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Hunter Shinkaruk Headed To KHL

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After spending the first 20 games of the season with the Charlotte Checkers, former top prospect Hunter Shinkaruk is taking his talents overseas. The 25-year old was released from his AHL contract with the Checkers last night, with head coach Ryan Warsofsky explaining that he “got a good offer in the KHL.”

Originally selected in the first round of the 2013 draft by the Vancouver Canucks, Shinkaruk was the piece that went to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Markus Granlund in 2016. After he still failed to catch on with his second team, another trade took him to the Montreal Canadiens organization (in exchange for another struggling first-rounder, Kerby Rychel) before he was non-tendered last summer.

Even with some offensive success early on in the minor leagues, Shinkaruk never could make the leap to the NHL and show the skill that got him into the first round of the draft. He’ll now try to keep his professional hockey career alive by testing the KHL, where that offer is from Kunlun Red Star, according to Igor Eronko of Sport-Express.

Minor Transactions: 12/15/19

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After a full slate of game Saturday night, the NHL quiets down on Sunday with just eight teams in action. Regardless, many teams will start making moves before the league’s Holiday Roster Freeze that kicks in on Thursday, Dec. 19. Keep your eyes this transaction page throughout the day to catch every team’s moves:

  • The Carolina Hurricanes announced they have assigned forward Julien Gauthier to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. The 22-year old and former first-round pick in 2016 picked up his first career NHL point Saturday in Carolina’s victory over Calgary. Gauthier has fared well in the AHL this season with 10 goals in 22 games after a 27-goal season a year ago. He has now five NHL games to his career.
  • The Montreal Canadiens announced they have recalled center Lukas Vejdemo from the Laval Rocket of the AHL, while re-assigning defenseman Otto Leskinen. Vejdemo is the Rocket’s second-leading scorer with eight goals and 16 points. The 23-year-old is in his second season in North America, having scored 13 goals and 29 points last season and looks to be exceeding that mark. If he can get into a game, it will be his NHL debut. Leskinen made his NHL debut on Dec. 5 and played in five games with Montreal. He failed to record a point in that time, but did contribute 13 hits.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they loaned forward Pontus Aberg and defenseman Martin Marincin to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. While the move could be just a simple paper transaction, it’s also possible the team hopes it can get back forward Trevor Moore, which would require the move.
  • CapFriendly reports that the New Jersey Devils have assigned center Michael McLeod to the Binghamton Devils of the AHL. McLeod had an impressive performance Saturday in the Devils’ victory over Arizona. Playing center for the team for the first time ever, the 21-year-old picked up two assists and a plus-two rating in the game, suggesting he might be ready for more extensive callups at a later time. McLeod has 13 points in 24 games with Binghamton.
  • The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports that the Colorado Avalanche have recalled defenseman Anton Lindholm from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. Lindholm will fill in for defenseman Cale Makar, who was recently put on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old Lindholm has appeared in 23 games with the Eagles, scoring one goal and two points.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the have assigned forward Mitchell Stephens to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The 22-year-old forward made his NHL debut on Dec. 9 and has appeared in four games. While he didn’t register a point, Stephens was useful in the faceoff circle where he 18-of-26 (69.2 percent). He will return to the Crunch where he had five goals and 10 points this season.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Tyler Motte from injured reserve and made space for him by assigning forward Zack MacEwen to the Utica Comets, the team announced. Motte suffered a lower-body injury on Oct. 25 and was expected to be out for four weeks. It’s taken quite a bit longer, but the 24-year-old is expected to join the team. He has only appeared in six games for the Canucks this season with one assist. The 23-year-old MacEwen has appeared in eight games with Vancouver, posting a goal and an assist.
  • As the Ottawa Senators continue to shuffle young players to and from the NHL, the latest move comes with Jonathan Davidsson being returned to AHL Belleville. Davidsson, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, has played in six games with Ottawa this season, recording just one point. He has four points in eleven games with Belleville and, in just his first season in North American, will benefit more from a large role in the AHL. than his limited action with Ottwa.

Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Oliwer Kaski

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The Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings have completed a minor trade, swapping Kyle Wood and Oliwer Kaski. Kaski will head to the Hurricanes after just a few months in the Red Wings organization, while Wood has now been traded four times in his short career.

Wood, a third-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2014, has already played for four different AHL teams since turning pro and is a quality puck-moving option in the minor leagues with the size—6’5″ 235-lbs—that coaches dream of. The 23-year old may one day get a chance in the NHL, but seems entirely more suited to the minor leagues at the moment.

