the game with a 4-2 win, Zuccarello’s great performance so far this season (16 points in 16 games) means they’ll want him back as soon as possible. Head coach Dean Evason said after the game that Zuccarello’s got a “nasty injury” on his bottom hand. Zuccarello will try to practice during the Wild’s optional skate tomorrow, but Evason offers no guarantees.
More injury news from around the league:
- Mathieu Joseph of the Tampa Bay Lightning sustained an injury and did not return to today’s game against Minnesota. Joseph had been playing in the team’s top six along with Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli and had seven points in 19 games. It’s a tough blow to a team that’s already missing Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point up front. It’s unknown if Joseph will miss how much, if any, time.
- Ondrej Kase isn’t returning for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, but head coach Sheldon Keefe assures that his absence is more precautionary in nature. An upper-body injury to Kase is concerning considering his concussion history, but Keefe said today “There’s no clarity on that right now. But that has not been designated as the case.” Kase’s been working out on his own without practicing with the team.
Minor Transactions: 11/28/21
It was a busy day for waiver and front office news, but the litany of transactions doesn’t stop at the NHL level. There have been a variety of transactions today at lower levels of North American hockey. We’ll keep track of those here:
- The AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins have brought in forward Matt Berry on a professional tryout contract from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, per a team release. The 29-year-old ECHL veteran and Michigan State alumnus didn’t play in 2020-21 due to COVID, but has absolutely lit up the ECHL with nine goals and 15 assists through just 15 games with Toledo this season. Undrafted, the Canton, Michigan, native now gets a chance to impress in the Red Wings organization.
- According to the ECHL’s transactions page, the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack recalled defenseman Jeff Taylor from the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen on Sunday. Taylor, originally a seventh-round draft choice by the Penguins in 2014, has failed to replicate the success he had in his first full professional season in 2017-18 after graduating from Union College. However, he’s had a hot start with eight points in 10 games for Jacksonville this season and will now look to try his luck again at the AHL level.
This page will be updated throughout the day