Landeskog Now Regular Participant In Team Skates
- Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog has become a regular participant in team skates as he works his way back from a knee cartilage transplant procedure back in January, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston noted on the latest TSN Insider Trading segment. The 31-year-old last played in June 2022 but a return at some point in the playoffs this season hasn’t been ruled out yet. If the team feels that there’s a good chance that he’ll be able to suit up in the postseason, that could affect their trade deadline approach.
Logan O'Connor Still Out For Avalanche
Missing the team’s last three games due to a lower-body injury, Logan O’Connor will once again not be an option for the Colorado Avalanche as they match up against the Vancouver Canucks tonight (X Link). Still considered day-to-day, the Avalanche are waiting for O’Connor to fully recover so that he may be in the lineup more continuously.
With O’Connor set to miss his fourth straight game, it will also allow the team to give an extended look to Chris Wagner, who was recalled on February 16th. In his first game back in an Avalanche sweater since the 2015-16 season, he skated in a little over six minutes of the team’s recent contest against the Arizona Coyotes, putting up zero points.
Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner With Logan O’Connor Questionable
The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Chris Wagner. This recall marks a notable step forward in Wagner’s recovery from an Achille’s Tear before this season. The injury has limited him to just 11 AHL games this season, where he’s scored seven points. Wagner will now join the NHL roster to relieve Logan O’Connor, who is questionable to play in the team’s Sunday game against the Arizona Coyotes, per team head coach Jared Bednar. O’Connor is facing a lower-body injury that is expected to hold him out for the short term, though Bednar added that he doesn’t want to rush O’Connor back and risk turning a one-week injury into a longer-term one.
Wagner, 32, has served as a quaint, bottom-six centerman for much of his career, never scoring more than 20 points in a season but still managing 360 career NHL games. Wagner’s career year came in the 2018-19 season when he scored 12 goals and 19 points in 76 games with the Boston Bruins. Wagner would go on to spend the next four seasons in Boston, before signing a one-year, $775K contract with Colorado this summer.
Wagner’s minor league performances this season bring his career totals up to 92 goals and 171 points across 374 AHL games. It’s been a fruitful career for the former fifth-round pick, selected 122nd overall in the 2010 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. Wagner has become one of seven players to play in at least 300 NHL games after being selected in 2010’s fifth, sixth, or seventh round, joining the likes of Brendan Gallagher, Frederik Andersen, and John Klingberg.
Logan O'Connor Still Out For Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche will be without the services of forward Logan O’Connor tomorrow night, as Meghan Angley of DNVR Avalanche reports the team will hold him out of the lineup so that he can play more continuously when fully healthy. O’Connor has missed the last two games for Colorado as he suffered a lower-body injury in the team’s recent contest against the Florida Panthers.
Amid a career year offensively, the typical bottom-six player for the Avalanche has already reached a career-high total in goals with 13 and is only one point behind his career-high in points with 25. Shaping up to be an integral part of their postseason aspirations, O’Connor still has one year and $1.05MM remaining on his contract after this season.
Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner
With Logan O’Connor dealing with a lower-body injury, the Avalanche have made a roster move to bring up some extra depth up front, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forward Chris Wagner from AHL Colorado.
It hasn’t been a great season for the 32-year-old. Wagner signed with Colorado with the hopes that he could battle for a spot on the fourth line with 360 career NHL appearances under his belt. However, he then ruptured his Achilles tendon in training camp, putting an end to those hopes before he even had a chance to suit up for them in the preseason.
Wagner was cleared to return a little over a month ago, clearing waivers which resulted in him being assigned to the Eagles. To his credit, he has been fairly productive over the last few weeks, notching three goals and four assists in 11 games.
Colorado had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to bring Wagner up. They’re now at the maximum 23-player roster with this transaction.
Zach Parise To Retire After This Season
As recently as this past offseason, veteran forward Zach Parise was undecided on his playing future, not knowing whether he would be with the New York Islanders, retire, or join a new organization entirely. Ultimately, the answer was uncovered several months later, as Parise decided to join the Colorado Avalanche by way of a one-year contract.
Now in his 19th season in the NHL, Parise has only been to the Stanley Cup Final once, coming back in 2012 with the New Jersey Devils before ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Kings. In joining the Avalanche, Parise joins one of the clear Stanley Cup contenders of the 2023-24 season and has confirmed that this will be his last attempt to win the coveted trophy.
Central Notes: MacKinnon, Bedard, Gustafsson, Plandowski
Colorado Avalanche announcer Conor McGahey tweeted that Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is okay after hitting his face on the ice on Saturday night in a game against the Florida Panthers. The 28-year-old superstar didn’t practice today due to a different minor tweak, but the team is hopeful that he’ll be able to play tomorrow night against the Washington Capitals.
MacKinnon is currently second in NHL scoring with 32 goals and 53 assists in 53 games but has been held pointless in three straight games.