Kaski meanwhile only came back to North America this season after three years in Finland playing at the highest level. The former Western Michigan Bronco was named Liiga’s best defenseman last season and was a huge part of Finland’s World Championship gold medal. The 24-year old has five points in 19 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL but hadn’t yet gotten a chance at the NHL level despite the struggles and injuries Detroit has seen this season.

This move basically equates to a fresh start for both players, but Kaski does now join an organization known for getting the best out of their Finnish players. The Hurricanes have a huge number of players from the country, led of course by Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen.

Snapshots: Peca, Fox, Ferland

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The Montreal Canadiens have lost a depth forward for more than a month, announcing that Matthew Peca will be out six weeks with a knee injury. Peca was injured when he got tied up with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin earlier this week.

Peca, 26, has played in just four games with the Canadiens this season, instead spending the majority of his season in the minor leagues. The 5’9″ forward was signed to a two-year, $2.6MM deal in July of 2018 but played just 39 games for Montreal last season.

  • Adam Fox is still having an impact on the Carolina Hurricanes, despite not signing with them. CapFriendly points out that after Fox played in his 30th game of the season on Tuesday night, the third round pick that New York sent Carolina in the trade has been upgraded to a second round pick. It always seemed likely that the pick would be upgraded given his talent, but Fox has made it more than worthwhile for the Rangers by proving he can be an effective puck-moving option in the NHL.
  • Though Micheal Ferland isn’t in the concussion protocol, he is seeing specialists for some symptoms that have popped up, according to head coach Travis Green who spoke with reporters including Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet. Ferland didn’t even make it through two games after returning from more than a month off, leaving Tuesday’s match against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Snapshots: Kings, Moore, Honka

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Los Angeles Kings prospects Rasmus Kupari and Tobias Bjornfot were both named to their respective country’s World Junior rosters last week, but seeing as both are under contract and playing in the AHL, the duo had to officially be loaned by the Kings to participate. That permission officially came down today, as L.A. announced that Kupari would play for Finland and Bjornfot would play for Sweden in the upcoming WJC tournament. Bjornfot, a first-round pick back in June, played in three games with the Kings earlier this season and has eight points in 20 games with the Ontario Reign. The athletic defenseman joins an impressive unit on the blue line for Sweden at the WJC. Kupari, L.A.’s top pick two years ago, played for the Gold Medal-winning Finnish entry in last year’s WJC, recording five points in seven games, and overall enjoyed a strong season in his native country. However, his first season in North America has gotten off to a slow start, with just seven points in 24 AHL games for the talented forward. While there was no indication in the Kings’ release, Kupari could be a candidate to remain overseas following the tournament. But first he will join another star-studded Finnish roster in pursuit of a repeat title.

  • With the Boston Bruins playing the Washington Capitals tonight in the first of a back-to-back set that includes a match-up with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, Connor Clifton has drawn back into the lineup. The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont reports that John Moore, who just recently made his season debut following off-season shoulder surgery, will be eased back into regular action, according to head coach Bruce Cassidy. Splitting back-to-backs or occasional nights off could become commonplace for the veteran defender. The Bruins are more cognizant than most when it comes to the value of healthy defense, as they struggled with continuous injury issues on the back end last season and are still waiting on the return of Kevan Miller. Cassidy recently stated that the Bruins are a better team with Moore active, even though it causes a surplus of lefties in the lineup, but that could mean he prioritizes keeping Moore healthy long-term rather than playing him in every game and risking re-injury to his damaged shoulder. Fortunately, the team has the luxury of young Clifton, who played well in Moore’s stead to begin the year and is more than deserving of spot starts.
  • Before the calendar flipped to December, making him ineligible to play in the NHL this season, it seems the trade market for unsigned Dallas Stars RFA defenseman Julius Honka was not as dead as it seemed. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that the Carolina Hurricanes were the team with the most interest in the enigmatic rearguard and were in heavy pursuit. However, the team ultimately decided that they were not willing to meet the Stars’ demand of draft picks or young, unsigned prospects rather than a fellow AHL prospect. Ironically, the Hurricanes drafted Honka’s younger brother, Anttoni, in the third round this past year, which could keep them interested in the elder Honka this off-season.

