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Minor Transactions: 4/8/18

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With the Eastern Conference still undecided until today’s final regular season game, the Western Conference has no questions as the Colorado Avalanche finished off the St. Louis Blues in a 5-2 victory Saturday as they clinched the final playoff spot. The Nashville Predators got the top spot and will face the Avalanche. In other first-round matchups, the Vegas Golden Knights will face the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks will face the San Jose Sharks and the Minnesota Wild will face the Winnipeg Jets. 

Florida Panthers’ Radim Vrbata To Retire After Season

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The Florida Panthers honored veteran Radim Vrbata during tonight’s game and announced that tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres will be his final appearance in an NHL uniform. He is not expected to play tomorrow and will retire at the end of the season, confirms Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.

The 36-year-old winger has only appeared in 41 games this season and hasn’t played since March 8. He has just five goals and 19 points this season, a far cry from a season ago, when he scored 20 goals and tallied 55 points with the Arizona Coyotes.

In his 17-year career, Vrbata has played for multiple teams, including the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and the Panthers. He has played in 1,056 games, putting up 284 goals and 339 assists for 623 points and had two 30-goal seasons.

Minor Transactions: 4/7/2018

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With a full-slate of 15 games today on the final weekend of the regular season, most teams will wrap up their regular season today and the playoff order should be more clarified by the end of the night. Most prominent will be which team clinches the final playoff spots. A Philadelphia point will give them the Eastern Conference’s final spot over the Florida Panthers, while the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues will play for the right for the final spot in the West. Colorado needs a regulation victory tonight to vault themselves into the playoffs. In the meantime, several teams are making minor changes for the final weekend of the regular season.

  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they have recalled defenseman Joel Hanley on an emergency basis. The 26-year-old has played four games with the Coyotes this year, having spent most of his season with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL, putting up two goals and 17 assists in 50 games. ArizonaSports Craig Morgan adds the move was made as defenseman Kevin Connaugton is a little banged up.
  • The Ottawa Senators announced they have recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the Belleville Senators of the AHL and is expected to play today as Ben Harpur is injured. Englund was recalled back in December, but didn’t play in a game. The 22-year-old former second-round pick had one goal and nine assists in 66 games for Belleville.
  • The New Jersey Devils announced they have recalled defenseman Steven Santini and goaltender Eddie Lack. Both were recalled as the Devils are expected to rest numerous players today, including Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac and Sami Vatanen. With Cory Schneider getting the call to start in goal today, it’s likely the team also intends to rest starter Keith Kinkaid. The 23-year-old Santini has played in 36 games for New Jersey and 27 for Binghampton. Lack will likely serve as backup tonight. He has appeared in eight games this year, four with New Jersey.
  • With the New York Rangers’ season over after Saturday’s 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers announced they have assigned forwards Filip Chytil, Lias Andersson and Steven Fogarty to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL for their upcoming playoff run. Chytil and Andersson were both recalled on Mar. 26 with Chytil picking up a goal and two assists in six games. Andersson had a goal and an assist in those six games. Fogarty was recalled last night and didn’t get into a game.

Minor Transactions: 4/5/18

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It’s been a slow day for player movement as the regular season winds down, but some intriguing late action serves as a reminder that teams are still tweaking their rosters even this late in the season. 13 teams have been eliminated from postseason contention, but seven out West and five in the East have clinched spots and the remaining six are still fighting. For those lucky enough to still have eyes on the playoffs, there are important transactions to be made:

  • As has been commonplace through this season – and will finally come to an end soon – the San Jose Sharks have reassigned defenseman Tim Heed to their in-house AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda themselves announced. Heed will suit up for the Barracuda tonight, just his sixth game in the minors this season. However, Heed has only skated in 29 games with the Sharks as well, as the 27-year-old rearguard has been passed back and forth continually but under-utilized overall.
  • The St. Louis Blues have recalled goalie Ville Husso, the recently-named AHL All-Rookie Team keeper, from the San Antonio Rampage. There has been no indication that this is an emergency call-up by the Blues, meaning Jake Allen and Carter Hutton are likely fine and the team will simply ride with three goalies to close out the season. St. Louis trails the Colorado Avalanche by one point with two games remaining, including a head-to-head match-up on Saturday.
  • The flood of young talent in Boston isn’t ending any time soon and fans can get another glimpse into the future by watching the remainder of the AHL’s Providence Bruins’ season. Boston assigned junior players Jack Studnicka and Kyle Keyser to their minor league affiliate, per The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, and the pair of Oshawa General teammates reported to the team today. Studnicka, the Bruins’ second-round pick last season, led the Generals in scoring this season with 72 points and did so on a team that featured two potential first-round forwards this June in Serron Noel and Allan McShane. Like fellow Boston prospects Trent Frederic and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Studnicka is an intelligent, two-way center who the Bruins hope could grow into a Patrice Bergeron clone. Perhaps more impressive though has been the play of Keyser, an undrafted free agent signing, who has been one of the best goalies in the OHL this season and was recently named the General’s Most Valuable Player. Both Studnicka and Keyser had previosuly signed ELC’s, but will more than likely still return to junior to begin next season; for now they will get a taste of the pro game in anticipation of NHL futures on the way.

