- Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour announced that Brett Pesce will join the team on their upcoming two-game road trip and is a game-time decision for their Friday night game against the Florida Panthers. Pesce has played in five games this season, netting two points and four penalty minutes.
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Hurricanes Rumors
Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen Out Indefinitely With Blood Clotting Issue
5:58 p.m.: The team has officially recalled Kochetkov from the Crunch while placing Andersen on the injured reserve.
1:08 p.m.: Carolina Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen will be sidelined indefinitely after recent medical testing discovered a blood clotting issue, per a statement from GM Don Waddell.
Andersen, 34, has made the most starts of any Hurricanes netminder this season with six. The NHL’s first-ever Danish goalie has a 4-1-0 record, .894 SV% and 2.87 GAA this season, all leading the team.
Waddell said there is no timetable for Andersen to rejoin the team, but the team is “confident that Freddie will be able to make a full recovery.” Andersen last played in the Hurricanes’ 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday, stopping 24 of 26 shots.
He was heating up after a slow start to the season, posting a .925 SV% in his last three games after recording a subpar .855 SV% through his first three. The veteran of nearly 500 NHL games is in his 11th season in the league and his third with Carolina.
With their starter sidelined, Carolina now turns to veteran Antti Raanta to handle the bulk of the starts for the foreseeable future. Like all the Hurricanes’ goalies, Raanta’s body of work in 2023-24 hasn’t been impressive despite his 3-1-0 record. His current .870 SV% is his worst mark since his rookie campaign in 2013-14 with the Chicago Blackhawks. However, he has the team’s only shutout of the season – a 20-save effort against the lowly San Jose Sharks late last month.
The 34-year-old Dane signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal widely viewed as a discount to remain in Carolina just minutes before free agency opened last July. Raanta has primarily been an above-average netminder over his 11 seasons in the league but struggles to avoid injuries. Despite mainly serving in a tandem capacity with Andersen since the pair signed in Raleigh in 2021, Raanta made more than 30 starts just once in the five preceding seasons.
To provide some extra depth behind Raanta, the Hurricanes signed veteran backup Jaroslav Halák to a professional tryout this morning, likely with the former’s injury history in mind. Halák, 38, has over 500 games of NHL experience and posted a .903 SV% and 10-9-5 in 24 starts with the New York Rangers but cannot appear in a game for Carolina until he signs a contract.
For the time being, the team’s top goalie prospect, Pyotr Kochetkov, will serve as Raanta’s backup. While he’s currently on loan to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal reported earlier Monday that the team is expected to recall him ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
After putting up above-average numbers in 23 starts with the Hurricanes last season, Kochetkov has struggled early on in 2023-24, losing all three of his NHL appearances and posting a .836 SV% and 4.33 GAA. He’s done well in a tough situation in the minors, however, backstopping the Tampa Bay Lightning’s affiliate in Syracuse with a .932 SV% and one shutout through three appearances.
Unfortunately for the Crunch, it doesn’t appear that Kochetkov will return to them anytime soon with Andersen sidelined. The 24-year-old Russian netminder was drafted 36th overall by the Hurricanes in 2019.
Surprisingly, the Hurricanes have struggled to keep the puck out of their net this season despite the highly-publicized addition of Dmitry Orlov to their backend with a two-year, $15.5MM deal in free agency. They’ve allowed 42 goals through 12 games, the most of any team in the Eastern Conference.
Despite that, they still have a 7-5-0 record and sit third in the Metro with 14 points. It’ll be up to Raanta and Kochetkov to improve their play in short order to keep them in playoff position.
PHR extends its best wishes to Andersen and shares in the Hurricanes’ hopes for a full recovery.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Brett Pesce Returns To Practice, Pyotr Kochetkov Recall Expected
- Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to practice for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury nearly three weeks ago, Walt Ruff of the team’s official site reports. Sporting a no-contact sweater, Pesce is almost two weeks into his recovery from surgery undergone on October 24. His return to the lineup is not imminent, but he does appear on track to return in the two-to-four-week window following the surgery as initially expected. Pesce, 28, had two points in five games this season and is a pending UFA.
- Sticking with Carolina, 24-year-old netminder Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to rejoin the team from his loan to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch before tomorrow’s contest against Buffalo, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal relays. Starter Frederik Andersen is not expected to be available as he is dealing with an undisclosed medical issue, and veteran Jaroslav Halák is not eligible to suit up while on a professional tryout, which he signed with the team this morning. Kochetkov, who has a 0-3-0 record and .836 SV% with the Hurricanes this season, will likely back up Antti Raanta in tomorrow’s contest.
Jaroslav Halak Joins Carolina On Tryout Amid Injury Concerns
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that Jaroslav Halak has joined the team via a free-agent try-out in response to Frederik Andersen facing a medical issue. The team shared that Andersen is undergoing further evaluations but provided no further update.
