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Pacific Notes: Golden Knights, Kraken, Laferriere

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Over the last two games, the Vegas Golden Knights have been without the trio of Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Hague, and Nicolas Roy. Over that time, the league-leading Golden Knights have gone 1-1-0, losing to their division rival, Los Angeles Kings, last Wednesday.

In an update from practice today, Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that none of the trio are to be expected back in the team’s game against the Washington Capitals tomorrow night, but issued assurances they could be back by the weekend. Of the three, Roy has had the longest absence, after being put on the team’s injured reserve on October 24th.

Of the three, Stephenson is the most important to get back into the lineup, as he remains on one of the best-value contracts in the NHL. On the last season of a four-year, $11MM contract signed with Vegas back in 2020, Stephenson has scored 53 goals and 121 assists over 224 games as a Golden Knight.

Other notes:

  • Some notable additions to the Seattle Kraken practice were Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle, who is now without a non-contact jersey, respectively (X Link). Eberle has gotten off to a relatively slow start with the Kraken this year, Eberle has scored four points in 13 games, coupled with a -8 rating already this season.
  • According to the AHL transaction log, young NHL enforcer, Alex Laferriere is back on the roster with Los Angeles (X Link). Primarily playing in the team’s bottom six over the course of the young season, Laferriere has scored two goals and one assist through 14 games.

Metro Notes: Devils, Carter, Rangers, Pelech, Shepard

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Being outscored by a margin of six goals in their last four games, the New Jersey Devils have been without some of their top-quality players for the last several games. A reporter for the team, Amanda Stein, even went as far as to report that team captain, Nico Hischier, will not be joining the team on their upcoming road trip to take on the Winnipeg Jets and Pittsburgh Penguins. However, Stein did clarify that although he will not be in the lineup against the Jets, Jack Hughes could return against the Penguins.

Officially out with an upper-body injury, most consumers of the game could tell Hischier may have had a lingering injury issue headed into the season. Having only played in seven games up to this point in the year, Hischier has only mustered two goals, not generating nearly as much offense as New Jersey may have hoped to start an important year for the franchise.

Hughes, on the other hand, has been desperately missed by the Devils. Truly coming into his own as a former overall selection, Hughes got off to one of the hottest starts in the league, scoring five goals and 15 assists in the team’s first 10 games of the season. After taking a hard crash into the boards during the team’s regulation loss against the St.Louis Blues only 10 days ago, the Devils have performed at a 1-3-0 clip in his absence.

Other notes:

  • Head coach of the Penguins, Mike Sullivan, announced to the media that forward Jeff Carter is dealing with an upper-body injury, and that is the reason behind him missing practice this afternoon (X Link). Over the last two weeks, Carter has been a healthy scratch in several games before the end of October, as Pittsburgh has been looking to strengthen its bottom six forward groupings. On the final year of a two-year, $6.25MM extension signed with Pittsburgh back in 2022, Carter has failed to score a point in his first 10 games this season.
  • Arthur Staple of The Athletic issued several updates on the status of injured members of the New York Rangers today, indicating that Ryan Lindgren should be available for practice on Wednesday, while injured forward Filip Chytil will not be with the team. Lindgren has been dealing with a mild upper-body injury incurred during the team’s shootout win Sunday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Chytil has been out since the beginning of November, also with an upper-body injury.
  • One of the most important defensemen for the New York Islanders, Adam Pelech, missed the team’s last game against the Washington Capitals just two days ago. In an update from Andrew Gross of Newsday, Pelech is officially listed as a game-time decision for their matchup against the Edmonton Oilers tonight but should be expected to play. Even though the Islanders have not gotten off to a terrific start to the season, Pelech still holds a 91.1% oiSV% in 10 games played on the year.
  • In what will go down as another ’paper’ transaction on the season, the Capitals sent down goaltender Hunter Shepard and recalled him today in a separate transaction (X Link). Largely due to an injury to Charlie Lindgren, Shepard has played in two games for Washington this year, winning both, and posting a .915 SV% with a 2.50 GAA.

Atlantic Notes: Lightning, Bruins, Lucic, Sabres, Jones

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Before their game tomorrow night against the St.Louis Blues, the Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice for practice this morning, with a few notable pieces back on the ice. Lightning beat writer, Chris Krenn, reported that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was seen back on the ice for practice, as well as forward Nikita Kucherov, who had missed the team’s last game against the Carolina Hurricanes with an illness.

As he works his way back from injury, Tampa Bay is becoming increasingly desperate to have Vasilevskiy return to the crease. In 15 games started between Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins, they have procured a 6-5-4 record with a .897 SV% and a 3.42 GAA combined, becoming an area of their game they haven’t had to worry about in several years.

