Talks between the Golden Knights and Sabres regarding center Jack Eichel have picked up in recent days, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Vegas is off to a tough start to their season with a 2-4 record and bringing someone like Eichel in won’t exactly help in the short term with him still needing neck surgery which will take him out for several months, whichever version of the procedure he winds up getting. Seravalli adds that there has been some talk about getting a third team involved to make the financial element work with the Golden Knights tight to the Upper Limit of the salary cap as usual. Buffalo has insisted they won’t retain on the remaining five years and $50MM of Eichel’s deal although they are open to taking other contracts back to make the money work. Enticing another team to retain on Eichel’s deal would be costly – it has to be done for the remainder of the deal and not just certain years – but it would certainly make it easier to fit Eichel into their salary structure.
Sabres Rumors
AHL Shuffle: 10/23/21
There’s no rest on the weekend for NHL clubs, especially early in the season when teams are still constantly tweaking lineups. With 13 games on the docket, all but six teams are preparing their rosters for game day as well. Follow along with all of the back-and-forth of minor league transactions throughout the day:
Atlantic Division
- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Brett Murray from the AHL’s Rochester Americans. The upstart Sabres suffered their first loss of the season last night and are right back in action today, hoping that adding Murray to the mix can help get them back on their surprising early track. Murray recorded nine goals and 20 points in 27 AHL games last year and got into two NHL games as well, so he is ready to take the next step this season.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled defenseman Fredrik Claesson from the Syracuse Crunch, per a team press release. As young defenseman Cal Foote sits with Syracuse currently on a conditioning stint, the Lightning were only carrying 19 players on the active roster. The reacquired Alex Barre-Boulet was the only extra man. Claesson comes back up to the big squad, serving as an extra body and veteran presence at 28 years old.
Metropolitan Division
- Nick Seeler should be earning frequent Flyer miles for all of these moves. The veteran defenseman has been swapped between the NHL and AHL more than any other player early this season and is on his way back up to Philadelphia yet again. The team has announced that Seeler has been recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, likely as insurance with Ryan Ellis still sidelined with a minor injury.
- The Penguins announced the recall of defenseman Juuso Riikola from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. His promotion was needed with Kris Letang entering COVID protocol. Riikola has 75 career games played in the NHL but only two were last season as he spent most of the year on Pittsburgh’s taxi squad.
Central Division
- Brandon Cain of On Tap Sports reports that the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Reese Johnson from the AHL. The 23-year-old forward is off to a good start with AHL Rockford, recording a goal and an assist in the team’s first three games. Johnson played in five games with the Blackhawks last season while notching eight points in 18 games with the Ice Hogs. Chicago needs a spark – maybe Johnson can provide. The team has since confirmed the move.
Pacific Division
- CapFriendly reports the Los Angeles Kings have recalled defenseman Austin Strand from AHL Ontario. Strand will serve as the team’s seventh defenseman for the time being after Drew Doughty was injured in a game against the Dallas Stars Friday night. Strand got into 13 games with the Kings last season, notching his first NHL point in the form of an assist.
This post will be updated throughout the day
Sabres Notes: Eichel, Eakin, Samuelsson
Jack Eichel’s camp plans to make one final push to Sabres management about getting his desired disk replacement surgery and has been collecting medical opinions to support their desire, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. The center’s case is well-known at this point and Kaplan suggests that the next step could be a grievance which, to this point, has been the last resort option. A handful of teams are believed to be in the mix for Eichel in a trade with Buffalo now being amenable to at least part of the return being conditional depending on how he recovers from the surgery. Of course, for things to get to that part, he has to have the surgery first and will be out for a significant amount of time regardless of which procedure he winds up having.
More from Buffalo:
- Center Cody Eakin has been ruled out for the next two games (including tonight’s contest against Boston) and will be listed as day-to-day after that, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. Head coach Don Granato appears to be targeting next Thursday’s game in Anaheim as a possible return date for the 30-year-old. Eakin’s off to a nice start this season with a goal and an assist in three games but will be sitting out the next few now.
- Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson returned to practice for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury in a prospect game a little over a month ago, relays Jourdan LaBarber of the Sabres’ team site. The 21-year-old won’t travel with the team for Saturday’s contest against New Jersey but could be ready to play soon after. Samuelsson played in the last 12 games for Buffalo last season, picking up two assists while averaging a little over 18 minutes a game.
Sabres Do Not Want To Retain Salary On Eichel Trade
Though there’s still no real news on Jack Eichel and his continued standoff with the Buffalo Sabres, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet did give a bit of an update on the situation last night. Part of that update is that the Sabres do not want to retain salary on Eichel’s massive contract, which certainly isn’t unexpected but does make trade more difficult.
In fact, Friedman notes that the Colorado Avalanche called Buffalo about Eichel, but when the Sabres said they wouldn’t retain salary the conversation ended immediately. That’s likely not the only contender in that situation, as Eichel’s $10MM contract is difficult to fit in for anyone pushing the salary cap upper limit. Buffalo is willing to take contracts back, but it appears as though they don’t want to be tied to Eichel at all moving forward.
Sabres Claim Christian Wolanin Off Waivers
The Sabres have added some depth on the back end as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is among those reporting (Twitter link) that they have claimed defenseman Christian Wolanin off waivers from the Kings. To make room on the roster, the Sabres moved defenseman Henri Jokiharju to injured reserve.
The 26-year-old spent most of last season in Ottawa where he played a limited role, getting into 15 games with the Sens, recording three assists while averaging 13 minutes per game. After clearing waivers in late March, he was then traded to Los Angeles in exchange for Michael Amadio. With the Kings, Wolanin was sparingly used, suiting up only three times and was on the outside looking in at a spot in the lineup this season which led to his placement yesterday.
With the claim, Buffalo will once again have seven healthy defensemen on the roster and with Jokiharju set to miss at least a couple of weeks, Wolanin will have a short-term chance to stake a claim to a spot on the roster with the Sabres. It’s a low-risk pickup for Buffalo as Wolanin is making the league minimum of $750K at the NHL level with an AHL salary of $375K and a total guarantee of $400K.
Mark Jankowski Signs AHL Contract With Buffalo
If Mark Jankowski wants to make it back to the NHL, he’ll be going through the AHL to do it as Rochester, AHL affiliate of Buffalo, announced that they’ve inked the 27-year-old to a one-year contract.
Jankowski has not been able to live up to his first-round draft billing (21st overall in 2012) and has struggled the last few seasons. After being non-tendered by Calgary in 2020, the center quickly signed with Pittsburgh, inking a one-year deal for the league minimum. The move made plenty of sense on paper as a still relatively unproven player with a bit of upside hoping that a change of scenery would get him going.
However, that didn’t really happen. Jankowski managed just 11 points (4-7-11) in 45 games last season while playing almost exclusively on the fourth line. Even though his qualifying offer was only for the minimum this season ($750K), the Penguins opted to non-tender him again, avoiding arbitration in the process. Unable to secure a guaranteed deal, Jankowski signed a training camp tryout with New Jersey but wasn’t able to land a contract with them either.
Evidently, an NHL two-way offer wasn’t available either which has led Jankowski to the AHL and the Americans. It will be his first extended action in the minors since 2016-17 when he had 27 goals and 29 assists with Stockton. This will also be Jankowski’s first real opportunity to play an offensive role in the top six since that season as well and he’s clearly banking that a good showing with Rochester will bolster his shot at landing an NHL contract somewhere either later this season or next summer.
Casey Mittelstadt And Henri Jokiharju Out A Couple Of Weeks
Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato announced Friday morning that center Casey Mittelstadt and defenseman Henri Jokiharju will both be sidelined for “a couple of weeks” with different injuries.
Mittelstadt left Thursday night’s 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear as to when or on what play Mittelstadt sustained the injury. Jokiharju played the entirety of last night’s contest, logging 16:39 of ice time. He’s sidelined with a lower-body ailment.