Josh Dickinson Signs Entry-Level Contract With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed a college free agent, inking Josh Dickinson to a three-year entry-level contract that will begin in 2018-19. Dickinson will report to the San Antonio Rampage for the rest of this season on an amateur tryout.

The younger brother of Stars prospect Jason Dickinson, Josh is coming to professional hockey after a very different path. While his brother was selected in the first round in 2013 from the Guelph Storm, the younger Dickinson maintained his college eligibility playing in the OJHL and after going undrafted spent this season at Clarkson University. He found a ton of success in the NCAA, scoring 26 points as a freshman and immediately earning a contract in professional hockey.

Just the fact that Dickinson is leaving college after one year is surprising, but that he earned an entry-level contract right away means that the Avalanche saw something they really liked in the young forward. It’s not like his success has come out of nowhere, as Dickinson has been a leader at every level in his minor hockey career. He was even ranked 138th among North American skaters going into the 2016 draft, and will now try to make teams regret the day they decided to pass on him.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Keller, Makar, Boeser

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The NHL announced its three stars for the month of March as Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid has found his way to the top once again, named the first star. McDavid picked up 13 goals and 15 assists in 16 games, which pulls him into the lead for the Art Ross Trophy race. Despite the Oilers struggles, McDavid has taken his game to a new level as he has hit career highs in goals (41) and points (103) and remains six points ahead of Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for top spot in the NHL.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand is the league’s second star for March as he had 10 goals and 16 assists in 15 games. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson picked up third star honors after playing in 13 games, picking up nine wins and boasting a .931 save percentage during that span.

  • Arizona Coyotes announced rookie Clayton Keller was named NHL Rookie of the Month for the second time this season. Keller, who won the award in October, had a strong start to the season, but struggled during the winter months before picking it back up recently. He picked up 19 points in the month of March, including six goals over 17 games. The 19-year-old is ranked second among rookies in points with 63 behind the New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal.
  • BSN Denver’s Adrian Dater tweets that the Colorado Avalanche will have to wait a little while longer to get bring in 2017 first-round pick Cale Makar into the fold. The fourth-overall pick has decided to return to the University of Massachusetts – Amherst for his sophomore year.  An elite power-play defenseman, Makar had a solid freshman year at Amherst, putting up five goals and 21 points and the Avalanche had hopes of instantly upgrading its defense for next year.
  • Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal tweets that it is doubtful that Vancouver Canucks rookie Brock Boeser plays for Team USA at this year’s 2018 IIHF World Championships in Denmark. Boeser went down for the season with a back injury and likely will spend his summer getting ready for the 2018-19 season. The 21-year-old had a great rookie season in which he scored 29 goals and picked up 55 points.

Avalanche Lose Varlamov, Johnson To Major Injuries

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The Colorado Avalanche’s playoff chances took a big hit as the team announced today that starting goalie Semyon Varlamov will be out for the season after sustaining a lower-body injury Friday night, while defenseman Erik Johnson will miss the next six weeks with a fractured patella. The two injuries figure to be a huge blow to team who many felt had a good chance of reaching the playoffs this year.

The irony is that Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier made history Friday after the two combined for the first combined shutout in franchise history (Nordiques as well). Varlamov saved 30-of-30 shots before Chicago’s Tomas Jurco collided with Varlamov on an attempted shot late in the third period, forcing the goaltender to be helped off the ice. Bernier finished the game. Varlamov was having a solid season as he has a 2.68 GAA and a .920 save percentage in 51 games. Bernier will have to take over as starter. He has a 2.82 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 33 games this year.

