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Joel Hanley Leaves Game Early

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New York Rangers reporter Vince Z. Mercogliano writes that Rangers defenseman Erik Gustafsson could return to the lineup tonight when they take on the New Jersey Devils. The 32-year-old journeyman told reporters yesterday that he was 100% after he practiced with the team wearing a regular contact jersey.

Gustafsson has been out of the lineup since taking an elbow to the head from Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart on March 23rd. He missed four games since but took his usual spot on the Rangers third pairing alongside Braden Schneider. The native of Nynashamn, Sweden has six goals and 24 assists this season in 70 games while averaging 17:15 of ice time per game.

In other morning notes:

  • Ryan Pike of Flames Nation tweeted that the Calgary Flames didn’t have an update on defenseman Joel Hanley after last night’s 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Hanley started the game on the Flames top unit but played just six shifts for 3:44 in the first period and left the game without completing the period. The 32-year-old didn’t appear on the team’s bench for the second or third period and not much is known about what sort of issue kept him off of the ice. Hanley was acquired off waivers from the Dallas Stars on March 5th and has dressed in ten games for Calgary, tallying a goal and an assist.
  • Former Philadelphia Flyers forward Jordan Weal has signed a two-year extension to remain in the KHL with Dynamo Moskva. Weal just completed his third KHL season, and second with Dynamo and is now locked up through the 2025-26 season. Weal hasn’t dressed in an NHL game since the 2020 playoffs when he was a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Weal had a breakthrough offensive season this year, finishing fourth in KHL scoring with 30 goals and 47 assists in 66 games having the most successful season by a Canadian forward in KHL history

Rasmus Andersson, Andrew Mangiapane Return To Flames

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  • In some positive news on the injury front for the Calgary Flames, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet reports that forward Andrew Mangiapane and defenseman Rasmus Andersson returned to practice for the team earlier this morning. Earlier this week, Andersson had originally missed practice due to taking a maintenance day, while Mangiapane has missed the team’s last two games due to an undisclosed injury.

    [SOURCE LINK]

College Hockey Notes: Salminen, Graf, Sergeyev

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New Jersey Devils forward prospect Samu Salminen is set to enter the NCAA transfer portal, per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now (Web link). Salminen has spent the last two seasons at the University of Connecticut, joining the school after six years in Jokerit’s youth program. Salminen has scored 17 points in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, playing in 27 games last year and 35 this year. He’s managed the scoring while serving in UConn’s middle six, averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time this season.

The Devils drafted Salminen in the third round of the 2021 NHL Draft, after a strong year with Jokerit’s U20 club. He’s praised as a smooth-moving playmaker, with the ability to fill his role in the middle lane of the ice, making an impact from slot to slot. And while he’s continued to show strong puck skills at UConn, Salminen could improve how he works into dangerous areas of the ice. He’ll look to build those skills as he adjusts to a new offense.

Salminen was originally committed to the University of Denver, swapping his commitment just a couple of months before his debut with UConn after reportedly facing challenges with Denver’s admissions. No schools have been linked to Salminen now that he’s returned to the open market, but it’s hard not to think previous connections could drive a move out West.

Other notes out of the NCAA:

  • The Boston Bruins are reportedly not in on prolific winger Collin Graf, says NHL.com’s Mark Divver (Twitter link). Graf is now on the open market after a strong collegiate career, managing 130 points across 112 collegiate games. The Bruins are always popular names in NCAA free agency – already signing Drew Bavaro, Ryan Bischel, Riley Duran, and Jaxon Nelson this Spring. But they’ll stray away from leading-scorer Graf, who is receiving plenty of interest from the rest of the league – with Divver adding that Graf has narrowed his list to six teams. He’s expected to sign in the coming days.
  • Top Calgary Flames goalie prospect Arsenii Sergeyev has entered the transfer portal and quickly decided on a new school – confirming a move from UConn to Pennsylvania State University through a social media post (Twitter link). Sergeyev will hope to step into Penn State’s starting role, after splitting starts in both of his seasons with UConn. He’s been fantastic in his underclassmen starts, managing 19 wins and a .913 save percentage in 35 appearances. It’s a continuation of Sergeyev’s strong USHL career, where he posted 30 wins and a .913 save percentage in 43 games. The Flames drafted Sergeyev in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft. His early return has been incredibly positive, though Calgary will hold their breath as he moves to a highly competitive Big Ten conference.

Mangiapane Out Tonight, Doubtful For Tuesday

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  • Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane won’t play tonight and is likely to miss Tuesday’s contest as well, mentions Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 27-year-old is dealing with an undisclosed injury that also kept him out of the lineup on Thursday.  He remains listed as day-to-day.  Two years removed from a 35-goal season, Mangiapane has managed just 30 since then, only 13 of which have come in 69 games so far in 2023-24.