Granato notes that Arttu Ruotsalainen and Will Butcher will likely draw into the lineup Saturday against Arizona in the place of Mittelstadt and Jokiharju. He also says the team wants “to get everybody in,” making it seem like additional call-ups from the AHL’s Rochester Americans are likely coming to bolster the roster.
It’s an extremely tough break for a Sabres team that got off to an unexpectedly strong start, albeit through just one game. They’ll now have to move forward without their number one center in addition to a top-pairing defenseman for multiple weeks.
If Granato’s “couple of weeks” prognosis holds true, Mittelstadt and Jokiharju could miss six games over the course of the next two weeks. The Sabres have a rather light schedule to begin the season but have a pair of tough matchups against the Boston Bruins on October 22 and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning on October 25.
Latest On Jack Eichel
It appeared as though there was some momentum toward a Jack Eichel trade a week ago, but things have gone quiet once again on one of the biggest stories in the NHL. With the season underway there is no lack of headlines and narratives to take the attention of hockey fans across the league, but every one of them is still keeping one eye on the Buffalo Sabres and their malcontent star. Today, Emily Kaplan on ESPN’s The Point explained the current situation with regards to Eichel:
Where we stand now is there are five teams still in on Jack Eichel, and those are teams who believe they can fit his they can fit his $10MM salary into their cap situation. Maybe that means moving some contracts or whatever. All of those teams though have agreed Jack Eichel will get the disk replacement surgery that he wants.
If there is a trade in the near future, Eichel still faces a major neck surgery that will keep him out of the NHL for several months. That makes it extremely difficult for any contender to acquire the Sabres former captain, though easier to swallow if it’s soon enough that he could potentially return for the end of the season. The one thing to consider when it comes to cap situations is that Eichel’s contract will be able to be moved to long-term injured reserve, though if he’s back before the playoffs the team would need to have the applicable room to activate him.
There’s also the factor of Buffalo’s cap, which will need money coming back the other way to stay above the lower limit. Sending money the other way seems likely for any team acquiring a long-term $10MM cap hit, though it still makes things more complicated.
Interestingly in these cases, a quiet period often shows up as the talks get more serious and the teams involved don’t want any leaking information to spoil the negotiation. It’s not clear if that’s the case with Eichel, but with five teams still interested and willing to greenlight his preferred surgery, it seems like a resolution of some sort is still possible in the near future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Barre-Boulet, Brooks, Brown Claimed Off Waivers
Three players were claimed off waivers today, just before opening night rosters are submitted. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Seattle Kraken claimed Alex Barre-Boulet from the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens claimed Adam Brooks from the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers claimed Patrick Brown from the Vegas Golden Knights. The Washington Capitals also re-claimed Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Buffalo Sabres and assuming they were the only team to put in a claim, can now send him directly to the minor leagues. The other 39 players placed on waivers yesterday have cleared.
Barre-Boulet seemed the likeliest player to be claimed among yesterday’s group, as the 24-year-old has not only shown extremely well at the minor league level, but also is signed at league minimum for the next three seasons. The former Lightning prospect signed a three-year deal in July that pays him $750K at the NHL level this year and next, and $775K in 2023-24 when the minimum increases. That alone makes him valuable and he’ll now get a chance to show exactly what he can do in Seattle, rather than be blocked by countless talented teammates in Tampa Bay.
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2018, Barre-Boulet was a superstar in the QMJHL but lacks the size of a traditional NHL player. That certainly hasn’t held him back in the AHL, as he has posted 136 points in 144 games for the Syracuse Crunch since turning pro. That includes eight goals in just ten games last season, which helped elevate him to the NHL level where he played in 15 games for the Lightning. Though he is by no means a lock to produce for the Kraken, it was an easy choice to add his talent to the organization when it came available.