 

Minor Transactions: 12/08/19

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Goals were not exactly hard to come by on Saturday, as 10 of 11 contests featured 5+ goals, including five games with 8+ goals. While there are only five games on the docket on Sunday, there is a good chance of at least one more high-scoring affair, as the Panthers host the Sharks in a match-up of the two teams tied for 29th in goals against average. While you follow along with the action today – five games starting over a span of five hours – keep an eye on the transactions made by those teams out of action today, preparing for the week ahead. Judging by the number of early moves, it could be a busy day:

  • After last night’s win, the Carolina Hurricanes returned forwards Brian Gibbons and Clark Bishop to the AHL, as announced by the Charlotte Checkers. The duo have been on the move frequently this season and that is unlikely to change soon. With both being sent down, the Canes currently have just 12 forwards and 19 skaters on the active roster and are about to embark on a long, five-game road trip on Tuesday. They are unlikely to depart before filling at least one of their two remaining roster spots with another forward, highly likely to be either Gibbons or Bishop, if not both.
  • Rookie forward J.C. Beaudin is headed back to the minors, as the Ottawa Senators announced that he has been reassigned to AHL Belleville. Beaudin, 22, has played in 15 games with Ottawa this season but has recorded one lone point. In five games with Belleville, he has also been held to just one point. The Senators would likely like to see him rediscover his scoring touch before bringing him back up.
  • Joseph Blandisi is another player being demoted, as the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that the two-way veteran has been sent down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Blandisi has split his season evenly between the NHL and AHL, but with double the scoring in the minors, unsurprisingly. Now in his fifth pro season, Blandisi has grown accustomed to splitting his time between the two levels and playing very different roles depending on the locale. A top-six forward in the AHL, Blandisi has been almost exclusively asked to play a bottom-six role in Pittsburgh, as well as with previous teams.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made a swap, sending Anton Wedin down to the AHL and recalling Dylan Sikura. Sikura, the former Northeastern University standout, has not played in the NHL this season after skating in 33 games last year. However, he has finally earned the call as he leads the Rockford Ice Hogs with nine goals and 16 points in 22 games. Wedin, a rookie in his first season in North America, also has a nice 4-7-11 line in 17 games with Rockford but was held off the scoresheet in four games with Chicago, prompting his return.
  • Austin Poganski has been reassigned to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, the St. Louis Blues announced. The move comes more than a week after Poganski was recalled, yet the young forward did not make an appearance in that time with the Blues. Poganski is still searching for his NHL debut, two years removed from a strong run at the University of North Dakota.
  • While the Boston Bruins placed defenseman Steven Kampfer on waivers earlier today, CapFriendly also noted that the Colorado Avalanche have put forward T.J. Tynan on waivers as well. The 27-year-old career minor-leaguer got an extended run with the Avalanche this year after only appearing in three NHL games prior to that. He got 14 games in Colorado, only picking up one assist in that span. Tynan has already appeared in 377 AHL games and would be an unlikely candidate to be claimed.
  • The Edmonton Oilers announced they have activated forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins from injured reserve and have assigned forward Colby Cave to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL. Nugent-Hopkins has missed the last six games with a hand injury, but will now return to the team and give their top-six a significant boost. Nugent-Hopkins has five goals and 16 points through the Oilers’ first 25 games before going down with the injury. Cave will return to Bakersfield where he has two goals and five points in 16 games.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have recalled forward Riley Barber from the Laval Rocket of the AHL, according to Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan. The 25-year-old Barber, who signed with the Canadiens in the offseason after four years in the Washington Capitals system, leads Laval with 18 points, but has been much more impressive over the past two or three weeks and could help Montreal as a speedy fourth-line option.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have returned goaltender Michael DiPietro to AHL Utica, notes TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal.  He had been up as the backup while Jacob Markstrom was away from the team but with Markstrom back, he’ll go back to the Comets to get some playing time.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Carolina Hurricanes

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Carolina Hurricanes.

What are the Hurricanes most thankful for?

Spending ability.

The Hurricanes have built a strong drafting and development system over the last several years, but sometimes there had been tough decisions to be made over how many of the league’s top players they could truly afford. With new ownership and a different swagger about the franchise, they’re now a cap ceiling team that didn’t hesitate to match an expensive, front-loaded offer sheet in the summer. Sebastian Aho will earn more than $23MM of his $42.27MM deal in the first twelve months.

Who are the Hurricanes most thankful for?

Rasmus Dahlin.

No, a paragraph from the Buffalo Sabres’ piece didn’t get left in accidentally. If it weren’t for Dahlin’s presence in the 2018 draft, the Hurricanes would have never been able to grab top scorer Andrei Svechnikov second overall. Though he had a slow rookie season by some standards—20 NHL goals for an 18-year old is still pretty good—Svechnikov is really showing why he was so highly regarded coming into the draft and was a potential option at No. 1.

