Austin Czarnik Assigned To Conditioning Stint
The Calgary Flames today assigned Austin Czarnik to the Stockton Heat of the AHL on a conditioning stint, signaling that he is nearing a return from the lower-body injury that has kept him out for the last six weeks.
Czarnik, 26, was an important part of the Flames’ bottom-six last season when he was in the lineup, scoring 18 points in 54 games. With the team putting their entire forward group in a blender the last few days to see if they can turn their season around, his skill and speed would be an important addition.
The Flames have won two games in a row, but after two months of struggles and a scandal cost their head coach his job this season has been a disaster. The team that had the best record in the Western Conference a year ago now sits in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a -13 goal differential.
Czarnik is on the second season of a two-year deal that carries a cap hit of $1.25MM, meaning the second half will be just as important for him as it is the Flames. Originally put on long-term injured reserve in late October with a two-month timeline, he’ll have to get back into game shape in the minor leagues before he can help Calgary.
Winnipeg Jets Claim Nick Shore
The Toronto Maple Leafs won’t get to sneak Nick Shore through waivers and down to the minor leagues, as the Winnipeg Jets have claimed the veteran forward. To make room on the roster, Dmitry Kulikov has been placed on injured reserve.
The Maple Leafs were forced into a tough cap situation with the imminent return of high-priced forward Mitch Marner, meaning Shore needed to be cut loose. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be used as frequently by the new coaching staff, as Sheldon Keefe only dressed him for one of his six games behind the Toronto bench. Still, the claim obviously shows that he still has some value around the league. In fact, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that at least one other team also put in a claim on Shore.
Now 27, Shore has played 257 regular season games in the NHL and before this season had very good possession numbers as a depth player. Much of the turn in those numbers can be explained by the heavy defensive deployment he faced under Mike Babcock in the early part of the season, meaning he could change things if given a more offensive role in Winnipeg.
Selected in the third round by the Los Angeles Kings back in 2011, Shore costs just $750K this year and can play both center and wing. That gives the Jets some extra versatility at the bottom of their lineup and a cheap depth option they can plug in. The Maple Leafs meanwhile will have to send several other players down when Marner returns, as his long-term injured reserve cap flexibility will disappear.
Ryan Johansen, Evander Kane Receive Fines
The Department of Player Safety has handed out a pair of fines today, giving a $5,000 bill to both Ryan Johansen of the Nashville Predators and Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks. Johansen’s incident occurred when he tried to throw a reverse check against Tampa Bay Lightning Brayden Point and caught him square with an elbow in last night’s game. Kane meanwhile also tried to throw a preemptive strike on Radko Gudas of the Washington Capitals and caught him up high with an elbow. Both players received game misconducts.
Though neither player will end up suspended, fines like this are taken into account down the road when it comes to other potential discipline. The $5,000 figure was the largest suspension allowed under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Neither Point nor Gudas appear to have suffered any real injury on the play, which is also taken into account when deciding on supplementary discipline.
Minor Transactions: 12/04/19
After a busy Tuesday night in the NHL there are just four games on the schedule for this evening. One of those will see the Pittsburgh Penguins try to cobble together a healthy lineup in order to take on the reigning Stanley Cup champions, while another has Nazem Kadri returning to Toronto for the first time since an offseason trade took him to the Colorado Avalanche. As teams prepare, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Dennis Gilbert from the minor leagues, while Duncan Keith continues to deal with injury. Keith has already been ruled out of the Blackhawks two-game road trip, meaning Gilbert gets another chance to be on an NHL roster.
- Mathieu Olivier has been reassigned to the minor leagues by the Nashville Predators, after playing in his first eight NHL contests. The young forward recorded one point in those games, but will have to wait for his next opportunity.
- The Montreal Canadiens have sent Gustav Olofsson to the minor leagues, and later recalled Otto Leskinen for the first time in his career. Leskinen was signed just last spring to an entry-level contract after impressing in Finland, and has 12 points in 24 games for the Laval Rocket.
- Mikhail Vorobyev has been recalled by the Philadelphia Flyers, who moved Michal Raffl to long-term injured reserve today. Raffl will be out up to a month with a broken finger, meaning Vorobyev might get a solid look in the NHL.