Brooks too seemed like an inevitable loss for the Maple Leafs when they decided to place him on waivers instead of Michael Amadio yesterday. Toronto will lose their depth forward to the rival Canadiens and could see him on the other side of the ice quickly. Montreal will travel to Toronto on Wednesday for their season opener, though it’s not clear if Brooks will step directly into the lineup. The 25-year-old has always seemed to play well when given the chance–that just hasn’t been very often. He has played just 18 regular season games for the Maple Leafs thus far, registering eight points.
There seems to be something of a trend in Philadelphia, where Brown will be the latest Boston College alumni to join the roster. He played college hockey with both Kevin Hayes and Cam Atkinson, winning the national championship in 2012 with the former. He adds plenty of pro experience but not a lot at the NHL level, given he’s only suited up for 33 regular season games. Incredibly, that total has almost been matched by his postseason experience, where he has played in 22 games the last three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes and Golden Knights.
Training Camp Cuts: 10/10/21
A variety of final or close-to-final cuts will be made to rosters today, as opening-night rosters are due tomorrow. Here are today’s training camp cuts:
Buffalo Sabres (via team Tweet):
F Brandon Biro (to Rochester, AHL)
D Casey Fitzgerald (to Rochester, AHL)
Calgary Flames (via The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian):
F Walker Duehr (to Stockton, AHL)
F Byron Froese (to Stockton, AHL)
F Justin Kirkland (to Stockton, AHL)
D Connor Mackey (to Stockton, AHL)
G Adam Werner (to Stockton, AHL)
Carolina Hurricanes (via team release):
D Joey Keane (to Chicago, AHL)
G Alex Lyon (to Chicago, AHL)
F Ryan Suzuki (to Chicago, AHL)
Chicago Blackhawks (via NBC Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis):
F Alexander Nylander (to Rockford, AHL)
Columbus Blue Jackets (via team release):
D Gavin Bayreuther (to Cleveland, AHL)
*D Gabriel Carlsson (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Justin Danforth (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Liam Foudy (to Cleveland, AHL)
*D Mikko Lehtonen (to Cleveland, AHL)
*F Kevin Stenlund (to Cleveland, AHL)
G Daniil Tarasov (to Cleveland, AHL)
Dallas Stars (via team release):
D Dawson Barteaux (to Texas, AHL)
F Mavrik Bourque (to Shawinigan, QMJHL)
D Joseph Cecconi (to Texas, AHL)
F Tye Felhaber (to Texas, AHL)
D Thomas Harley (to Texas, AHL)
F Jordan Kawaguchi (to Texas, AHL)
D Ryan Shea (to Texas, AHL)
F Riley Tufte (to Texas, AHL)
Detroit Red Wings (via team Tweet):
G Calvin Pickard (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
Edmonton Oilers (via team release):
G Stuart Skinner (to Bakersfield, AHL)
Nashville Predators (via team Tweet):
F Egor Afanasyev (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Jeremy Davies (to Milwaukee, AHL)
New Jersey Devils (via The Athletic’s Corey Masisak):
F Jesper Boqvist (to Utica, AHL)
*F Frederik Gauthier (to Utica, AHL)
G Akira Schmid (to Utica, AHL)
Ottawa Senators (via team Tweet):
G Filip Gustavsson (to Belleville, AHL)
San Jose Sharks (via team Tweet):
F Dylan Gambrell (to San Jose, AHL)
St. Louis Blues (via The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford):
F Logan Brown (to Springfield, AHL)
F Mackenzie MacEachern (to Springfield, AHL)
Vancouver Canucks (via team release):
*F Justin Bailey (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*D Madison Bowey (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*F Phillip Di Giuseppe (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*D Travis Hamonic (to Abbotsford, AHL)
Washington Capitals (via team Tweet):
*G Zach Fucale (to Hershey, AHL)
*F Garrett Pilon (to Hershey, AHL)
Winnipeg Jets (via team release):
F David Gustafsson (to Manitoba, AHL)
*D Nelson Nogier (to Manitoba, AHL)
*F Dominic Toninato (to Manitoba, AHL)
* – Player must clear waivers prior to assignment