With 31 points in 29 games the young Russian forward has already almost caught his total from last season, and he wont turn 20 until the end of March. It’s hard to really know how far his talent can take him, but that superstar-level, MVP-type forward that the Hurricanes have been looking for for so long might already be on the roster, and his name might not be Aho.

What would the Hurricanes be even more thankful for?

Some losses from the rest of the Metro.

Carolina is 17-11-1 through their first 29 games this season and still somehow are sitting in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division. They would be firmly in second in the Atlantic Division, but the Capitals, Islanders and Flyers have all done a little bit better this year.

The Hurricanes are coming off an Eastern Conference Final appearance that shocked the NHL, but few would be surprised to see them in Stanley Cup contention this time around. Settling for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference would make that extremely difficult however, especially if they end up with a first-round matchup against those Boston Bruins that ended their Cinderella run last season.

What should be on the Hurricanes’ Holiday Wish List?

An improvement between the pipes.

There isn’t a man on the Hurricanes roster that would say Petr Mrazek isn’t a big part of the team, but the 27-year old goaltender still suffers from inconsistencies that have plagued his whole career. He’ll stand on his head and provide the Hurricanes with Vezina-caliber netminding one night, and then let in a pair of soft goals the next.

His .903 save percentage on the year simply isn’t good enough to carry a team to a Stanley Cup, but it’s not that far off from where Mrazek has sat for much of his career. James Reimer has been slightly better statistically, but loses just as many games as he wins and probably isn’t the answer either. It’s hard to improve your starting goalie position during the season, but perhaps Carolina can find a way to stop just a few more pucks in the second half.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 11/29/19

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If you weren’t satisfied with the afternoon football action yesterday, the NHL has a treat for you. The league gets an early start when the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins clash this afternoon, while eight other games also get early starts. In that first game of the day, the Rangers will try to somehow contain one of the league’s best lines and slow down David Pastrnak, who has six goals in his last five games.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent Martin Marincin to the minor leagues, where he’ll play against the Rochester Americans tonight. The Maple Leafs are in Buffalo to take on the Sabres and weren’t going to use Marincin, meaning he can get in some game action for the AHL Marlies instead.
  • With Steven Stamkos returning today after a short absence, the Tampa Bay Lightning have sent Cory Conacher to the minor leagues. Scott Wedgewood is up in his place, giving the team three goaltenders for the time being.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled Clark Bishop, despite the 23-year old forward earning just three points in 19 games for the Charlotte Checkers this season. Bishop certainly isn’t known for his offensive chops and won’t be asked to play in that role for the Hurricanes, if he gets into a game at all.
  • Brett Seney has been sent to the minor leagues by the New Jersey Devils, who played in two games with the team during his recall. The 23-year old Seney has 18 points in 19 games for the Binghamton Devils this year after spending most of 2018-19 with New Jersey.
  • Joseph Blandisi has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of their game this evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Blandisi has been up and down all season, splitting time in the NHL and AHL.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have recalled Gustav Olofsson, placing Paul Byron on injured reserve to make room. Olofsson’s addition gives the team eight defensemen on the roster with Christian Folin still on his conditioning stint in the AHL.

Poll: Which Teams Will Buck The Thanksgiving Playoff Trend In 2019-20?

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Just how important is playoff position in just the second month of the regular season? Very, if you look at recent results. Over the past six years, more than 70% of teams in a playoff position at American Thanksgiving have held on to their spot. While last year was slightly below the mark – 11 of 16 teams (69%) in a playoff position on November 22 qualified – the standings at the time were even more predictive than usual. The Lightning, Predators, Flames, Maple Leafs, Jets, and Sharks all finished in the same divisional seed that they occupied at Thanksgiving.

So who were the outliers in 2018-19? Obviously, the St. Louis Blues’ return from the basement of the league standings to win the Stanley Cup is a story that will stand the test of time. However, four other clubs also turned their seasons around: the Islanders, Penguins, Hurricanes, and Golden Knights. And the teams whose seasons took a turn for the worse: the Sabres, Wild, Rangers, Canadiens, and Ducks. Ironically, the Canadiens were narrowly inside the playoff window on Thanksgiving and ended up just barely outside in the spring. Meanwhile, the Ducks, Oilers, and Coyotes were all tied for the lowest playoff-qualifying record on Thanksgiving, with the Ducks getting the tiebreaker at the time, and all three failed to qualify for the postseason.