- Jean-Sebastien Dea has been returned to the minor leagues by the Buffalo Sabres, as they prepare for their Western Conference road trip. The Sabres will have Kyle Okposo with the team during that trip, though it is not clear yet if he will play after dealing with another concussion.
- Brian Gibbons has been recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes, who missed Andrei Svechnikov at practice as he deals with a minor injury. Gibbons, 31, is always one of the team’s first injury call-ups and has been up and down all season.
- Filip Chlapik has been sent back to the minor leagues by the Ottawa Senators, who are in Edmonton today to play the Oilers. That likely signals that J.C. Beaudin or Mikkel Boedker will be back in the lineup tonight, according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia.
- After moving Antti Suomela to injured reserve, the San Jose Sharks have recalled Lean Bergmann from the AHL. Bergmann, 21, has played in eight games for the Sharks this season but spent most of the year with the San Jose Barracuda where he has 12 points in 15 games.
Sweden Announces Preliminary WJC Roster
Several countries have now announced their training camp rosters for the World Junior tournament that kicks off in a few weeks, and Sweden joined the group today with their own list. The group is led by a pair of 2020 draft eligible forwards, though young Alexander Holtz did suffer an injury yesterday.
The full list:
Goaltenders:
Hugo Alnefelt (TBL)
Erik Portillo (BUF)
Jesper Eliasson (DET)
Defense:
Adam Ginning (PHI)
Tobias Bjornfot (LAK)
Nils Lundkvist (NYR)
Philip Broberg (EDM)
Mattias Norlinder (MTL)
Forwards:
Samuel Fagemo (LAK)
Jacob Olofsson (MTL)
Nils Hoglander (VAN)
Oskar Back (DAL)
Nikola Pasic (NJD)
Jonatan Berggren (DET)
Albin Eriksson (DAL)
Karl Henriksson (NYR)
Linus Nassen
Alexander Holtz (2020 eligible)
Lucas Raymond (2020 eligible)
Linus Oberg
Two defensemen and one forward are expected to be added at some point in the future.
Prospect Notes: Barron, Holtz, Romanov
Top 2020 draft prospect Justin Barron has been ruled out indefinitely by the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, after a blood clot diagnosis this week. Barron had been considered a potential top-15 selection in the upcoming draft after another great start in the CHL. The 6’2″ right-handed defenseman has 17 points in 27 games for the Mooseheads and was part of Canada’s gold medal-winning Hlinka-Gretzky team in the summer.
If Barron misses a substantial part of the season, it will be interesting to see how far he falls down draft boards. An all-around talent that could play on both the powerplay and penalty kill one day in the NHL, he’ll hopefully be able to get healthy enough to return to action before Halifax finishes their year.
- Sweden is expected to release their World Junior camp roster tomorrow, but one top name may potentially have to miss out. Alexander Holtz, considered a potential top-five pick in the 2020 draft, suffered a knee injury today and had to leave the game. He’ll be examined further by the team, but a serious injury would mean he misses the chance to perform in front of scouts from all over the world. Holtz, an incredibly skilled winger, has been playing at the highest level in the SHL despite being just 17-years old.
- Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin met with Alexander Romanov today in Russia, but the young defenseman still hasn’t made a decision on whether he’ll come to North America next season. Romanov was given just eight minutes of ice time by the CSKA coaching staff as Bergevin looked on, but it wasn’t a terrible day—he was named to the Russian World Junior camp roster.
New Jersey Devils Fire John Hynes
The New Jersey Devils have relieved John Hynes of his coaching duties effective immediately, announcing that assistant coach Alain Nasreddine will serve as interim head coach. Peter Horachek, who had been scouting for the team, will move behind the bench as an assistant. GM Ray Shero released a statement:
John played an integral role in the development of this team in establishing a foundation for our future and we are grateful for his commitment, passion and unmatched work ethic. John is a respected leader, developer of talent and friend which makes this decision difficult. We are a team that values and takes pride in accountability to the results we produce. We are collectively disappointed in our performance on the ice and believe changes were needed, starting with our head coach. I have been consistent in my desire to build something here in New Jersey that earns the respect of teams throughout the league and pride in our fans. That is not where we were heading and for me to tolerate anything less was not acceptable.