Flames Sign Joni Jurmo To Entry-Level Deal

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The Flames have signed Finnish defense prospect Joni Jurmo to a two-year, entry-level contract, per a team announcement Sunday. The deal carries an AAV of $850K.

Calgary picked up Jurmo’s signing rights earlier this season, acquiring them as part of the deal that sent Elias Lindholm to the Canucks. As defense prospect Hunter Brzustewicz also signed his ELC earlier this March, both unsigned prospects acquired in the deal are now Flames property through at least 2026.

Jurmo, 21, carries appeal with his 6-foot-5, 209-lb frame. A strong skater for his size, he was a second-round pick of the Canucks in the 2020 draft but has had a rather tumultuous tenure since in various levels of the Finnish system.

However, he has been a mainstay in the pros since the 2021-22 campaign, when he logged 10 points and a +10 rating in 50 games for Jukurit in a strong first showing as a full-timer in the Liiga. He also represented Finland at the delayed World Junior Championships the following summer, recording an assist in seven games en route to a silver medal.

He’s played for three teams in the following two seasons, heading from Jukurit to Ilves over last offseason and being moved again to KooKoo in a midseason trade. He’s held a bottom-pairing role with all three clubs, posting 8-20–28 with a -2 rating in 168 Liiga games since his debut with JYP in the 2020-21 season. He finished his 2023-24 season with five points and a +3 rating in 46 games split between Ilves and KooKoo.

Jurmo will be eligible to suit up for AHL Calgary next season, but if his ELC holds a European Assignment Clause, he may also be loaned back to KooKoo, which holds his Liiga rights through next season. For the Flames, he’ll be an RFA upon expiry in 2026.

Flames Notes: Offseason, Zary, Goaltending

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Flames GM Craig Conroy has been quite busy this year, moving away several notable veteran pending free agents to kick-start a rebuild or a retool of some sort.  However, they will have ample cap space to work with as a result of losing a lot of those players.  Speaking with Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Conroy indicated that he wouldn’t mind adding a veteran player or two but reiterated that the priority remains to have their younger players play.  He added that the ideal term of a contract for those veterans would be two or three years.  That will almost certainly have Calgary out of the mix for the top names on the open market but there should be plenty of players who could fit the bill for them in the early days of free agency in July.

More from Calgary:

  • Speaking of one of their younger players, winger Connor Zary has been activated off injured reserve, relays FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike (Twitter link). The 22-year-old started off the season with ten points in six games in the minors and has been up with Calgary since then.  Zary has done well in his first taste of NHL action, notching 12 goals and 17 helpers through 50 games so far while averaging 15:20 per game.  That playing time could go up down the stretch once the Flames – who are ten points out of the last Wild Card spot – are officially eliminated from postseason contention.
  • With Dustin Wolf now up for the rest of the season due to Dan Vladar’s season-ending hip surgery, Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson suggests that the youngster should see some regular action down the stretch backing up Jacob Markstrom who was recently activated off IR. Wolf has put up a .897 SV% in ten games so far this season after another dominant showing in the minors where he sits fourth in the minors in save percentage at .923 in 35 appearances.  With plenty of speculation about Markstrom’s future, it stands to reason that Calgary would like to get Wolf some regular action over the final month to evaluate if he’s ready to take over as the starter or if they’d want to get a netminder back if they do move Markstrom in the offseason.

Dan Vladar To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

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Flames netminder Daniel Vladař will undergo season-ending surgery on his hip next week, per the team. Vladař, who missed three games in February with what the team termed a lower-body injury, is expected to recover by the start of the 2024-25 season. No corresponding recall will be made as starter Jacob Markström, who missed the last four games with a lower-body injury, “has been cleared for full practice and game participation.”

Vladař, 26, had the worst season of his career in 2023-24, although today’s news offers a plausible explanation as Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports the goalie “has needed hip surgery for a while.” His only IR stint this year came during February’s absence. With no roster limit in effect after the trade deadline, there’s little reason for the Flames to move Vladař to IR for the rest of the season to open up a roster spot. While LTIR is also an option given the length of his absence, that’s also unlikely as the team has over $10MM in cap space and likely won’t need the relief provided by Vladař’s $2.2MM cap hit.

He ends 2023-24 with 19 starts, an 8-9-2 record, a .882 SV%, and a 3.62 GAA — his worst numbers since the Flames acquired him from the Bruins in 2021. However, it likely won’t be his last chance to prove himself in Calgary. Markström is a likely candidate to get traded this summer after waiving his no-move clause before the deadline for a trade to the Devils that ultimately fell through, opening a spot for Vladař to remain on the roster alongside top prospect Dustin Wolf. 2024-25 is the second and final season of the extension he signed with the club in 2022, and he’s set to earn the same base salary as his cap hit implies.

