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St. Louis Blues Return Jake Neighbours To AHL

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The St. Louis Blues have sent Jake Neighbours back to the AHL after his most recent call-up. The young forward played in two games, recording two shots, two blocks, and a hit while failing to record a point.

Neighbours, 20, like so many other prospects, needs to play. He wasn’t going to see much ice time with the big club, getting just 13 shifts in last night’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. At the AHL level, he can touch the puck a lot more and get his confidence up, something that must be waning after so many scoreless appearances as a pro. Neighbours has two goals and three points in 22 career NHL games and has yet to score an AHL goal in seven games.

There’s still plenty of optimism about the 2020 first-round pick, but it’s hard to see how playing fewer than ten minutes a night on an NHL fourth line is the right development path. He may be up again at some point but the focus should be on getting him rolling in the minor leagues.

The struggle of course is that the Blues aren’t winning, either, so head coach Craig Berube needs to do anything he can to turn the ship around. The club is 11-12 on the year and has lost their last two after a strong stretch. Balancing Neighbours’ long-term development with the short-term team needs is a difficult task, especially if they believe he is one of the 12 best forwards in the organization.

Calle Jarnkrok Out At Least Two Weeks

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Calle Jarnkrok for the next two weeks at least, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Luke Fox of Sportsnet. The utility forward is dealing with a groin injury suffered on Wednesday night. T.J. Brodie, who is also out with an injury, will accompany the team on their upcoming road trip but is not expected to play.

Jarnkrok, 31, signed a four-year deal with the Maple Leafs in the offseason and has done a little bit of everything for them this season. Recently, he had been lining up on his off-wing next to John Tavares and Mitch Marner, benefiting from the talented forwards for a handful of points. He likely hasn’t been quite the presence that the front office was hoping for, though, as through 25 games he has scored just nine points.

A two-week absence will open the door for someone else like Nicholas Robertson to play with the Tavares line, as the Maple Leafs try to keep their winning streak alive. The team has won five in a row and is now 8-0-2 in their last ten, one of the hottest groups in the league. Even so, they sit three points behind the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division chase, despite having played three more games.

With Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly both on long-term injured reserve, the team has plenty of cap flexibility to recall a player in Jarnkrok’s absence if they choose.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Florida Panthers

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As American Thanksgiving and the holiday season are upon us, PHR is taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Florida Panthers.

Who are the Panthers thankful for?

Spencer Knight.

You might think the easy answer here is Matthew Tkachuk. The newcomer is leading the team in points by a wide mile and has established himself as the new face of the franchise next to Aleksander Barkov. But given how Sergei Bobrovsky has played so far this year, the Panthers would be absolutely lost without Knight’s performance.

The 21-year-old netminder has posted a .919 save percentage in 13 games, essentially taking over of late. With a win last night, he became the fastest goaltender in franchise history to 30 wins, reaching that number in just 42 starts. A .919 isn’t world-beating, but when compared to the .878 that Bobrovsky has recorded, it seems like an entirely different class of performance. The veteran netminder – who is still set to earn $10MM in each of the next three seasons – has allowed five or more goals in three of his last five appearances, and the only reason it isn’t worse is that he was pulled after allowing four in the first period a few weeks ago.

Bobrovsky has gone through these bad stretches before and rebounded nicely. Last season he led the entire league with 39 wins and had a solid .913 save percentage. But the stinkers are coming more frequently now, and without Knight’s emergence, the Panthers would be stuck without an answer.

What are the Panthers thankful for?

The impatience of other teams.

When you take a look at how the Panthers were built, it really is impressive how many reclamation projects or fringe players they have found success with. Carter Verhaeghe was a minor league forward that had 13 points for the Tampa Bay Lightning in his only NHL experience before coming to Florida. He is now the team’s second-leading scorer with 20 points in 24 games.

Brandon Montour was acquired for a third-round pick from the Buffalo Sabres, who were fed up with his inconsistent play. He too has 20 points in his first 22 games this season, and is averaging close to 25 minutes a night. Sam Bennett, the playoff-only performer from the Calgary Flames, has turned into a consistent two-way player with the Panthers – even playing center again. Gustav Forsling, probably the team’s most consistent defensive presence, was claimed off waivers. Colin White, nabbed after a buyout.

That’s not even counting Anthony Duclair, who hasn’t played yet this season as he rehabs a torn Achilles.

The Panthers aren’t really built through the draft like so many other good teams. Outside of Barkov, Knight, Anton Lundell, and Aaron Ekblad, the rest of their team has been put together by taking advantage of specific situations. The question now will be whether they can pull off another couple of moves to vault them back into real Stanley Cup contention this season.

What would the Panthers be even more thankful for?

Continued health for Ekblad.

It’s been a long time since Aaron Ekblad was consistently healthy. The 26-year-old’s 61 games last season felt a full year compared to the nightmare 2020-21 season, and he showed what he could do. Fifty-seven points in 61 games and sixth place in the Norris Trophy voting led to high expectations for this year. But he has missed half the season already due to injury, only making his return recently.