Hynes was hired by the Devils in 2015 after several years as the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL. He took the team to the playoffs unexpectedly in 2018, but has finished in seventh or eighth in the Metropolitan Division three times and has the team there once again. After a summer that saw the team acquire big names in P.K. Subban, Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds, the Devils are actually playing at a worse pace than last year’s debacle that landed them the first-overall selection.
Moving on from Hynes won’t surprise many. With a 150-159-45 record over parts of five seasons, the team has not performed well enough for the front office to stay the course with this group. He becomes the third fired head coach of the season after the dismissals to Mike Babcock in Toronto and Bill Peters in Calgary.
Nasraddine meanwhile has never been a head coach at any level and actually got his start behind the bench as an assistant for Hynes in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The long-time defenseman did play 74 games in the NHL and more than 800 in the AHL however, making him no stranger to professional hockey.
Top Prospects Lead Team Russia WJC Roster
The IIHF World Junior tournament is just a few weeks away, and after Finland and Canada released their rosters yesterday, Russia has followed suit today. The hockey powerhouse routinely uses a roster of almost all 19-year olds at the tournament, but one young goaltender will have a chance to show why he’s in contention for the first-overall draft pick in 2020.
The full training camp roster is as follows:
Goaltenders:
Yaroslav Askarov (2020 eligible)
Amir Miftakhov
Daniil Isayev
Defense:
Danila Galenyuk
Mikhail Gordeyev
Danila Zhuravlyov (COL)
Yegor Zamula (PHI)
Nikita Zorkin
Anton Malyshev
Daniil Misyul (NJD)
Daniil Pylenkov
Alexander Romanov (MTL)
Sergei Telegin
Forwards:
Nikita Alexandrov (STL)
Dmitry Voronkov (CBJ)
Maxim Groshev (2020 eligible)
Grigori Denisenko (FLA)
Pavel Dorofeyev (VGK)
Kirill Marchenko (CBJ)
Ivan Morozov (VGK)
Vasili Podkolzin (VAN)
Egor Sokolov
Nikita Rtischev
Maksim Sorkin
Lev Komissarov
Ilya Kruglov
Alexander Khovanov (MIN)
Zakhar Shablovsky
Matt Stajan Announces Retirement
Though he hasn’t played in an NHL game since the end of the 2017-18 season, Matt Stajan officially announced his retirement today. The 35-year old spent last season playing in the German DEL, but will hang up his skates after a long and productive professional career. The former Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames forward released a long letter through the NHLPA that thanked both organizations as well as his German team. A snippet:
As a kid growing up in Mississauga, Ontario, it was my dream to one day play in the NHL. To have had this dream come true, and have been able to play the sport that I love so much for so many years, is something I feel extremely fortunate and grateful for. The memories that I have made will truly last a lifetime.
Thank you to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Calgary Flames organizations for giving me the opportunity to play and compete in the best league in the world. I wore both jerseys with great pride, and I will be forever grateful for the experiences that came along with that. Also, thank you EHC Red Bull Munich it was a great experience to play overseas for such a great organization.
Stajan played 1,003 regular season games in the NHL, but incredibly only made it to the playoffs three times. Not only was he a consistent two-way center for years, but Stajan was extremely well-respected by his teammates and served as an NHLPA player rep for a good chunk of his career. Mark Giordano, Luke Schenn and Matthew Tkachuk all lent their voice to his retirement announcement, each using the phrase “best teammate” in reference to Stajan.
Patric Hornqvist Out “Longer-Term” With Lower-Body Injury
Repeating an explanation that he might as well make into a t-shirt at this point, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters today including Sam Kasan of Pens Inside Scoop that Patric Hornqvist will be out “longer-term” with a lower-body injury. Hornqvist was injured in practice yesterday.
Hornqvist’s absence, when combined with the other injuries the Penguins are dealing with and Zach Aston-Reese being held out with an illness, means Stefan Noesen skated on the second line today at practice. Noesen was only signed to an NHL contract yesterday. Joseph Blandisi, who cleared waivers today, was still centering the fourth line with assistant coach Mark Recchi on his left side.
It’s impressive how well the Penguins have done even with their major injuries, but after losing their last two have now fallen to fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. Hornqvist himself has already missed several games earlier in the year and will now be out of the picture for some time. Evgeni Malkin and whoever is left up front will have even more pressure on them to keep the team in the playoff picture.