Roster Notes: Drysdale, Pietrangelo, Kurashev, Bonino, Kochetkov
Although no official announcement has come from the team, CapFriendly indicates that the Anaheim Ducks have placed defenseman Jamie Drysdale on injured reserve retroactively to October 15th. Drysdale has not played in the following three games for the organization, as he has put up two assists while carrying a +2 rating.
As expected, the Ducks are not getting off to a hot start to this season, carrying a 1-4-0 record into tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, there is still plenty to be excited about in Orange County, as the team was able to sign both Drysdale and Trevor Zegras to separate three-year contracts shortly before the start of the season, as well as seeing the second-overall selection of the 2023 NHL Draft, Leo Carlsson, score a goal in his first ever professional game.
Nevertheless, even without indicating any effort to compete for the playoffs this season, Drysdale’s presence will be missed on the blue line. Thin on depth throughout the defensive core at the top level of the organization, there is an argument to be made that Drysdale represents the best of what the Ducks have to offer on defense.
Other roster notes:
- Having not played since the second game of the season for the Vegas Golden Knights, Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that Alex Pietrangelo is back at practice with the team, skating in a non-contact jersey. In the two games he has played, Pietrangelo has put up one assist, averaging nearly 23 minutes a night. Remarkably, even without the presence of Pietrangelo in the lineup, the Golden Knights are one of only three teams who remain undefeated to start the season.
- After taking the entire summer to rehab a shoulder injury sustained towards the end of last season, Chicago Blackhawks’ forward, Philipp Kurashev, suffered a wrist injury during training camp before the start of this season, keeping him out of the lineup up to this point. With a serious need for more secondary scoring in their lineup, Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports-Chicago is reporting that Kurashev is looking to make his debut for the team on Tuesday, as they take on the Boston Bruins for the second time this season.
- Per a team announcement, depth forward for the New York Rangers, Nick Bonino, is considered day-to-day with an illness, and will not practice with the team today. In five games so far with the Rangers, Bonino has gone scoreless, primarily centering the fourth line between fellow teammates Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.
- After returning him to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL last night, CapFriendly is reporting that the Carolina Hurricanes have called goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov back up to the NHL. Suffice it to say, Kochetkov did not get off to the best start with the Hurricanes this season, allowing six goals on 28 shots in his only start against the Colorado Avalanche.
Carolina Hurricanes Assign Pyotr Kochetkov To AHL
Sunday: With Andersen nearing a return, the Hurricanes have returned Kochetkov to Syracuse, CapFriendly reports.
Wednesday: The Carolina Hurricanes announced that the team has recalled Pyotr Kochetkov from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League. Without a direct affiliate this season, the Hurricanes have most of their minor league depth players sporadically placed throughout the AHL.
Although no distinction was made through the team announcement, this is likely tied to the removal of Frederik Andersen during last night’s game against the San Jose Sharks. After just a few minutes into the game, Andersen would take a shot off the mask, leaving the rest of the game to goaltender Antti Raanta. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the team reporter for the Hurricanes, Walt Ruff, said that Andersen was back practicing with the team today.
With two quality goaltending options already on the roster, it was still a bit of a surprise to see Kochetkov not make the team out of camp, primarily because of the solid season he put together last year. In 23 starts last season, Kochetkov managed a 12-7-5 record, posting a .909SV% and a 2.44 GAA, albeit behind a very solid Carolina defense.
Most teams could do worse than Kochetkov in the case of a third-string goaltender, and the franchise rewarded him with a four-year, $8MM contract extension in the fall of last season. Coming up, the Hurricanes have two tough road games this week against the Seattle Kraken and Colorado Avalanche, respectively, both of which Kochetkov could see some minutes in between the pipes.
Connor McDavid Out With Upper-Body Injury
After last night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets in overtime, the Edmonton Oilers have even more bad news coming down the pipeline. In an update this afternoon, the team has announced that the captain of the team, Connor McDavid, will miss the next one to two weeks with an upper-body injury.
