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NHL Announces 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy Finalists

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The NHL has announced the three finalists for the 2023-24 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given to “the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” The nominees are goaltenders Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes, Connor Ingram of the Arizona Coyotes, and defenseman Oliver Kylington of the Calgary Flames.

Andersen started the season well with a 4-1 record in his first five games. However, he was diagnosed with a blood clotting issue early in the year and missed four months of action that ended up totaling 49 games. He returned to the Hurricanes crease late in the season and finished the year off on an elite level, posting a 1.30 GAA and a .951 SV% as he went 9-1-0 down the stretch. He’s continued his solid play in the postseason, going 4-1 with a .912 SV% and a 2.25 GAA as Carolina dispatched the Islanders in five games in the first round.

Ingram was close to retiring in 2021 but received assistance through the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program to deal with lingering mental health issues, which he said earlier this year was undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder. Blossoming into a true starter this season with the Coyotes, he registered a .907 SV%, a 2.91 GAA and a 23-21-3 record. He also tied for the league lead with six shutouts and played in a career-high 50 games.

Kylington spent a year and a half out of the NHL and made his return at the midway point of the 2023-24 season. He was also away from the game for mental health reasons, staying on personal leave for the entire 2022-23 season and working with support staff during his time away from the Flames. The 26-year-old re-established himself as a regular upon his return, averaging 17:15 in ice time per game with three goals and five assists.

The NHL has yet to announce an official date and place for the NHL awards show.

Hunter Brzustewicz Signs ATO With AHL Calgary

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  • One of the Flames’ top defense prospects, Hunter Brzustewicz, will finish 2023-24 on an ATO with AHL Calgary, the minor-league club announced. Brzustewicz, 19, was a third-round pick of the Canucks last year but had his signing rights dealt to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade. He inked his entry-level deal back in March and, given his November birthday, will be eligible to suit up full-time with the Wranglers next season. He finished the year with 92 points in 67 games for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.

Flames Notes: Markstrom, Weegar, Kylington, Pospisil

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In an article from Salim Valji of TSN, all signs indicate that goaltender Jacob Markstrom has played his last game as a member of the Calgary Flames. After almost being traded to the New Jersey Devils at this year’s trade deadline, the schism between Markstrom and the front office does not have evidence of it being an issue that can be rectified internally.

When asked where he envisioned himself next season, he bluntly responded, “I don’t know“. Not appreciating the idea of being a part of the inevitable retool of the Flames roster, Markstrom continued, “What I do know is I love winning hockey games. I think that’s the competitive side of me. Every time I lace up the skates, that’s something I want – to win hockey games“.

With the Devils maintaining their interest in acquiring Markstrom this offseason, his market may be more robust than just a singular disappointing team from this season. With each team preparing for next year at this moment, or at some point throughout the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, Markstrom’s market could extend to the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, or the Philadelphia Flyers over the next couple of months.

Other Flames notes:

  • In somewhat of a malcontent response to Markstrom’s approach to the offseason, one player has no intentions of leaving Calgary any time soon. According to beat reporter Wes Gilbertson, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar not only wants to stay with the Flames organization but believes that the future is very exciting for this team. Finishing off the first season of an eight-year, $50MM extension with Calgary, Weegar was a boon to the Flames this season, scoring 20 goals and 52 points in all 82 games.
  • Another player who wishes to remain in southern Alberta is defenseman Oliver Kylington, who Daniel Sun of the Calgary Sun writes is hoping for an extension with the only organization he has ever known. After taking nearly a year and a half away from the game, Kylington was able to suit up in 33 games for Calgary, scoring three goals and eight points in the process. With a thinned-out defensive core from the trade deadline, the Flames should be amicable in bringing back Kylington for the next few seasons.
  • Now that Calgary’s season has come to an end, some players on the team may opt to join their respective international clubs for this summer’s rendition of the IIHF World Championship. Per a team announcement, forward Martin Pospisil will be doing just that, as the Flames announce he will be rostered on Team Slovakia for this year’s tournament. It will be the first time since the 2018-19 season that Pospisil has suited up for Team Slovakia in an international event, with the last coming during that year’s IIHF World Junior Championships.

