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Casey Mittelstadt Undergoes Surgery

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Just as it looked like Casey Mittelstadt was ready to take the next step in his NHL career, disaster has struck. The 23-year-old forward has been out for most of the regular season so far, playing in just one game at the beginning of the year and three more in recent days. Now, after suffering another injury, the Sabres have announced Mittelstadt underwent successful surgery today and is out indefinitely. The club hopes he will play again this season.

It’s been a difficult road for the eighth-overall pick from 2017. Mittelstadt recorded just 39 points in his first 114 NHL games, which were spread out over three seasons. The dynamic playmaker from the University of Minnesota and the U.S. World Junior team was nowhere to be found, as the speed of the professional game swallowed his creativity. Last season, it seemed to be finding a way out, as Mittelstadt recorded 10 goals and 22 points in 41 games. Not the game-changing presence some expected him to become, but a good start for a young player finding his NHL legs.

Now, things have been set back in a big way. Mittelstadt has competed just four times in the first two months of the season and faces another long recovery period. The three-year contract he signed in September that had a chance to be a huge bargain for the Sabres is now a complete unknown once again, with it unclear when he’ll be back in the lineup.

To this point, Mittelstadt has just one goal and no assists on the season. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to increase those totals by the end of the year.

Casey Mittelstadt's Injury Related To Early-Season One

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  • The Sabres may be without center Casey Mittelstadt for a while again, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old was injured in Tuesday’s contest versus Anaheim and head coach Don Granato revealed that it’s in the same area as the upper-body injury that took him out in the season opener that kept him out for six weeks.  Mittelstadt is undergoing testing to determine the extent of the injury but Granato acknowledged that it could be another long-term issue.

Dallas Stars Shopping Anton Khudobin

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The Dallas Stars have a goaltending tandem they trust – and it doesn’t include veteran Anton Khudobin. Free agent addition Braden Holtby leads the team with ten appearances and has looked like his old self, posting a .927 save percentage and 2.30 GAA. Yet it is young Jake Oettinger who has been making headlines, recording a stunning .951 save percentage and 1.41 GAA in six games. In contrast, Khudobin is playing the worst hockey of his NHL career with an .837 save percentage and 3.73 GAA in seven appearances. While the Stars have been hot of late, currently riding a six-game winning streak, Khudobin has not played since November 18.

With Holtby and Oettinger having earned the NHL jobs and (though easy to forget) former starter Ben Bishop still trying to work his way back from a long-term knee injury, Khudobin has become expendable. However, despite his struggles, the Stars will not simply just waive the respected veteran, at least not yet. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that the team is actively shopping Khudobin in hopes of finding a trade partner.

While the Stars surely will not receive nearly the package they might have commanded for Khudobin just a couple years ago when he led the NHL with a .930 save percentage, the Stars still have incentive to search for a trade rather than keeping him for depth. The first is obvious; Khudobin may still have some value around the league. In fact, Marek states definitively that the Buffalo Sabres have expressed interest in the experienced netminder and there are certainly other teams that could also use help in net. With confidence in their current options, there is no reason for Dallas to pass up potential trade capital. However, Khudobin’s contract is another factor that the Stars need to manage. Simply waiving and demoting Khudobin only saves the team $1.075MM of the goaltender’s $3.33MM cap hit. That contract also carries an additional year. Dallas needs the space that could be opened up from moving Khudobin’s contract in its entirety, which means they will work to find a team with enough need in net to trade for the veteran. The next step would be to waive Khudobin and hope he is claimed; even if he is unclaimed the Stars will continue to shop Khudobin, who will have some extra transactional versatility should he clear.

One way or another, it seems like the Stars have come to the conclusion that they can benefit more from being rid of Khudobin than continuing to keep him around. At some point, it is likely that the veteran keeper will find a new home this season.

 

J.J. Peterka Won't Play At World Juniors

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Sabres winger J.J. Peterka and Blackhawks winger Lukas Reichel were expected to anchor Germany’s entry into the upcoming World Juniors.  However, neither player was on the preliminary camp roster that their federation announced yesterday.  It’s not a matter of letting them stay in the minors a little longer before joining the team either as it was revealed that after consulting with both players, it was agreed that they will remain with their respective farm teams and not play in the tournament.  Peterka is averaging more than a point per game with AHL Rochester this season while Reichel has a dozen points in 15 contests with Rockford.  With both seemingly being on the cusp of a recall at some point, the decision has been made to not interrupt their progress even though it will make Germany’s attempt to stay in the top division that much harder.

Craig Anderson Now Listed As Out Month To Month

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  • The Sabres have released (Twitter link) an updated timeline for their injured players and a notable change is that goaltender Craig Anderson has been reclassified from week-to-week to month-to-month. The 40-year-old has missed a little more than a month now due to his upper-body injury and this change in status likely played a role in their acquisition of Malcolm Subban from Chicago on Thursday.

Dustin Tokarski Placed In COVID Protocol

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Malcolm Subban can’t get to the Buffalo Sabres fast enough. The team has announced that Dustin Tokarski has been placed in the COVID protocol, forcing them to recall Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the AHL. Buffalo made a trade for Subban earlier today but will have to go with Luukkonen and Aaron Dell until he arrives.