As one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season, the Oilers have been one of the most disappointing teams to start the 2023-24 NHL season. In five games played, including the loss to Winnipeg last night, the Oilers are the owners of a 1-3-1 record, good for 29th in the league standings as things currently stand.
Nevertheless, the team still has 77 games to correct the dismal start, but the loss of McDavid is about as substantial as possible. Even after only recording one win in the first five games, it is in spite of McDavid getting off to another solid start. In the first handful of games to start the season, McDavid has averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per night, scoring two goals and six assists, which is good for 12th in the league in scoring to start the year. 
Thankfully for the Oilers, seeing McDavid on the injured reserve has not been a common occurrence during his career in the NHL, he has seemingly only missed time due to injury during his rookie season in 2015-16, as well as towards the end of the 2019-20 season.
In the meantime, even without the injury to McDavid, the Oilers need a wake-up call to most of their team in the early part of the season. Aside from the usual suspects of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman, the depth in Edmonton has failed to make a positive on the club so far this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minnesota Wild Recall Vinni Lettieri
After assigning recent callup, Samuel Walker, back to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, earlier today, the Minnesota Wild have called up a different forward to take his place in the lineup. The team announced that they have recalled Vinni Lettieri, a recent signee of the organization after spending the last two years in Anaheim and Boston, respectively.
An undrafted college free agent coming out of the University of Minnesota after the 2016-17 season, Lettieri would originally sign on with the New York Rangers under a two-year contract. Primarily playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL during his three-year run in the Rangers organization, Lettieri would impress at the league’s highest minor league level. However, although garnering solid production at the AHL level, Lettieri would fail to score more than 10 points over 46 games as a Ranger.
Before starting the 2020-21 season, Lettieri would sign a back-to-back one-year contracts with the Anaheim Ducks organization, once again spending much of his time in the AHL. Given the team’s competitiveness at the time, Lettieri was able to play in 31 games for the Ducks during the 2021-22 season, scoring five goals and five assists, the best statistical output he’s had to this day.
After his time in the Ducks organization ended, Lettieri found his most recent landing spot in the Boston Bruins organization on a one-year contract. In 48 games played for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, Lettieri scored 23 goals and 26 points, which was good for second on the team in scoring even after missing a month of action with a lower-body injury.
Already off to a hot start in Iowa to start this season, Lettieri will once again get the opportunity to prove his worth at the NHL level. However, with Minnesota starting off the season tied for 28th in goals against, Lettieri may have to focus primarily on keeping the puck out of his own net.
Los Angeles Kings Recall Anderson-Dolan, Laferriere
Saturday: The Kings have brought both Anderson-Dolan and Laferriere back up to Los Angeles. By sending them down yesterday, they were able to get out of using LTIR for the day, allowing them to bank a bit of much-needed cap space.
Friday: After yesterday’s commanding win against the Minnesota Wild, the Los Angeles Kings have announced they have sent down forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Alex Laferriere to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.
Of the two, Anderson-Dolan has struggled to garner ice time the most, only suiting up for the team’s loss at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes last week, receiving just under seven minutes of ice time. He is no stranger to the Ontario Reign, having primarily played there since joining the Kings organization back in the 2017-18 season. In 112 games played at the AHL level, Anderson-Dolan has scored 32 goals and 45 assists, as well as chipping in one assist in eight playoff games.
Laferriere, on the other hand, is much newer to Los Angeles after having officially joined the Kings organization in April last year out of Harvard University. Laferriere was originally a third-round selection of Los Angeles back in the 2020 NHL Draft, and impressed mightily this preseason, scoring three goals and one assist in five games. Unfortunately, his hot start in the preseason did not carry into the regular season, as Laferriere has gone scoreless in his first four games, even after averaging 15 minutes of ice time and putting 13 shots on net.
