- The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned Vasiliy Ponomarev, Domenick Fensore, Griffin Mendel, and Ronan Seeley to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Each player had been playing elsewhere to start the season, as Chicago officially opted to disconnect themselves from the Hurricanes earlier in the year. But the Wolves currently find them second-to-last in the AHL, repping a 2-6-1 record, and are now in need of reinforcements from their former NHL affiliate. The latter three assignees have started the early season in the ECHL and are earning a promotion with the move to Chicago.
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Hurricanes Rumors
Carolina Hurricanes Reassign Three Prospects To AHL
There appears to be some thawing in tensions between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Chicago Wolves, their former AHL affiliate.
The Wolves made the highly unexpected choice to go it alone in the AHL, deciding to not have an NHL affiliate while the Hurricanes were left without an AHL franchise to partner with. As an independently-owned franchise that has historically prioritized Calder Cup contention above all else, there had been some tension between the Wolves and the Hurricanes, the latter of whom is likely to care more about the development of its prospects rather than Calder Cup contention.
Although the Wolves had signed some big-name veteran players such as Max Comtois, Rocco Grimaldi, Chris Terry, and Keith Kinkaid, they have struggled immensely so far this season. They currently have just one win, and their .222 points percentage ranks them last in the AHL, behind the 2-7-1 Laval Rocket.
The AHL’s development rule, which stipulates that most of a team’s lineup must be composed of players with under 260 professional games under their belt, poses an issue. Most players of quality who fit under those limits have been scooped up by NHL teams, so finding players un-affiliated with an NHL franchise that not only fit under those limits but also are up to the task of playing more than just depth roles in the AHL, is challenging.
It appears now that the Hurricanes and Wolves have found their way back to each other. Carolina team reporter Walt Ruff has reported that prospects Domenick Fensore, Griffin Mendel, and Ronan Seeley have been reassigned from the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals to the Wolves. This comes just shortly after Vasily Ponomarev was reassigned to Chicago from the Tucson Roadrunners.
Fensore, 22, is a skilled offensive defenseman who has 10 points in nine games so far this season for the Admirals. The 2019 90th overall pick will likely take up an important offensive role for a Wolves team only really getting offensive production from one blueliner.
Seeley, 21, was a 2020 seventh-round pick who skated in 70 games for the Wolves last season, scoring 25 points. He’s likely to resume his role as a top-four defenseman in Chicago. Mendel, 24, is an undrafted former University of Denver and Quinnipiac University blueliner who offers imposing size at six-foot-six, 220 pounds. He played in 72 games for the Wolves last season, scoring 19 points, and will be a quality add for the Wolves.
Seeing as the Wolves seem to have prioritized forwards in their offseason signings of AHL veterans, it’s not a huge surprise that they’ve come to an agreement with the Hurricanes in order to get some valuable defensemen from their ECHL roster, including two with prior experience playing for Chicago.
For as much as each side of this now-shrinking divide between former affiliates may have believed they could go it alone, it appears the best path forward for both the Hurricanes (who likely don’t want to keep quality prospects in the ECHL) and the Wolves (whose early struggles indicate the necessity of an NHL affiliation) is to return to the sort of partnership that won Chicago a Calder Cup in 2022.
Hurricanes Loan Vasily Ponomarev To AHL's Chicago Wolves
In a peculiar move, the Carolina Hurricanes reassigned forward prospect Vasily Ponomarev from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves on Saturday, per a team announcement.
The Wolves had been the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate since the 2020-21 season, but the independently-owned squad opted to sever their ties with the Hurricanes this summer and act as the AHL’s only non-NHL-affiliated team in 2023-24 (and for the foreseeable future). It was not an amicable split between the two teams, and Wolves GM Wendell Young inferred over the summer that the team would not accept any Hurricanes prospects on loan once the season started. That practice has broken with Ponomarev here, though, who becomes just the second NHL-affiliated player on the Wolves roster, joining New Jersey Devils-contracted netminder Keith Kinkaid. The remainder of the Wolves roster is filled out by players on AHL contracts.
Brett Pesce Returns After Missing Eight Games With LBI
- The Hurricanes welcomed back Brett Pesce to the lineup tonight against Florida. He had missed eight straight games due to a lower-body injury, hardly an ideal start to a contract year. Pesce had been in trade speculation dating back to the summer but that cooled off with the injury. Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch as a result of Pesce’s return. Carolina never put Pesce on the injured list despite him missing three weeks so no corresponding roster move needs to be made.
Brett Pesce A Game-Time Decision For Friday Matchup
- 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’ 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.