Aside from returners to the ice, the Lightning also had a missing piece, as defenseman Erik Cernak has officially been listed as day-to-day, but could be expected for tomorrow night’s game against the Blues (X Link). In Saturday’s game against the Hurricanes, Cernak left in the second period after only accruing a little under 10 minutes of ice time and did not return to the matchup.

Other notes:

  • In what has become another infamous ’paper’ transaction in the NHL, after sending down both Ian Mitchell and Oskar Steen yesterday, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal is reporting that the Boston Bruins have recalled both players today. Of the two, Mitchell has been a much better player in terms of production, scoring two points in seven games played, averaging over 14 and a half minutes of ice time per night.
  • Sticking with the Bruins, the head coach of the team, Jim Montgomery, shared that forward Milan Lucic is recovering much slower than expected from his lower-body injury. After eight years away from Boston, Lucic has not played in a game for the Bruins since their October 21st game against the Los Angeles Kings. In only four games played this season, Lucic has tallied two assists for the organization, averaging just a touch under 12 minutes of ice time per game.
  • After being a surprise scratch in the team’s loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, Lance Lysowski reported that forward Peyton Krebs was out of the lineup that night due to a family matter, meaning that Krebs should be expected back either tonight or Friday. One player for Buffalo who will indeed not be in the lineup tonight against Boston is Alex Tuch, as Lysowski also reported that the veteran forward is still out with an upper-body injury, but should be expected back against the Winnipeg Jets later this week.
  • In his first call-up to the NHL since his time with the Seattle Kraken last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced goaltender Martin Jones will join the team in Sweden in their upcoming matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday as a part of the NHL’s Global Series. Jones will not be counted against the cap nor the team’s 23-man roster, as in Sweden, the team will not have access to an emergency backup goaltender; meaning Jones will ultimately take that role on in the upcoming trip overseas.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Sam Malinski

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In correspondence with the team’s decision to reassign forward Riley Tufte to their AHL affiliate earlier this morning, the team has announced they have recalled defenseman Sam Malinski from the Colorado Eagles. If Malinski does manage to receive any playing time for the Avalanche during his recall, it will mark his NHL debut as a professional player.

After his NCAA season came to an end last year with Cornell University, Malinski signed a professional tryout agreement with the Eagles for the rest of the season, parlaying that into a two-year, $1.7MM two-way contract signed with the Avalanche this past summer. In 20 games so far with the Eagles, the 25-year-old has scored six goals and five assists from the blue line, also sitting second on defense in scoring through 13 games this season.

Through four years at Cornell, Malinski played in a total of 91 games, scoring 17 goals and 48 assists, earning the captaincy during his senior season last year. Cornell did not crack the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey tournament until last year, defeating the defending champion Denver University by a score of 2-0. Nevertheless, instead of making their way to the Frozen Four, Cornell would lose to Boston University in the Regional Finals.

Already carrying seven defensemen on their roster after the recall of Caleb Jones, it is more than unlikely that Malinski will find his way into Colorado’s lineup during his callup. However, during the team’s blowout loss to the St.Louis Blues yesterday, a game in which Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard had a -3 rating each, head coach Jared Bednar could send a message to his defensive core by substituting Malinski into the lineup tomorrow night against the Kraken.

Pavel Francouz To Miss Rest Of The Season

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Although he has not played in a game since April 9th of the 2022-23 regular season, the Colorado Avalanche have announced that backup goaltender Pavel Francouz will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season with a lower-body injury. In the meantime, Francouz will return to the Czech Republic to be with his family and will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

From the perspective of the Avalanche, Francouz’s status does give the team more long-term clarity on his LTIR relief, meaning the team will be guaranteed that Francouz’s $2MM salary will be off the books come the trade deadline. Unfortunately, the goaltender’s status does create a bit of an issue in the crease for the Stanley Cup contenders moving forward.

Although he has been a part of the team for the last five seasons, signing a one-year, $690 thousand contract out of the KHL before the 2018-19 season, Francouz will forever be a part of Avalanche history after his performance in the 2021-22 season. In 21 games played serving behind Darcy Kuemper, Francouz held a 15-5-1 record, with a .916 SV% and a 2.55 GAA, which are generally considered very solid numbers for a backup goaltender.

In the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, Francouz had to fill in on several different occasions as the starting netminder, especially during the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. In six games played during those playoffs, Francouz held a 5-0-0 record with a .907 SV%, including a shutout in game two of the team’s series against Edmonton, becoming a fundamental factor in their Stanley Cup victory.

Receiving an adductor surgery after the team’s first-round loss to the Seattle Kraken in last year’s playoffs, Francouz’s groin is still giving him too much trouble to compete at the NHL level. To replace Francouz in the backup spot, the team nabbed Ivan Prosvetov shortly before the start of the regular season on waivers, who had previously played for the Arizona Coyotes.