In other Central Division notes:
- Chicago Sun-Times reporter Ben Pope tweeted that the Chicago Blackhawks expect to get rookie phenom Connor Bedard back into the lineup next week. Bedard has a final imaging appointment a week from today and if the appointment goes well Bedard could be back into action by the middle of next week. Bedard’s return will be a welcome development for himself and the Blackhawks as the 18-year-old hasn’t played since January 5th and has 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this season.
- The Winnipeg Jets have activated forward David Gustafsson off the injured reserve and loaned him to their AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose for conditioning purposes. The 23-year-old has missed the previous 18 games with a lower-body injury and hasn’t dressed since December 22nd. He has just two assists in his last 21 games and hasn’t scored a goal since October 30th. In 27 games this season the native of Tingsryd, Sweden has just two goals and two assists.
- The Arizona Coyotes have extended the contract of Director of Amateur Scouting Darryl Plandowski. No terms of the deal were released, but the extension will keep Plandowski with the Coyotes for the foreseeable future. Plandowski was a big part of the Tampa Bay Lightning as he spent 12 years with the organization and was part of the club during their two Stanley Cup championships. He worked his way through the Lightning organization into the role of Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting before eventually joining Arizona in 2020.
Kraken Receiving Interest In Jordan Eberle, Alexander Wennberg
The Kraken are receiving interest from multiple teams regarding winger Jordan Eberle and center Alexander Wennberg ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports.
Both players are again top-six fixtures for Seattle, who have yo-yoed their way in and out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference all season long. They’re pending UFAs with hefty cap hits of $5.5MM and $4.5MM, respectively, but the Kraken have all three salary retention spots open and could keep money on the books for the rest of the season to facilitate a deal if they do intend on selling at the deadline.
The Oilers have already been linked to Eberle in their pursuit of a complementary top-six winger, with Pagnotta reporting another one of his former teams, the Islanders, as well as the Maple Leafs, have demonstrated interest. The Bruins and Avalanche have called about Wennberg, who’s one of the few quality centers remaining on the deadline rental market.
Whether the Kraken will decide to sell off assets at the deadline is an entirely different question. A recent 3-6-1 stretch now has them six points out of playoff position, but there’s still a shot for Seattle to squeak in for their second consecutive playoff appearance. With a quickly aging group still comprised primarily of expansion draft selections, however, they’d likely do well to recoup value for some veterans and retool around Vince Dunn, Matthew Beniers, and Jared McCann.
Eberle would presumably fetch more value than Wennberg, and rightfully so. He’s having a down season in the goals department – just nine in 49 games, but his 28 points are fifth on the team, and he leads all Kraken players in even-strength Corsi share. He’s been their best two-way skater this season – not just forward – and with eight 20-goal seasons under his belt, he carries immense breakout potential if paired with the skill level of a contending team’s top six.
Thus, a reunion with Edmonton makes the most sense out of the three teams listed. There’s no better breakout potential for Eberle at right wing than alongside Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers’ second unit, and he could do wonders for Draisaitl-anchored lines that have struggled defensively without Connor McDavid.
Wennberg is more of a depth add than an impact pickup for a contender – he’s likely not suited for anything above a third-line role on a team with contending aspirations. He has leveraged major minutes since joining Seattle, logging 18:23 per game over the last three seasons.
Like Eberle, he’s struggled on the scoresheet with eight goals and 21 points in 51 games. Unlike Eberle, he’s shooting above his career average and has some of the worst possession metrics on the Kraken – only Brandon Tanev has a worse Corsi share at even strength among full-time members. His expected -3.6 rating is the worst on the team, and he’s won less than 50% of his faceoffs for the 10th time in 10 NHL seasons. As such, he’s likely a complement to the Bruins’ and Avs’ cast of middle-six centers that lack punch, not a significant upgrade. Even at a half-retained $2.25MM cap hit, his disappointing season might be too much to swallow and a third team may need to retain another 50% of his salary to facilitate a trade.
Despite Having Most Goals, Could Avs Stand To Benefit From Adding More Scoring?
- The Avalanche lead the NHL in goals scored with 196, an average of 3.7 per game. Despite that, Corey Masisak of The Denver Post suggests that adding more scoring might be a good way for them to go at the trade deadline. With the status of Valeri Nichushkin moving forward in doubt while he’s in the Player Assistance Program and the fact that the bulk of their scoring is coming from two lines, adding someone to help deepen their attack could certainly be beneficial when the checking tightens up in the playoffs. However, cap space is quite limited and if they do opt to go that route, it could prevent them from shoring up their backup goalie spot as well.
Sam Malinski Assigned To AHL
- Following their loss to Florida, the Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned defenseman Sam Malinski to AHL Colorado. The 25-year-old was recalled on Tuesday and played that night but was scratched for their past two games. Malinski has 10 points in 23 games with the Avs so far while logging a little over 14 minutes a night and will likely be brought back up again in the coming days.