This season has gotten off to an unpredictable start, which could potentially threaten to derail the Thanksgiving trend. Several teams considered Cup contenders are currently outside the playoff picture, while multiple surprises currently occupy a spot. With Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow, this is the current status of the NHL standings (reminder – points percentage is the ideal way of viewing NHL standings):

Eastern Conference

M1 New York Islanders (.773)
A1 Boston Bruins (.771)

M2 Washington Capitals (.740)
M3 Carolina Hurricanes (.646)

A2 Tampa Bay Lightning (.619)
A3 Florida Panthers (.604)

W1 Pittsburgh Penguins (.625)
W2 Philadelphia Flyers (.604)

Outside the Playoff Picture: Montreal Canadiens (.563), New York Rangers (.545), Columbus Blue Jackets (.522), Buffalo Sabres (.521), Toronto Maple Leafs (.520), Ottawa Senators (.479), New Jersey Devils (.435), Detroit Red Wings (.327)

Western Conference

C1 St. Louis Blues (.680)
P1 Edmonton Oilers (.673)

C2 Dallas Stars (.615)
C3 Colorado Avalanche (.609)

P2 Arizona Coyotes (.620)
P3 Vancouver Canucks (.560)

W1 Winnipeg Jets (.604)
W2 Nashville Predators (.543)

Outside the Playoff Picture: San Jose Sharks (.540), Chicago Blackhawks (.521), Anaheim Ducks (.500), Vegas Golden Knights (.500), Calgary Flames (.481), Minnesota Wild (.480), Los Angeles Kings (.417)

2018-19 playoff teams jump off the page as potential candidates to disrupt the status quo. Particularly in the Pacific Division, it is hard to image none of the Golden Knights – who beat the Thanksgiving odds last year – the Sharks or the Flames will make the playoffs, especially as they look up at the Oilers, Coyotes, and Canucks.  There could also be hope in West for the Ducks and Blackhawks, who sit at .500 currently. Over in the East, the Maple Leafs stick out like a sore thumb among non-playoff teams and could be line for improvement following their coaching change. But will it be enough given their difficult start? The Canadiens will also hope for a reverse of fortunes from last year, going from first team out in the conference at Thanksgiving to in the postseason come April. The Sabres have started hot and collapsed two years in a row, but there is still time for them to turn things back around. All three Atlantic clubs see a Panthers team with plenty of problems ahead of them in the standings right now. Meanwhile, the Rangers and Blue Jackets will look to make an unlikely run to the postseason as they chase down the Flyers.

What do you think? Which of these teams will find their way into the playoff picture and which will fall victim to the Thanksgiving postseason trend? Select as many teams below as you like, but remember that for every addition, there has to be a subtraction of a current playoff team.

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Metropolitan Notes: Murray, Gostisbehere, Gardiner

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Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray has been criticized for many things, but playing too much has never been one of those. Regardless, Murray has seen the ice quite a bit already this season and if he continues to play as much as he has, Murray will easily break his season-high in minutes played. Last season, the 25-year-old netminder played 2,880 minutes, but Murray has already broken 1,000 minutes at just the quarter-point of the season.

While it’s nice to see Murray thriving without injury concerns, TribLive’s Seth Rorabaugh wonders whether the team might be smarter to cut down on Murray’s workload, considering how well backup Tristan Jarry has played in limited opportunity. While Murray has been solid with a injury-plagued team in front of him, boasting a 2.60 GAA and a .903 save percentage in 18 appearances, the 24-year-old Jarry has done even better with a 1.80 GAA and a .945 save percentage in six appearances.

With the team only using Jarry on the second night of back-to-back games, it might be time to give the backup more playing time in hopes of avoiding wearing down Murray later in the season.

  • Although the expansion draft remains far off, the summer of 2021, The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor (subscription required) looks at possible scenarios of who the team might protect down the road. He notes that with the signing of center Kevin Hayes, who carries a no-movement clause with him, and the emergence of Oskar Lindblom, the team may have to make a major decision with their defense. The scribe writes that with the disappointing play of defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who continues to struggle this year after a poor 2018-19 season, could find himself on the outside looking in when it comes to what players the Flyers may keep.
  • In her most recent mailbag, The Athletic’s Sara Civian (subscription required) writes that Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner, who the team quietly signed in the offseason, continues to struggle as a third-pairing option. With fewer minutes than he is used to, the risk-taking blueliner has made quite a few defensive miscues as the team has scored 10 goals when he’s on the ice, but the Hurricanes have allowed 19 at the same time. Gardiner has just one goal and five assists, while sporting just a 3.7 percent shooting percentage on 27 shots. The hope is he can eventually work his way to a second-pairing option.

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