AHL Shuffle: 4/19/24

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Half the league has played their last games for the 2023-24 campaign, while the other half is gearing up for postseason action starting tomorrow. Either way, squads are making roster adjustments today, whether it’s assigning players back to the minors after their NHL seasons came to a close or recalling reinforcements for their playoff runs. We’ll keep track of all of today’s moves here:

  • The Bruins have recalled center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence. Both will be available for tomorrow’s Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The pair of youngsters were assigned to the minors throughout the last week for playing time down the stretch after spending most of the campaign on the NHL roster. They’ll likely be scratches for tomorrow’s contest, but after combining for 93 games played in the regular season, head coach Jim Montgomery won’t hesitate to plug them into the playoff lineup.
  • The Flames have assigned forwards Matthew Coronato and Adam Klapka, defenseman Ilya Solovyov, and goaltender Dustin Wolf to AHL Calgary. The NHL club’s regular season came to an end last night in a 5-1 win over the Sharks, a game all four players involved in today’s transaction played in. Wolf, one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, ended his season on a high note with 16 saves on 17 shots after putting up underwhelming numbers down the stretch for the Flames. All four will play major roles for the Wranglers over the next couple of weeks, at the very least, as they’ve clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
  • The Capitals have recalled goaltender Mitchell Gibson from ECHL South Carolina. The 24-year-old, who has no NHL experience, is in his first full season of pro hockey after spending the last four seasons in collegiate hockey at Harvard. He’ll serve as a Black Ace and emergency backup as their first-round matchup against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers gets underway. A fourth-round pick of the Caps back in 2018, he has a .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA, three shutouts, and a 22-14-3 record in 42 appearances with South Carolina this year, as well as a .915 SV% and a perfect record in two showings with AHL Hershey.
  • In a similar move, the Predators have brought up netminder Gustavs Grigals from ECHL Atlanta. Undrafted, the Latvian had spent the season in the Nashville organization on a minor-league contract before receiving a two-way deal from the Preds on deadline day. The 25-year-old was excellent last year for UMass-Lowell after transferring from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, posting a .924 SV% in 24 games and earning Hockey East Third All-Star Team honors. He’s adjusted decently well to the pro ranks, posting a .900 SV% and three shutouts behind a defensively challenged Atlanta squad in 34 appearances with an 11-19-0 record.
  • The Blackhawks have assigned forward prospect Lukas Reichel to AHL Rockford to finish his season. Chicago expected the 21-year-old to take a major step forward in his development this season and supplant himself as a top-six fixture for the future along with Connor Bedard, but it didn’t work out that way. The 2020 first-round pick was arguably among the worst players in the league this season, limited to five goals and 16 points in 65 games with a -29 rating despite seeing second-line looks for much of the season. His average ice time dipped to almost 14 minutes per game by the end of the campaign, however.
  • The Jets have assigned forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Brad Lambert, and goaltender Collin Delia to AHL Manitoba. Winnipeg recalled the foursome yesterday to provide reinforcements for yesterday’s regular-season finale against the Canucks. Chibrikov and Lambert made their NHL debuts, with the former notching his first NHL goal in the process. Delia backed up Laurent Brossoit while Jennings Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was given the night off entirely, while Ford was a healthy scratch. Delia was again recalled under emergency conditions later Friday, suggesting he’ll be available as a Black Ace/emergency backup for Game 1 against the Avalanche on Sunday.
  • The Coyotes have made likely the final group of transactions in franchise history, returning forwards Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, Aku Raty, and defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok to AHL Tucson. The sale of the team’s hockey operations to Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group was approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors yesterday, rendering the Coyotes franchise inactive and establishing a new franchise in Utah. The five youngsters will finish the season in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the Roadrunners. Some of these players, likely Guenther and Doan at a minimum, will travel to Salt Lake City and will be a part of that team’s opening-night squad next season. The others may remain in Tucson, which is expected to serve as the Utah franchise’s minor-league affiliate.
  • The Oilers have assigned defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Adam Erne to AHL Bakersfield. The pair were recalled earlier in the week to allow the Oilers to rest stars like Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard before kicking off their first-round playoff series against the Kings in a few days. They’ll return to playoff-bound Bakersfield for now but will be among the first in line for recalls if necessary.
  • The Kings have assigned forward Alex Turcotte to AHL Ontario. He’d spent most of the last week in the minors on an LTI conditioning loan, but was activated off LTIR and reinstated to the NHL roster on Tuesday. He didn’t play in the Kings’ final game of the regular season last night, though. The 23-year-old presumably won’t be in their Game 1 lineup against the Oilers and will report for playoff action with the Reign.
  • The Islanders have summoned goaltender Jakub Skarek from AHL Bridgeport, per the league’s media site. The 23-year-old comes up to serve as the extra/reserve netminder as the Islanders begin their first-round series with Bridgeport eliminated from playoff contention. The 2018 third-round pick has again struggled in the third-string spot, posting a .888 SV% and 7-22-6 record in 36 appearances for the AHL Isles this year. He was passed over for recalls earlier in the regular season in favor of veteran Kenneth Appleby.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Blake Coleman Will Not Play Tomorrow Night