Casey Mittelstadt has also been activated from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation for Buffalo, given that Tokarski was the more reliable of the two they currently had healthy and in the NHL. The 32-year-old journeyman has a .903 save percentage in 14 appearances this season, compared to Dell’s brutal .862 in five games. While Luukkonen was always supposed to take over the net at some point, the issue so far has been his own struggles in the minor leagues. The 22-year-old netminder has an .888 in 12 appearances with the Rochester Americans, and adding Subban was very clearly about allowing the Sabres to keep him in the AHL to develop further.

Now with Tokarski out that’s not possible, at least for today. The team did not confirm whether Tokarski has tested positive for coronavirus, but if he has and is experiencing any symptoms, he’ll be held out for a minimum of ten days. That would mean at least five games, meaning when Subban does arrive, he very well may immediately become the NHL starter for the next little while.

Buffalo Sabres Acquire Malcolm Subban

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The Buffalo Sabres have struggled to find consistent netminding all year, and now appear to be throwing another name into the ring. The Sabres have acquired Malcolm Subban from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations.

Subban, 27, is certainly not a guaranteed upgrade to the goaltending the Sabres have at the moment. A first-round pick from 2012, the veteran netminder has just 82 games of NHL experience to this point most of that coming with the Vegas Golden Knights as the team’s original backup. Subban posted a .901 save percentage in those 63 appearances with Vegas, but has a .899 overall for his career. Last season, he played in 16 games for the Blackhawks and posted a .900, but was pushed down the depth chart once again when they acquired Marc-Andre Fleury in the offseason.

After clearing waivers at the start of the year, Subban was sent to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL where he has appeared in three games. While his numbers there certainly don’t paint a pretty picture, this move will allow the Sabres to leave Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, still the team’s top goaltending prospect, in the minor leagues while Subban helps the NHL squad.

Currently, the team was going with a tandem of Dustin Tokarski and Aaron Dell, as Craig Anderson continues to deal with an injury. Those two have combined for an .894 on the season so far, not exactly what the team is looking for as they try to support their young roster. It’s not that the Sabres are really trying to contend for the playoffs as they start another rebuild, but it’s difficult to develop any talent when they’re losing every night. The team is 3-6-1 in their last ten and plummeting down the standings, thanks in part to goaltending that has allowed the fifth-most goals against in the league.

It’s also a great opportunity for Subban, if only to show that he can be an NHL backup again at this point in his career. His two-year contract will expire at the end of the season, at which point he’ll be looking for a new job. Given that the deal is a one-way contract, he was still earning his $950K salary in the minor leagues. The Blackhawks can cross that off the books now that he’s with Buffalo, even if they aren’t really getting anything of value in return.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report a deal was being worked out. 

More to come…

Casey Mittelstadt To Return Thursday

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  • The Sabres are about to get some help from the infirmary as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News relays that center Casey Mittelstadt will return on Thursday against Florida after being injured in the season-opener versus Montreal. Blueliner Jacob Bryson will also return after missing Monday’s contest with a nagging injury.  Meanwhile, winger Alex Tuch skated in a non-contact sweater at practice as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery while goaltender Craig Anderson also accompanied the team on their road trip although there remains no timetable for a return from his upper-body injury that has kept him out for a month.

Christian Wolanin Claimed By Los Angeles Kings

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The Los Angeles Kings have claimed Christian Wolanin of waivers. Given that the team has immediately assigned him to the minor leagues, they were the only team to put in a claim. The Buffalo Sabres, who claimed Wolanin earlier this year, will lose him after putting him in the lineup just once.

This likely isn’t what Wolanin was expecting when he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Kings in July, one that came with a very healthy minor league guarantee of $400K. Instead of playing for the Ontario Reign so far though, he’s been in the NHL all year acting as a practice option. He has suited up for just a single game, that one in Buffalo, and it occurred back on November 8. He’ll now have to head to the minors and hope he can get back up to game speed quickly, if he wants to contribute at all for Los Angeles down the road.

The Kings do have defensive injuries, even though they got Drew Doughty back last night. Adding some experienced depth like Wolanin is important, especially now that they can hide him in the minors until needed. It’s been a long time since he even played regularly there, with only 12 AHL games since the end of the 2018-19 season.

Christian Wolanin Placed On Waivers

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The Buffalo Sabres have placed Christian Wolanin back on waivers, the place they claimed him from last month. The defenseman ended up playing just one game with the Sabres so far and needs to clear to be sent to the minor leagues. Should his former team the Los Angeles Kings claim him and are the only club to do so, they will be able to send him directly to the AHL.

Buffalo recently added Mark Jankowski on an NHL deal and are expected to get Casey Mittelstadt back from injury soon, meaning there needed to be a roster spot opened somewhere. Wolanin wasn’t being used anyway and has a real chance to clear, so the team has decided he’s the one to risk to the rest of the league. It’s not that he doesn’t have NHL experience, as Wolanin has played in 62 games at the highest level, but it’s been extremely inconsistent playing time to this point.

His biggest opportunity came in 2018-19 with the Ottawa Senators, when he ended up playing in 30 games for the team and recorded 12 points. Since then though it’s been up, down, and a lot of healthy scratches for the 26-year-old. Perhaps a team like the Edmonton Oilers or Carolina Hurricanes, both dealing with massive absences on the blueline, would take a chance, but it’s hard to see how Wolanin will get regular playing time in the league this season.

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