With Alexandar Georgiev receiving the healthy majority of starts in Colorado’s net, Prosvetov has only managed to squeak into four games, carrying a 1-1-0 record, coupled with a .899 SV% and a 2.90 GAA. The production has not been much better from Georgiev, who has a 7-4-0 record in 11 games but holds a .887 SV% and a 3.29 GAA, showing a stark falloff early in the season from where the Avalanche’s goaltending situation was only a season ago.

Calgary Flames Place Dryden Hunt On Waivers

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Nov. 8: Hunt has cleared waivers and has been assigned to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, per a team announcement.

Nov. 7: With the news coming earlier today that forward Adam Ruzicka will be back in the lineup tonight against the Nashville Predators, the Calgary Flames have placed forward Dryden Hunt on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg. Primarily serving as a depth forward for Calgary up to this point, Hunt has zero points in four games, averaging just under 13 minutes of ice time per night.

If he ultimately clears waivers by tomorrow, Hunt will return to the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL, Hunt will return to a team where he had tremendous success after a midseason trade last year from the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. In 17 games for the Wranglers to finish the year, Hunt put up five goals and 10 assists in 17 games, as well as six points in nine playoff appearances.

This past summer, Hunt chose to re-sign with the Flames on a two-year, $1.55MM contract, hoping to crack Calgary’s NHL roster. Only playing in one game prior to the shoulder injury sustained by Ruzicka, his missing presence in the lineup allowed Hunt to sneak into a few more games before finally being sent down this afternoon.

As a benefit to Hunt, if he does clear waivers, the Flames will not need to send him through waivers again for the next 30 days, giving him and the team more flexibility to move him up and down throughout the organization. However, for the time being, Hunt at the very least will have much more access to playing time for the Wranglers.

Edmonton Oilers Place Jack Campbell On Waivers, Recall Calvin Pickard

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Nov. 8: As expected, Campbell has cleared waivers, and Pickard has been recalled from AHL Bakersfield, per the team’s Twitter/X account.

Nov. 7: In a surprising announcement, the Edmonton Oilers have placed goaltender Jack Campbell on waivers today, for the purpose of assignment. With plenty of changes seemingly coming to the Oilers after a horrific start to the year, Edmonton has decided to expose Campbell and the $20MM remaining on his contract to the rest of the league.

Back during the 2021-22 regular season, the Oilers ran with a duo of Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith throughout the year, a duo who led the team to the Western Conference Finals before ultimately being swept at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. In an attempt to dramatically improve their goaltending, Edmonton inked Campbell to a five-year, $25MM contract, prying him away from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

However, the investment has not gone accordingly for either side of the deal. In his first year as an Oiler, Campbell maintained a solid 21-9-4 record in 34 starts but also carried a .888 SV% and a 3.41 GAA. Ultimately, Campbell was replaced in the crease by rookie netminder, Stuart Skinner, who held a .913 SV% and a 2.75 GAA in 48 starts, comparatively. Nevertheless, Campbell was able to get in four starts during the 2022-23 NHL playoffs, posting dramatically improved numbers with a .961 SV% and a 1.01 GAA.

If there was any hope of Campbell carrying his playoff performance in this year’s regular season, that hope has quickly evaporated. In five starts on the year up to this point, Campbell has a 1-4-0 record, coupled with a .873 SV% and a 4.50 GAA. Although not the entire reason, the lack of adequate goaltending is a substantial factor in the Oilers’ ugly 2-8-1 record to start the 2023-24 season.

In the meantime, as it would be more than reasonable to assume Campbell will go unclaimed on waivers over the next 24 hours, PuckPedia reports that Edmonton will save approximately $1.15MM once Campbell clears and is sent down. Furthermore, Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff indicates that the Oilers plan on replacing Campbell with Calvin Pickard, who is currently serving as the primary starter of the team’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. If the team does call up Pickard, PuckPedia reports that Edmonton will only be saving approximately $388K with the move.

Although Pickard should not be seen as a long-term answer in the net, he ultimately may serve as an upgrade to both Edmonton goaltenders. Similarly to Campbell, Skinner has gotten off to an incredibly slow start with a 1-4-1 record, .856 SV%, and a 3.99 GAA. Pickard, on the other hand, holds a 2-2-0 record for the Condors so far this season, with a .939 SV% and a 2.03 GAA.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report that the Oilers were placing Campbell on waivers. 

Injury Notes: Couturier, Barabanov, Golden Knights, Hoffman, Knyzhov

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Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier, who has not played in either of the team’s last two games, will return tonight against the San Jose Sharks, according to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. It will be an important reinforcement for the Flyers who are currently on a 1-4-0 stretch in their last five games.