In an even newer AHL season, the Ontario Reign could certainly use some reinforcements on both sides of the puck. In their first two games to start the season, the team has lost both, being outscored by a margin of five goals. Undoubtedly receiving plenty of ice time in the minors, Anderson-Dolan and Laferriere will both be put in positions to help the team correct their poor start to the season.
Columbus Blue Jackets Extend AHL Affiliate
Since the 2015 season, after changing their AHL affiliation away from the Springfield Falcons, the Columbus Blue Jackets have maintained an affiliation agreement with the Cleveland Monsters. Today, the Blue Jackets organization announced that they would be extending that agreement under a new multi-year agreement between the two parties.
Given the fact that the team already had a previous agreement for this season, and a multi-year agreement suggests the agreement is two years or more, this will cement the Monsters as the longest-serving AHL affiliate of Columbus over their franchise history. As the Blue Jackets officially became an NHL team during the 2000-01 NHL season, their first AHL affiliate would be the Syracuse Crunch, an affiliate that would last until 2010. They would then come to an agreement with the now-defunct Falcons, before finally landing with the Monsters at the start of the 2015-16 season.
Notably, in their first season as the direct AHL affiliate of the Blue Jackets, the Monsters would go on to win the 2016 Calder Cup, sweeping the Hershey Bears in the final series, becoming the first Columbus affiliate to win a championship. At that time, the team was led by Oliver Bjorkstrand and has now transitioned to being led by Trey Fix-Wolansky.
In the announcement, Blue Jackets Director of Player Personnel, Chris Clark, spoke in high regard for the relationship saying:
“Giving our young players an opportunity to grow and develop both on and off the ice in a world-class environment like the one they have with the Cleveland Monsters is very special and we couldn’t be prouder and more excited that our partnership will continue for many years to come. Both organizations share a commitment to succeed at the highest level, while growing the game and having a positive impact in our communities and state and we look forward to continuing that work together.“
Detroit Red Wings Recall Jonatan Berggren
Monday: After the team’s back-to-back wins over the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames this weekend, CapFriendly is reporting that the Red Wings have loaned Berggren back to the Griffins.
Friday: Earlier today, it was reported that Detroit Red Wings forward, Robby Fabbri, would miss the next four weeks with a lower-body injury. As Fabbri will now land on the injured reserved for the team, the Red Wings announced that they have recalled forward Jonatan Berggren from the Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions.
This confirms an earlier report from Kevin Weekes of ESPN, who indicated that Berggren would likely replace Fabbri once the injury news became public. After spending most of last year in the NHL with Detroit, Berggren will get the opportunity to stay with the team long-term, after surprisingly not making the team out of training camp earlier this month.
Becoming one of the sneakier draft choices made towards the end of the Ken Holland era for the Red Wings, Berggren has excelled at every level since being drafted by Detroit in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft. In his last season playing for Skellefteå AIK of the SHL back during the 2020-21 season, Berggren impressed with 12 goals and 33 assists in 49 games played. Next season, making his professional debut in North America, Berggren would score 21 goals and 43 assists in 70 games for the Griffins, leading the team in points during his rookie campaign.
Last year, after getting off to a point-per-game start in the AHL, Berggren would get the call-up to Detroit, staying with the team for the rest of the season (minus a week stint in the AHL in February). In his rookie season, Berggren would score 15 goals and 13 assists in 67 games played, relatively modest numbers in hindsight, but it was good for ninth on the team in scoring.
Coming into this year, Berggren would have seemed like a relatively easy choice to make the Red Wings roster out of camp, but over the offseason, the team added six new forwards into the mix through trades and free agency, as well as the return of both Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen to start the season. Although not a star-studded roster by any means, Detroit has become a relatively deep team over the last few seasons.
Minnesota Wild Recall Samuel Walker; Place Goligoski On LTIR
Before last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Alex Goligoski would miss the game due to a lower-body injury suffered in practice the day before. Today, according to a team announcement, the team has placed Goligoski on LTIR, and recalled forward Samuel Walker from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, in a corresponding move.