Andersen has played in six games this season, setting a 4-1-0 record and a .894 save percentage. It’s a slow start for a goaltender who has been otherwise stellar in his time with the Hurricanes. Through a combined 92 games with the Hurricanes over the last three seasons, Andersen has recorded a .914 save percentage and a 60-26-4 record. That ties Andersen with Anton Khudobin for the second-highest save percentage in Hurricanes history, among goalies with 50 or more games with the club. Trevor Kidd leads the pack, with a .916 through his 72 games with Carolina. Andersen’s 92 games are also the 10th-most in Canes history.
In lieu of Andersen, Carolina will now turn to another veteran in Halak. The 38-year-old goaltender has continued to find his way into NHL lineups, most recently playing 25 games with the New York Rangers last season. He set a .903 save percentage in those games, contributing towards the career .915 save percentage that Halak has set in 581 career games.
But despite ample experience, it’s been a while since Halak served as a starter, with the last season that he played in over half of his team’s games coming in 2017-18 with the New York Islanders. Halak was unsurprisingly stout in the Islanders net that season, setting a .908 save percentage and 20-26-6 record through 54 games. Halak hasn’t recorded a save percentage below .900 since the lockout year of 2012-13, when he tallied a .899 through 16 games with the St. Louis Blues. He is a reliable, veteran goaltender that should add some consistency to a Carolina goaltending room that’s now without its starter.
Snapshots: Haydn Fleury, Olivier, Ponomarev
The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent defenseman Haydn Fleury to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on a conditioning assignment. Fleury has only played in two NHL games this season, serving as a healthy scratch seven times.
Fleury has recorded one assist in his two games with Tampa this year, matching the scoring totals that he reached in 29 games with the club last year. In fact, Fleury has scored fewer than five points in each of the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons despite playing in at least 29 games in each season. The low scoring has represented a fall from grace for the 2014 seventh-overall selection, who was taken one pick ahead of star winger William Nylander. This AHL assignment will provide Fleury with the first AHL games he’s played since the 2018-19 season when he scored 10 points in 28 minor league games with the Charlotte Checkers. The 27-year-old defender has totaled 246 career NHL games and 33 career points since making his NHL debut in 2017-18.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets are healthy-scratching forward Mathieu Olivier, replacing him with Kirill Marchenko. The duo are alternating nights in the lineup versus the press box, although Columbus will need to be mindful in icing Marchenko, as he loses his waiver exemption status with four more NHL games.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have removed Vasily Ponomarev from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. Carolina remains without an AHL affiliate, meaning their assignments are scattered around the league. That’s why Ponomarev will join the Arizona Coyotes’ affiliate, after appearing in his rookie AHL season last year – scoring 46 points in 64 games with the Chicago Wolves, a mark that ranked second on the team. Ponomarev has looked strong in his North American play since coming over in 2021-22 and will look to continue working his way into the NHL lineup now that he’s healthy.
Suzuki And Ponomarev Are Close To Returning
New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted today that Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald doesn’t think that center Nico Hischier will be travelling with the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Fitzgerald has reportedly talked with New Jersey’s medical staff and Hischier is being evaluated on a day-to-day basis. The ailment is being called an upper-body issue at this time and could it keep Hischier out of action for the next four games. That would mean that his earliest return date would be November 10th against the Washington Capitals.
The former first-overall pick is off to a slow start this season with just two goals in his first seven games after putting up 31 goals and 49 assists in 81 games last season. His lack of offense hasn’t hurt the Devils thus far as the team is off to a 5-2-1 start and currently sits third in the Metropolitan Division. If Hischier is sidelined for some time it is possible that former NHL regular Chris Tierney could fill in during his absence.
In other Metropolitan notes:
- Columbus Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger tweeted today that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson has again missed practice. This is the second day in a row that the Ottawa, Ontario native did not skate after playing in Monday night’s game against the Dallas Stars. The 31-year-old was questionable for that game after taking a puck to the foot against the New York Islanders on Saturday night but did play in the 5-3 loss. Gudbranson has no points in nine games thus far this season but has averaged over three blocked shots a game.
- Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted today that Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki are both very close to returning to action and will likely be assigned to the AHL shortly after they do. Ponomarev suffered a knee injury in September and started the season on the injured reserve. Last season he played for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL posting 24 goals and 22 assists in 64 games. Suzuki on the other hand has been dealing with a shoulder injury that has kept him off the ice. He also spent last year with the Wolves in the AHL posting 13 goals and 19 assists in 50 games. Carolina doesn’t currently have an AHL affiliate now meaning that both players could find themselves on different teams once they are assigned to the AHL.
Paul Stastny Announces Retirement
Free agent forward Paul Stastny has confirmed his retirement from the NHL after a 17-season, 1,145-game career in an interview Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic published Tuesday.
The 37-year-old was a key two-way center for most of his career. Drafted in the second round by Colorado back in 2005, Stastny went on to play in eight seasons with the Avs where he made an immediate impact offensively, averaging nearly a point per game in his rookie season, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting. By the time his tenure with Colorado wrapped up, he was more of a defensive threat than an offensive one but that didn’t stop him from having a long career.