Vladař’s injury means the Flames do not need to modify Wolf’s emergency loan, which they used to bring him up from AHL Calgary earlier this month when Markström got hurt. Without two other healthy goaltenders on the active roster, Wolf can remain with the Flames on an emergency loan for the remainder of the season and keep Calgary from burning one of their two remaining post-trade deadline standard recalls. Vladař wasn’t likely to get much action down the stretch anyway, having been pulled for Wolf in his last appearance on March 12 against the Avalanche. The 22-year-old Californian has a .931 SV% and 2-1-0 record since entering the Colorado game.

Evening Notes: Trouba, Foote, Pelletier

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New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has returned to the practice sheet after missing the last five games with a lower-body injury. It’s Trouba’s first significant absence of the season, after playing in 60 of the team’s 63 games up to the point of his injury. Head coach Peter Laviolette told The Athletic’s Arthur Staple (Twitter Link) that the team wants to take their time with transitioning Trouba back into the lineup, wanting to make sure he’s fully healthy first.

Trouba is managing another strong season, despite seeing a dip in his scoring – netting just three goals and 22 points in 60 games this year and likely to miss the 30-point mark for the first time in three years. His value has instead come on the other side of the puck, with Trouba ranking third on the Rangers in hits-per-game (2.73), behind William Cuylle and Matt Rempe. Laviolette has employed a physical presence in his first year with the Rangers and Trouba has been happy to comply, leaning into the presence that’s made him one of the league’s most divisive players. The Rangers will need to make sure Trouba is fully ready to go before returning because there’s no doubt he’ll jump right back into his heavy-hitting role.

Other notes from around the league:

  • New Jersey Devils forward Nolan Foote is facing an undisclosed injury and did not join the team on their three-game road trip last week, per Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com. Foote was assigned to the AHL on a four-game conditioning stint in early March, scoring three goals and four points in four games. He was formally activated off of season-opening injured reserve on March 12th, though he’s yet to make his season debut in the NHL. It’s unclear when fans can expect him to work his way into the Devils lineup.
  • The Calgary Flames have sent Jakob Pelletier to the AHL (Twitter Link) after placing him in the press box for their last two games. Pelletier is playing out his formal rookie season in the NHL, with one goal and three points in 13 NHL games on the year. He appeared in 24 games with Calgary last year, netting three goals and seven points. Despite scoring at nearly a point-per-game pace in the minors – 102 points in 105 games since 2021-22 – Pelletier is still searching for his scoring groove at the top level. He’ll get another chance to hone his craft, now again with the Calgary Wranglers.

Markstrom Resumes Skating, Could Return Saturday

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  • Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom has missed the last week with a lower-body injury but it appears he won’t be out much longer. Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg relays (Twitter link) that the veteran netminder has resumed skating and a return to the lineup on Saturday versus Vancouver is possible.  The 34-year-old was featured prominently in trade speculation at the trade deadline thanks to a strong season that has seen him put up a 2.68 GAA and a .910 SV% in 41 games so far.

NHL Rejects Flames’ Agreement With Sam Morton

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6:44 PM: CapFriendly reports that the NHL has rejected Morton’s contract.  The issue is that while he’s currently 24, the contract being submitted is for his age-25 season.  A player’s age for contract purposes is defined by their age as of September 15th in the year he signs; Morton turns 25 in July.  North American-born players are ineligible for an entry-level deal in their age-25 season and beyond.  The Flames will now have to resubmit a new deal without performance bonuses.

2:50 PM: The Flames have made their first splash in this year’s college free agent market, inking Minnesota State University forward Sam Morton to a one-year, entry-level contract for the 2024-25 season. Morton’s contract will carry a $950K cap hit, and he’ll close out this season on a tryout with the club’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reports Morton’s AHL salary next season will be $82.5K, and he’ll also earn a signing bonus of $95K.

Morton, 24, was a bright spot in what was otherwise the Mankato school’s worst season in over a decade. In 37 games, he led the squad with 24 goals, 34 points and a +8 rating, earning CCHA First All-Star Team honors and a nomination for the Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player.

In signing his ELC, Morton wraps up a rare six-year collegiate career. After two seasons playing junior hockey with the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild, Morton joined Union College for two seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20 but left early in the latter campaign to rejoin Wenatchee until the COVID pandemic shut down the season. The Colorado native then entered the transfer portal, where he landed with MSU from 2020 onward. Over four years with the school, Morton registered 44 goals, 76 points and a +46 rating in 102 contests.

The two-time conference champion with Mankato will now immediately head to the pros, where he will join a Wranglers team that’s still trying to secure a playoff spot in the AHL’s North Division. The Wranglers have 14 games remaining on their regular-season schedule, so he should get a decent chunk of action down the stretch and in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Morton will be an RFA next summer when his ELC expires.

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