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Edmonton Oilers reporter Tony Brar has confirmed that Oilers superstar Connor McDavid will be returning to the lineup tonight against the San Jose Sharks. McDavid has been sidelined since April 6th with a lower-body injury that caused the 27-year-old to miss three games. Despite the absence, McDavid remains in third place in NHL scoring with 31 goals and 99 assists in 74 games. If he can notch one more assist, he would become just the fourth player in NHL history to tally 100 assists in a season and the first since Wayne Gretzky accomplished the feat in 1990-91.

The Oilers trail the Vancouver Canucks by five points for the Pacific Division title and have three games left on the schedule, while the Canucks have two games remaining. It’s unlikely that Edmonton will catch the Canucks for the division title, but it remains an outside possibility.

In other Pacific Division notes:

  • Sportsnet is reporting that Oilers forward Evander Kane will not dress tonight for Edmonton when they take on San Jose. Kane will take some time to heal from an undisclosed issue and would likely have played tonight if it were a playoff game according to Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. The 32-year-old Kane has shown no signs of a lingering issue and has been on a bit of a hot streak lately with five points in his last five games, however, he did play less than ten minutes in Edmonton’s victory over the Calgary Flames on April 6th. Kane has posted 24 goals and 20 assists in 77 games this season in what has been one of his least productive offensive seasons of the past decade.
  • Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 is reporting that Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman will not dress tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks due to a lower-body injury. Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters he was hopeful that Coleman could return for Calgary’s season finale on Thursday against the Sharks. The 32-year-old has shattered many of his career highs this season, posting 29 goals and 23 assists in 77 games. Coleman had never topped 40 points in a season before this year and has maintained his strong two-way play while finding another gear offensively.

Flames Sign Waltteri Ignatjew To One-Year Deal

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Update: CapFriendly reports Ignatjew is signed to an entry-level deal, meaning he can be assigned to the ECHL without player approval.

The Flames have signed goaltender Waltteri Ignatjew to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2024-25 season, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed. He’s destined for minor-league assignment next season and won’t be loaned out to Europe, reports Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960, although Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike points out he could reject an assignment to ECHL Rapid City because he’s signed to a standard player contract, not an entry-level one.

Ignatjew, 24, has spent nearly all of his professional career in second-tier pro leagues in Finland and Sweden. His only top-level experience came via a five-game stint with Jukurit in the Finnish Liiga in 2021-22.

Undrafted, the 6’3″ Finn seemed to find his footing this season with Mora IK in Sweden’s second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. 2023-24 was the first time Ignatjew hadn’t changed teams or loaned to an affiliate club mid-season, erupting as Mora’s bonafide starter and appearing in 45 of 52 regular-season games. He managed a strong .918 SV% and 2.34 GAA, compiling a 26-18 record with four shutouts. Mora finished fifth in the league and advanced to the semifinal, losing to the recently demoted Djurgårdens IF. They’ve spent most of the last 15 years in the Allsvenskan, save for a two-year SHL stint in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Ignatjew was a big part of their playoff run to the final four, mirroring his regular-season showing with a .918 SV% and 2.16 GAA in 12 games.