Stastny signed with St. Louis in time for the 2014-15 season where he spent parts of four seasons before being traded to Winnipeg as a rental at the trade deadline in 2018. After a two-year stop in Vegas in 2018-19 and 2019-20, he went back to Winnipeg for two more seasons before joining Carolina last season where he was down to 22 points in 73 games while playing exclusively in their bottom six.
Stastny acknowledged to LeBrun that there was some interest in him during the summer but he decided he wanted to wait it out for a bit to see how he felt. Then, as time progressed, he felt that retirement was the right choice for him. It wasn’t his intention to make his decision public, telling LeBrun that “I kind of came into the league quietly and I’m leaving the league quietly. That’s the way I like it.” He hasn’t ruled out returning to hockey in some sort of front office capacity down the road but that’s not on the immediate horizon.
Stastny hangs up his skates after 1,195 career NHL games where he had 293 goals and 529 assists. His 822 points put him in 20th place among U.S.-born players in league history.
Hurricanes Assign Dylan Coghlan To The AHL
The Hurricanes have made a roster move, announcing that they’ve assigned defenseman Dylan Coghlan to Springfield of the AHL. As Carolina doesn’t have its own affiliate, they’ve loaned him back to St. Louis’.
The 25-year-old showed some upside a couple of years ago with Vegas, eventually making him the incentive that Carolina received for taking on the final year of Max Pacioretty’s contract back in July 2022. However, Coghlan didn’t play much last season, suiting up just 17 times while being a healthy scratch the rest of the way. That likely played a role in him clearing waivers earlier this month.
Coghlan had been recalled earlier in the week when Brett Pesce went down but he still didn’t see any action with the Hurricanes. He has suited up five times for the Thunderbirds so far, picking up a goal and an assist, and will now have a chance to add to those numbers.
For the time being, Carolina has just six healthy defensemen on the roster which is unlikely to be the case for too long. However, they’re now off until Monday night so they can wait until then to announce a recall whether it’s Coghlan or someone else. In the meantime, clearing Coghlan’s $850K off the books – even if it’s just for a couple of days – will give Carolina a little bit of extra cap flexibility to work with.
Andrei Svechnikov Set To Return From Injury
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced the return of top scorer Andrei Svechnikov, who received surgery on his ACL in March. Svechnikov shed the no-contact jersey at the team’s Monday practice and is now in line to return to the lineup, with Carolina slated to play the San Jose Sharks on Friday.
The return of Svechnikov has been highly anticipated and should have very interesting on-ice effects. The Hurricanes currently rank second in the league in goals-for, and now add a former 30-goal-scorer back into the fold. His 30-goal season came in 2021-22, when Svechnikov recorded 69 points in 78 games, and was one of four seasons where the 23-year-old Svechnikov has scored 20 or more goals. But more interestingly, Svechnikov tallied the third-worst xGA/60 (expected goals-against per-60) of any Canes forward, per Natural Stat Trick. This will be an area of improvement for Svechnikov, who is rejoining a Carolina team that’s allowed more goals than any other team in the league through their first eight games.
Michael Bunting has been performing well in Svechnikov’s role, scoring two goals and six points operating alongside Martin Necas and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. The Canes have also stuck with the trio of Teuvo Teravainen, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis as their top line. The seemingly locked-in top-six could spell for a bit of a logjam with Svechnikov returning, who has spent nearly all of the last two seasons alongside one of Necas, Aho, or Jarvis. Having high-scoring wingers sprinkled throughout the lineup is certainly a good issue to have, but how Carolina decides to utilize Svechnikov will be worth watching closely.
Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce Undergoes Surgery, Out 2-4 Weeks
3:24 p.m.: Pesce underwent surgery yesterday to correct the lower-body injury, the team announced. The surgery carries a recovery timeline of two to four weeks, more in line with a week-to-week diagnosis and much less severe than what Brind’Amour alluded to earlier today.
12:46 p.m.: Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter Walt Ruff is reporting that head coach Rod Brind’Amour has told the media that defenseman Brett Pesce’s lower-body injury is worse than originally thought, and the 28-year-old could be out long term. Brind’Amour’s exact words, when asked by reporters, were that the injury was bad and could keep Pesce out way longer than week to week.
At this time, little is known about how long Pesce could be unable to play. He has already missed two games with the ailment, which Brind’Amour had hoped would only cause him to miss a couple of games. However, after being re-evaluated today, the prognosis for Pesce is not good.
What exactly is ailing Pesce is also unclear, but for the Hurricanes, it compounds the issues the team has dealt with in what has been a bad start to the season. Carolina has struggled defensively, and losing Pesce will certainly add to those woes. He and Brady Skjei have logged more minutes at even strength than any of the Hurricanes’ other defensive pairings and have been the most effective. The duo has been on for five even-strength goals scored and just two against this season.
The situation must be especially frustrating for Pesce, who is not only sidelined from playing but also missing time during a contract season. The native of Tarrytown, New York, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and is in line to get a lucrative long-term deal next summer. How lucrative that contract will be remains to be seen, but Pesce was no doubt hoping to maximize his earnings with a solid year in Carolina, but now it appears he could miss a substantial portion of the season.