If somehow, Ekblad can play in every game for the rest of the year, the Panthers will have an elite defenseman to lean on. But after Mackenzie Weegar’s departure, the depth chart is a lot less forgiving should he miss more time. Fans in Florida are dying to see what the 2014 first-overall pick could do with another 82-game season.

What should be on the Panthers’ holiday wish list?

Defensive depth.

Speaking of Weegar, the Panthers sure could use someone like him right now. The team has leaned heavily on the top three of Ekblad, Montour, and Forsling this year, to the point where all three are averaging close to 24 minutes a night. While Radko Gudas is a fine piece to include, and Marc Staal is doing as much as he’s capable of, the team needs another defenseman. Josh Mahura has been fine in that sixth spot, but there are nights the coaching staff doesn’t even trust him to play ten minutes.

The forward group will get a boost when Duclair comes back, and Barkov won’t be snake-bitten all year. But if that defense were to face two key injuries at the same time, it would likely mean any chance of contention is out the door. The Panthers need to reinforce the group, though maybe not in the same way they did a year ago.

At the deadline, Florida used a first-round pick to land Ben Chiarot, who didn’t exactly work out the way they had hoped. They are already missing a huge number of picks thanks to the Tkachuk deal, meaning they’ll have to get creative about how they add some talent to the back end.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

David Farrance Traded In AHL

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The Chicago Wolves have completed a pair of minor league trades, sending David Farrance to the Colorado Eagles and acquiring Alex Green from the Laval Rocket. Both deals are for future considerations.

Farrance, 23, was a third-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2017 and a Hobey Baker candidate at one point in college, but has fallen nearly completely off the map in the years since. He signed a two-year contract with the Predators in 2021, with the first year burning at the end of the 2020-21 season, and spent all of last year with the Milwaukee Admirals.

At the end of his entry-level deal, the Predators decided to leave him unqualified, making him a free agent. An AHL deal with the Wolves followed, but after 14 games he’s on his way out of that organization too.

That said, the Eagles do have a reputation for reclamation projects, especially defensemen. Perhaps they will be able to turn around his career and get it back on a track that one day leads to the NHL.

In 14 games this season, he had five points.

Cal Petersen Clears Waivers; Kings Make Several Roster Moves

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3:31 PM: Add one more roster move to today’s avalanche of transactions in Southern California. Per a team release, the Kings have recalled forward Tyler Madden from the Reign.

This recall puts Madden, 23, in a position to make his NHL debut. The forward is perhaps best known as a former Vancouver Canucks prospect who was sent to Los Angeles as part of the team’s Tyler Toffoli trade.

Madden has scored five goals and eight points in 16 AHL games so far this year and scored 14 goals and 31 points in 48 games last year. Madden played his collegiate career at Northeastern University and scored 37 points in 27 games in his second and final season there.

1:15 PM: As expected, Cal Petersen has cleared waivers after a dreadful start to the season. The Los Angeles Kings have sent him to the minor leagues, while completing several other roster moves. Tobias Bjornfot, Pheonix Copley, and Samuel Fagemo have been recalled, while Rasmus Kupari and Jordan Spence are joining Petersen with the Ontario Reign.

It has been a precipitous fall from grace for Petersen, who signed a $15MM contract just over 14 months ago. That deal includes a $4MM signing bonus next year and $11MM total over the last two seasons, a price tag that many clubs would likely balk at if considering a claim. The fact is that he just hasn’t been good enough to justify that price tag, making it easy to understand why teams would pass over him on waivers.

If he can get his game back in order, there will be a path back to the NHL for Petersen. Copley doesn’t represent a huge upgrade, despite strong performances in the minor leagues. Through 31 NHL games, the 30-year-old has a .900 save percentage, and hasn’t played regularly at that level since 2018-19. While he can serve as a backup, for the time being, the Kings goaltending situation looks rather suspect at the moment.

By assigning Petersen to the minor leagues, Los Angeles will clear $1.125MM of cap space off the books, though a good chunk of that is eaten up by Copley’s $825K deal.

Riley Sheahan Signs In Switzerland

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After terminating his contract with the Buffalo Sabres, Riley Sheahan is headed to Europe. The 30-year-old forward has signed a contract with EHC Biel-Bienne for the rest of the season. He is expected to join the club next week.

It’s an interesting move for the NHL veteran, who has decided to take his game overseas instead of playing in the minor leagues. A first-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2010, it’s been nearly a decade since he played regular games in the AHL. That came back in 2013-14 and was followed by nine seasons of full-time NHL action, with Sheahan suiting up for the Red Wings, Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers, and Seattle Kraken.