After missing the entire 2022-23 regular season due to injury, Couturier has picked up right where he left off in Philadelphia. In 10 games played up to this point, he has scored two goals and six assists, tied for fifth on the team in scoring. Still maintaining a positive faceoff percentage, as well as solid possession numbers, Couturier is still a player the Flyers can trust with heavy usage.

Unfortunately, when one player returns from injury, another player must exit the lineup, and Kurz also reports that Morgan Frost will be a healthy scratch for the game tonight. Trying desperately to earn more minutes for Philadelphia, Frost has played in six games so far, scoring zero points after averaging over 15 minutes of ice time per night.

Other notes:

  • Max Miller of The Hockey News reports there is still no timeline for the return of Sharks winger, Alexander Barabanov, but he is progressing nicely from injury. Barbanov has been out of the lineup with a finger injury since the team’s game against the Florida Panthers on October 24th. After finishing fifth on the team in scoring last season, Barabanov is one of six members of San Jose’s forward core that has not scored a point yet this year.
  • As he is rehabbing his way back from injury, Vegas Golden Knights’ defenseman, Zach Whitecloud, was practicing with the team today in a non-contact jersey (X Link). Other notable pieces missing from today’s practice were Nicolas Roy, Nicolas Hague, Alec Martinez, and Chandler Stephenson. For the last three mentioned, it is likely that they were merely taking maintenance days, as no injury concern was alluded to in the report.
  • Back to the Sharks, Max Miller also mentioned that Mike Hoffman and Nikolai Knyzhov were late additions to today’s practice, meaning they may be out of the lineup tonight against the Flyers. Both players were present during the team’s blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

Snapshots: Ruzicka, Kuznetsov, Suzdalev

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After missing the last four games with a shoulder injury, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet is reporting that Calgary Flames’ forward, Adam Ruzicka, will return to game action tonight. As one of the top-performing members of the team in limited action, Ruzicka has two goals and two assists in seven games so far this season.

One of the more unheralded members of the Flames organization, Ruzicka was drafted 109th overall by Calgary in the 2017 NHL Draft and finally made his debut with the team during the 2020-21 regular season. In the best season of his career up to this point, Ruzicka played in 44 games last year, scoring six goals and 14 assists over the course of the year. He has also maintained solid possession numbers over the course of his career, evidenced by his 58.8% CF%.

Tonight, as the team takes on the Nashville Predators, Ruzicka will likely join A.J. Greer and Walker Duehr on the team’s fourth line, as well as the second power-play unit. In his absence, Calgary has gone 1-3-0, being outscored 15-11 over that small stretch.

Other snapshots:

  • Receiving the most time of any forward in the team’s recent win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals forward, Evgeny Kuznetsov was notably missing at the team’s practice this morning, according to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. Apparently, Kuznetsov is dealing with a minor illness and will remain questionable for the team’s game tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. In 10 games played so far this year, Kuznetsov has one goal and four assists, all while averaging nearly 22 minutes of ice time per game.
  • Sticking with the Capitals, the team has announced it has loaned prospect, Alexander Suzdalev from the Hershey Bears to Mono IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan. Suzdalev was a third-round selection of Washington in the 2022 NHL Draft and has not suited up for the Bears in any games this season. Last year, playing for the Regina Pats of the WHL, Suzdalev scored 38 goals and 48 assists, benefitting tremendously from being on the same line as Connor Bedard.

Detroit Red Wings Activate Robby Fabbri Off IR

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As alluded to yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings have officially activated forward Robby Fabbri off of the injured reserve, and he will be in the lineup tonight as the team takes on the New York Rangers. Up to this point in the season, Fabbri has only played in the opening game of the year, missing the last 11 games with a lower-body injury.

In the second year of a three-year, $12MM contract extension signed with Detroit back in 2021, Fabbri has been an off-again on-again player for the Red Wings, losing plenty of games due to injuries. Throughout his career, Fabbri has primarily dealt with knee issues, losing significant time to ACL tears in the 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2021-22 regular seasons.

When healthy, Fabbri has been a solid complimentary piece for the Red Wings, scoring 49 goals and 47 assists in 167 games played over the last five seasons. However, his most successful stretch with Detroit came shortly after he was acquired from the St.Louis Blues, capping off the 2019-20 season with 14 goals and 17 assists in 52 games played.

During the team’s opening night game against the New Jersey Devils, Fabbri played on the second forward line next to J.T. Compher and Lucas Raymond, but with David Perron and Andrew Copp now taking over on the wings, it is reasonable to assume that Fabbri will be bumped down to the third line as he transitions back out onto the ice.

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