Johnson did not play in Friday’s game with no explanation, but is just as likely done for the year unless the Avalanche can not only reach the playoffs, but make an extended run in them. The oft-injured defenseman has been having a solid season, but has never played an entire 82-game season ever. His 62 games this season are the highest in two years.

Despite the disappointment, the Avalanche who finished with the worst record last season, have put together a remarkable season and considering they made no moves at the trade deadline, the team should look at this season as a positive regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not.

 

Colorado Avalanche Sign Josh Anderson, Travis Barron

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If you thought having two Sebastian Aho’s was confusing, get ready for Josh Anderson. That’s one of the newest members of the Colorado Avalanche organization, as the defenseman signed his entry-level contract today, along with Travis Barron. Both players inked three-year entry-level deals, signing before the deadline of June 1st.

Anderson, 19, is finishing up his fourth full season in the WHL, playing for the Swift Current Broncos in the playoffs. He was traded during the year, and ended up with just 14 points on the year. That doesn’t inspire much confidence in his offensive abilities, but that’s not what the Avalanche are hoping to get.

Selected in the third round of the 2016 draft, he has been used as a reliable shutdown defender for his entire junior career, and looks like he’ll have a chance to continue that in professional hockey. That means there isn’t a lot of top-4 upside to his game, but could be a useful penalty killer and third-pairing option down the road.

Barron on the other hand, put together the best season of his junior career this year with 57 points in 67 games and has started to unlock the potential that made him the third-overall pick in the OHL midget draft. He’s always been noted as a two-way player that can do everything for your club, but hasn’t shown much that made him stand out offensively. Only 19-years old still, there is still a lot of time for him to round out his game as a professional and make an impact for the Avalanche down the road.

Minor Transactions: 03/29/18

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The Arizona Coyotes are playing the ultimate spoiler down the stretch, winning again last night against the Vegas Golden Knights to draw even with the Vancouver Canucks for last in the Western Conference. Arizona has played well of late, giving them some hope for next season as they look to build around a young core.

For the Coyotes and all the teams out of the playoffs, now is the time to experiment with players who might not have had a chance to prove what they can do earlier in the season. With that, we’ll keep track of all the minor transactions around the league right here.

  • The Boston Bruins have sent Paul Postma back to the minors while recalling Tommy Cross under emergency conditions. Cross, the Providence Bruins captain, has played 66 games in the AHL this season and could be getting just a nice bonus for a good season. The 28-year old defenseman wasn’t on any of the pairings at morning skate, as both Zdeno Chara and Matt Grzelcyk took their normal spots.
  • The Ottawa Senators have recalled Colin White under emergency conditions, and announced that Chris Wideman will not play again this season. White has played 15 games with the Senators this season, but failed to make enough of an impact to keep him in the lineup full-time. The 21-year old forward is still a big part of the Senators’ future, but hasn’t had the season many had hoped from him after his dominant career at Boston College.
  • Josh Jooris has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins as Derick Brassard battles injury, meaning Riley Sheahan probably moves back to the third line center position. Jooris was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for just this reason, giving the Penguins some added depth should they face injury.
  • Pheonix Copley has been re-assigned once again, sent back to the minor leagues after a short recall. Copley has been filling in for the Washington Capitals when needed, but still hasn’t actually entered a game.
  • Spencer Foo is coming up for the Calgary Flames, using their fourth post-deadline recall. Foo was signed out of the NCAA last spring, and has made an impact in the AHL during his first season of professional hockey. He’ll likely get a chance to make his NHL debut over the last week of the season, and compete for a full-time job next fall.
  • With Semyon Varlamov (illness) and Jonathan Bernier (infection) both expected to be available on Friday night, the Avalanche have returned goaltender Spencer Martin to San Antonio of the AHL.  Martin has not seen any action with Colorado this season but has appeared in 32 games at the minor league level, posting a 3.02 GAA and a .895 SV%.

Minor Transactions: 03/28/18

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Tonight’s games are the first time the NHL situation room will have control over goaltender interference reviews, which will undoubtedly come up at some point in the four games on tap. If it does, we’ll get to see the first instance of what should be a more consistent decision-making process. Hopefully, all the kinks will be ironed out before the playoffs start in a few weeks.

As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves around the league heading into tonight’s action. Check back throughout the day for more updates.

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