Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Blue Jackets Rumors

East Notes: Chinakhov, Duclair, Pelech, Kozak

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Columbus Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov has missed the team’s last six games with an upper-body injury, and doesn’t seem close to a return. Head coach Dean Evason told NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda that Chinakhov is “progressing, for sure” but that he hasn’t yet returned to skating, making a return to the lineup hard to predict.

Chinakhov has 14 points, split evenly, through 21 games this season. He’s playing the best hockey of his career – scoring at a career-high pace, recording a positive +/- for the first time, and working his way into 17 minutes of average ice time each game. They’re all very positive signs of life for the 23-year-old winger, who’s bettering the 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games last season: an 82-game pace of 45 points. Improving on those numbers is helping Chinakhov justify his 21st-overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft – a shocking pick at the time, despite Chinakhov was one of Russia’s top junior scorers entering the draft. He made the jump to the NHL less than two years later and has since recorded 70 points and 34 penalty minutes in 166 career games. He’ll look to continue producing when he’s finally able to return to the lineup, though Evason suggests he’ll have to hit multiple checkpoints before that occurs.

Other notes from out East:

  • Both Anthony Duclair (lower-body) and Adam Pelech (upper-body) returned to the New York Islanders practices today, each wearing a no-contact jersey, shares Newsday’s Andrew Gross. It’s a timely step for both players, who were designated to miss one-to-two months in late October and early November respectively. Duclair landed on long-term injured reserve on October 26th, while Pelech was placed on standard IR on November 2nd. Duclair scored two goals and three points in five games before falling to injury, looking like a stout addition to New York’s top-six. Meanwhile, Pelech’s spot on the top pair likely remains unrivaled. He’s averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time through 11 games this season, recording four assists along the way. The duo are pacing to return to the lineup before the holiday break, though it’s yet to be seen if that timeline will actually come to fruition.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have sent young winger Tyson Kozak back to the minor leagues. It’s unclear if this is a means of accruing daily cap space before Wednesday’s matchup against the Rangers, or if Kozak’s assignment is expected to stick. Kozak received the first three NHL games of his career on this recall. He scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game – but it got called back after a coach’s challenge from Jets head coach Scott Arniel. Not to be denied, Kozak managed to score again in his second game – this time cementing his first goal at the top flight. He served in a fourth-line role throughout his recall, and could be at risk of formally losing an NHL spot with the return of Jordan Greenway and Sam Lafferty from injury.

Morning Notes: Provorov, Kucherov, Dahlin

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Aaron Portzline of The Athletic writes that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov could play tonight when the team takes on the Winnipeg Jets. Provorov left Friday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks with what was called an upper-body injury, which was later revealed to be an injury to his thumb. Photos circulated online of the 27-year-old’s thumb, and it certainly looked painful, however, Portzline is hearing that it’s possible he could play.

Provorov is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and has two goals and seven assists in 26 games so far this year. He will likely become a trade candidate at some point later in the season as the Blue Jackets are unlikely to be a playoff team.

In other morning notes:

  • Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov could return to the lineup today when the team takes on the Canucks (as per NHL.com). The 31-year-old has missed two games due to an undisclosed injury and hasn’t played since November 29th. Tampa had a quiet week last week with just two games and would be fortunate if that is all the time the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner misses. Kucherov is having another stellar season with 12 goals and 22 assists in just 22 games.
  • Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin missed last night’s game against Utah due to back spasms (as per NHL.com). The 24-year-old missed Thursday night’s game against Winnipeg and only played a single shift in the third period of Tuesday night’s game against Colorado before he left. Dahlin dealt with a back issue during training camp in September and missed five days before rejoining the team for practice. Despite the issue, the former first-overall pick is still having a good season with six goals and 13 assists in 25 games.

Upper-Body Injury For Provorov

at CDT | by 2 Comments

It appears the Blue Jackets may be without a key defenseman for the foreseeable future.  Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch notes that Ivan Provorov left Friday’s game with an upper-body injury.  The injury occurred early in the second period when he dove for a puck with his hand hitting the boards; his thumb took the brunt of the impact.  There’s no word yet on how long he might miss.  Provorov has nine points in 26 games so far this season while logging over 23 minutes a night of playing time.  A pending unrestricted free agent, he’s widely expected to be a key trade chip for Columbus in the second half of the year as long as this injury doesn’t keep him out for an extended period of time.

Blue Jackets Open Extension Talks With Mathieu Olivier

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Rugged winger Mathieu Olivier is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time this summer.  However, it appears he’s open to remaining in Columbus as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Olivier’s camp and the Blue Jackets have engaged in preliminary discussions about a contract extension.