For the time being, the Wild will likely operate with only six defensemen on the active roster, with Dakota Mermis replacing Goligoski’s spot in the lineup. Team captain, Jared Spurgeon, is still listed as week-to-week as he recovers from an upper-body injury, but would give the team a much deeper blue line upon his return.
After an exceptionally poor start to the season in terms of production and penalties, this lower-body injury is another negative moment for Goligoski in this very young season. At 38 years old, and a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of this year, this may spell the end of the line for the veteran defenseman in Minnesota.
Walker, who was the 200th overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, would end up playing four years at the University of Minnesota, before finally landing with the Wild in 2022 as a college free agent. Primarily playing in Iowa last season, Walker had quite a productive season, scoring 27 goals and 21 assists in 56 games, finishing fourth on the team in points.
Evening Injuries: Vilardi, Samuelsson, Guhle
For the first time since being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets this offseason, forward Gabriel Vilardi would take on his former team, the Los Angeles Kings. Unfortunately, Vilardi would only play around six minutes of the game before leaving with an apparent knee injury. Shortly thereafter, the Jets would announce that Vilardi would miss the rest of the game, and more would be known about the severity after the game.
Playing in their defensive zone early on the first, as they were both going into the corner, forward for the Kings, Blake Lizotte, appeared to get his stick behind the left leg of Vilardi, causing him to fall awkwardly on his right knee. Without the ability to put much pressure on his right leg after the fall, Vilardi immediately bolted for the locker room, where he is being attended to by team doctors (Link to video).
Although it is too early to tell, if Vilardi is set to miss significant time for the Jets, it would obviously be a big blow to both him and the team. There have been injury concerns for Vilardi in the past, but with him now playing on the top line in Winnipeg, it creates a much larger hole to fill. As it is well known throughout the league, Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks is on the trade block and could be a potential landing spot if Vilardi is set to hit the LTIR.
Other injuries:
- The Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson would sit out the remainder of the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an upper-body injury. Although the Sabres did add defensemen Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson to significantly improve the team’s defense, as far as the ability to shut down the opposing team’s forwards, Samuelsson is one of the best on the team. In the first season of a seven-year, $30MM contract extension signed at the start of last year, it would be a significant hurdle for Buffalo if Samuelsson is set to miss any time beyond tonight.
- In one of the more chaotic games of the young season, the Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle would miss the rest of the team’s game against the Minnesota Wild after leaving late in the second period. In total tonight, before leaving the losing effort, Guhle played just over 10 minutes of action, taking one slashing penalty against Marcus Johansson.
Alex Goligoski Out With Lower-Body Injury
Absent from tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Alex Goligoski is out with a lower-body injury. For context on that injury, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that Goligoski injured himself sometime during practice with the team yesterday.
Playing on the last year of a two-year, $4MM contract signed with the Wild back in 2022, Goligoski is not getting off to the best start in what could be his final year in the NHL. In the team’s first two games, Goligoski has averaged just over 17 minutes of ice time, scoring zero points, blocking five shots, and already carrying a -3 rating.
In Minnesota’s most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Goligoski would take a tripping penalty near the beginning of the second period, allowing the Maple Leafs to take a 4-1 lead on the night after a Tyler Bertuzzi goal on the powerplay. The Wild finished the second period on a high note, pulling themselves one goal away from tying the game. Nevertheless, with about seven minutes gone in the third period, Goligoski took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, eliminating Minnesota’s momentum for the rest of the evening.
Replacing Goligoski in the lineup tonight will be 29-year-old defenseman Dakota Mermis, who has yet to play in any games for the Wild up to this point. More importantly, however, if Goligoski continues his run of play on the Minnesota blue line, he could find himself on the waiver wire once captain Jared Spurgeon returns from his upper-body injury.