Over a 637-game NHL career, the checking center has 74 goals and 194 points. This season, he saw two games of action with the Sabres and six with the Rochester Americans but wasn’t able to score a goal at either level. He has never played in any leagues outside of North America, and it remains to be seen if he uses this opportunity in Switzerland as a springboard for an NHL return next year, or is finished with the grind on this side of the ocean.

Magnus Hellberg Sent On AHL Conditioning Assignment

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It’s been a whirlwind season for Magnus Hellberg, who started the year with the Seattle Kraken, was claimed by the Ottawa Senators, reclaimed by the Kraken, and then nabbed by the Detroit Red Wings a little over a week ago. At the time, it was something of a curious move, given the Red Wings already had two goaltenders – Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic – at the NHL level, but Detroit had shown interest in Hellberg since bringing him back to North America last season.

A few days ago, Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside posited a theory about what the Red Wings could do with their three-headed goaltending monster. It included conditioning stints in the minor leagues for Hellberg and Nedeljkovic, which has now partly come true. The former has been sent to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins for conditioning, allowing him to be assigned to the AHL without clearing waivers.

This doesn’t completely solve the issue, as a conditioning stint can only be two weeks in length. The idea, perhaps, is to basically swap the two by sending Nedeljkovic for a stint when that two weeks is up. The trick is that a conditioning stint does not remove a player from the NHL roster, meaning the Red Wings would be dedicating three spots to goaltenders either way.

At the very least, this should allow Hellberg to actually see some game action. The 31-year-old has played only once all season, a start for the Senators in which he stopped 29 of 31 shots.

Vegas Golden Knights Recall Daniil Miromanov

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The Vegas Golden Knights have been one of the quietest teams in the league when it comes to transactions this season, with hardly any changes made to their NHL roster from the start of the year. In fact, they hadn’t recalled a single player through the first two months, instead working with the group that broke camp to get them to a 17-6-1 record.

Today that changes, as Daniil Miromanov has been recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights. The 25-year-old defenseman is off to a strong start in the minor leagues with six goals and 13 points in 17 games.

Undrafted, Miromanov has had a very interesting path to the NHL. The 6’4″ Russian was actually a forward when he played in the QMJHL, racking up points with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Moncton Wildcats, but made the transition to defense in the years since. He played in the KHL, Czech league, ECHL, and AHL before making his debut with Vegas, playing 11 games with the club last season.

Now, with size and offensive instincts, he is an interesting player to follow. The Golden Knights appreciated him enough to give him a two-year contract this summer, the second year of which is a one-way deal. With Alex Pietrangelo dealing with a personal reason and away from the team, they’ve added one of Henderson’s best players to the roster to fill in.

Ian Mitchell Recalled From Rockford

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Dec 1: Wth Tinordi now heading to injured reserve, Mitchell is back up with the big club.

Nov 24: The Chicago Blackhawks, no longer without Seth Jones, have returned Ian Mitchell to the minor leagues. The opportunity for Mitchell was limited, and he’ll have to wait for his next NHL chance after being scratched last night.

Jones returned from a thumb injury and played more than 21 minutes for the Blackhawks in their game against the Dallas Stars, scoring a goal and recording three shots on net. All six Chicago defenders actually recorded at least one point in the 6-4 loss, with depth options like Jarred Tinordi even crossing the 18-minute mark.

In a normal situation, it might be surprising that the Blackhawks would send Mitchell back down given his obvious upside, but the team has been very careful to keep young players in Rockford this season. If the 23-year-old Mitchell was going to sit in the press box with the NHL club, they might as well give him back to the AHL so he can play in regular games. With seven other defensemen in Chicago seemingly ahead of him on the depth chart, it doesn’t make much sense to keep him up.

Patrik Laine, Elvis Merzlikins Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are getting healthier. Patrik Laine and Elvis Merzlikins have both been activated from injured reserve, with Daniil Tarasov loaned back to the AHL to make room. The move suggests both will be ready to return tomorrow against the Winnipeg Jets.

Laine, 24, has played eight games this season between two separate stints on IR and has just two goals so far. The Finnish sniper signed a four-year, $34.8MM deal in the offseason that secured his future with the Blue Jackets, and put him in line for a career year across from newcomer Johnny Gaudreau. Things haven’t gone according to plan, with Laine and a huge chunk of the Columbus roster spending more time on the shelf than the ice.

For Merzlikins, things haven’t gone well even when he was healthy. The 28-year-old netminder posted a .864 save percentage through nine appearances, his last coming on November 15. He has recorded a performance above .900 just once this season, and has allowed at least five goals in four of nine games. If the Blue Jackets have any chance of climbing back into the race, they need Merzlikins to find the level of play he showed as a rookie, when he finished fifth in both Calder and Vezina voting.

Coincidentally, Tarasov has actually been much closer to those numbers this season, posting a .912 in six appearances. While the team has faith in Merzlikins as the starter, they shouldn’t hesitate to go back to the young Tarasov if the former continues to struggle.

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