The Helsinki native likely wasn’t on many teams’ radars, and he lacks international experience to complement his resume, but he’s a low-risk signing who can be buried in the minors without needing waivers to start. Calgary only had three goalies under contract next season with farmhand Oscar Dansk on an expiring deal, so Ignatjew could be in line to replace Dansk’s spot as the backup for AHL Calgary behind top prospect Dustin Wolf if he’s not in the majors to begin 2024-25.

Ignatjew will be an RFA in the 2025 offseason upon completion of his deal.

Flames Recall Adam Klapka

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The Flames announced that they’ve recalled forward Adam Klapka from AHL Calgary. The Czech big man could be in line to see NHL ice over their final two games of the season.

Klapka, 23, went undrafted and had to rise through the Czech junior and professional ranks and the United States Hockey League before landing an entry-level contract in free agency with Calgary before last season. He’s played in 64 games for the Wranglers this season, leading the team with 21 goals and 45 points. It’s a sizable step forward for the massive 6’8″, 245-lb winger, who mustered only 25 points in 60 AHL games last year.

He’s been hot to end the season, too, notching eight points in his last 10. He made his NHL debut on a four-game recall back in January, but averaged just 6:08 per game and posted a -1 rating without recording a point. He took one minor penalty (rookie numbers compared to his 88 PIMs in the minors) and logged 13 hits.

If he gets back into the lineup, it’s likely to be in a fourth-line role again. Klapka needs a new deal this summer as a pending RFA with arbitration rights, something Flames GM Craig Conroy will likely be amicable toward after his minor-league breakout. He’s owed a qualifying offer of $814K.

Joel Hanley, Blake Coleman Return To Practice

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  • At the team’s skate this morning, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet reported that Calgary Flames defenseman Joel Hanley has returned to practice after missing the last five games due to an undisclosed injury. As expected, the Flames organization thinned out their defensive core at this year’s trade deadline, bringing in Hanley via waivers from the Dallas Stars to keep quality depth within their system. In 10 games since being claimed by Calgary, Hanley has scored one goal and two points in total, averaging 14:32 of ice time per night.
  • Staying in Calgary, in the same report from Steinberg, he reported that forward Blake Coleman also returned to the ice for practice, but not as a full participant. Coleman has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, and may not be able to hit the 30-goal threshold for the first time in his career. Nevertheless, Coleman has had an impressive offensive season based on his previous years, scoring 29 goals and 52 points over 77 games for the Flames this season.

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Blake Coleman Out, Two Prospects Added

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The Calgary Flames will be without forward Blake Coleman, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). Coleman suffered the injury on a hard hit from San Jose Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs, though he finished out the game.

Coleman has found a new layer to his game on the struggling Flames roster, posting an impressive 29 goals, 23 assists, and 52 points in 77 games. Each of those represents a career-high for the 32-year-old, who hasn’t topped even 40 points in any of his seven seasons up to this point. He and winger Yegor Sharangovich—who’s posted 30 goals of his own—have been pivotal to the Flames this season, setting the pace for the team’s limited offense.

The Flames are well outside of a playoff spot, removing some of the stress of finding a fill-in for Coleman. Kevin Rooney is expected to slot into the lineup for the short term. Calgary has five games left in its season.

One player who won’t be filling in is 2023 first-round pick Samuel Hoznek, who is in Calgary after the end of his WHL season, though he’s nursing an injury that could hold him out, per Ryan Pike of Flames Nation (Twitter link). Calgary signed Honzek last summer, loaning him to the WHL’s Vancouver Giants for the season. He returns to the Calgary organization alongside WHL teammate Jaden Lipinski, who has signed an amateur try-out contract with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. Honzek will also close out the season with the Wranglers once he’s cleared to play.

Calgary Flames Reassign Etienne Morin To AHL

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With his 2023-24 season coming to an end with the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL, the Calgary Flames announced that Etienne Morin has been reassigned to the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Having yet to sign his entry-level contract with the Flames organization, Morin will play with the Wranglers for the remainder of the season on an amateur tryout agreement.

Morin originally came to the Flames organization by way of the 48th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft. In his draft year, Morin was a very efficient defenseman for the Wildcats, scoring 21 goals and 72 points in 67 games while also achieving a +/- rating of 29.

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