The 27-year-old is in his sixth NHL season and over the first five, he rightly earned a reputation as a typical fourth-line pugilist.  While he chipped in a bit more offensively after being acquired by Columbus back in 2022, his career-high in goals heading into this season was only five.

However, Olivier has found another gear offensively in 2024-25.  He already has eight tallies through the first 26 games of the season and while his 25.8 shooting percentage is certainly bound to come down, there’s a good chance he’ll pass the double-digit mark in that regard while also eclipsing his previous best for points (15 set back in 2022-23).  On top of that, Olivier is also seeing a bit more shorthanded action per game, logging a little under a minute a night on average, helping boost his overall ATOI past 13 minutes a night, another benchmark.

Heading into the season, it looked like Olivier might be in line for a small raise on his current $1.1MM price tag, potentially landing him in the $1.25MM to $1.5MM range on a multi-year deal.  Now, while his current start is likely unsustainable, it wouldn’t be shocking to see his new AAV start with a two.  Though that’s a higher price to pay for someone who is arguably best suited as a fourth liner, the Blue Jackets could certainly afford to pay a premium for Olivier’s services in the short term with the team having less than $47MM on the books for 2025-26, per PuckPedia.  We’ll see in the coming weeks if the two sides can find common ground on a deal to keep him in Columbus for the foreseeable future.

Cleveland Monsters Sign Madison Bowey To AHL Deal

at CDT | by 7 Comments

Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote a brutally honest assessment of the conundrum the Pittsburgh Penguins are facing with highly paid healthy scratch Ryan Graves. Graves is a healthy scratch once again tonight and has sat out of the lineup for the Penguins’ last three games, which were all victories for Pittsburgh. In fact, the Penguins are 10-4-4 with Graves out of the lineup the last two seasons and 38-40-12 when he does play.

Now, it’s unfair to put all the blame on Graves for the Penguins’ struggles when he plays, but his play on the ice has certainly not come close to living up to his hefty $4.5MM cap hit. Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas has made some shrewd moves to acquire young players since arriving in Pittsburgh, but the Graves contract and the four years remaining on it are one of the worst misfires of any general manager in recent memory.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Colin Stephenson of Newsday reports that New York Rangers forward Brett Berard was back at practice today in a green no-contact jersey. The 22-year-old is currently listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, an injury he most likely suffered on Saturday afternoon when he took a hit from Canadiens forward Kirby Dach. In four games this season with the Rangers, Berard has been solid, posting a goal and an assist while averaging 12:33 of ice time. The Rangers have a bit of a break this week and don’t play again until Friday against Pittsburgh, so Berard may still suit up depending on how he feels before then.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliate the Cleveland Monsters have signed defenseman Madison Bowey to an AHL contract for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Bowey has already suited up in 17 games this season for Cleveland, posting three assists while playing under a professional tryout. The 29-year-old is a veteran of 158 NHL games over four seasons with four different NHL teams. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native tallied five goals and 35 assists during his time in the NHL and was a regular for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2019-20 season before the league shutting down during the pandemic. Bowey would only play in four NHL games after that season, spending the bulk of his time in the AHL and KHL.

Wild Didn't Want To Include Daemon Hunt In Trade

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche have assigned forwards Ivan Ivan, Nikita Prishchepov, and Chris Wagner to the minor leagues in what appears to be a paper transaction. The move will help Colorado accrue morsels of salary cap before their next game on Tuesday. Injuries have continued to pile up in Colorado, pushing all three players into Saturday’s loss to Edmonton.

Ivan stamped his spot on the third line with a two-goal game last week, but he hasn’t managed any more scoring in the three games since. Still, he’s received far more attention than Wagner and Prishchepov, who respectively recorded a measly five and six minutes of ice time in Colorado’s last game. The trio make up the bulk of Colorado’s bottom-six ice time, and the Avalanche will now take advantage of their waiver exemption status to bank some daily cap space.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin reportedly did not want to include defenseman Daemon Hunt in the trade package the was used to pluck David Jiricek from the Columbus Blue Jackets yesterday (as per Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News). The Wild sent Hunt and four draft picks to Columbus to acquire Jiricek and a fifth-round pick, and Guerin told the media that he hated including Hunt in the deal but felt that the price he paid to acquire the former sixth-overall pick was fair. The Wild paid a heavy price to acquire the 21-year-old Jiricek, but if he develops into the defenseman the Wild expect, he and current Wild defender Brock Faber will give the team a solid core to build around for years to come.
  • Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers missed today’s game against the Dallas Stars and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury (as per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press). Jets head coach Scott Arniel didn’t have much in the way of an update after today’s game but did tell the media that Ehlers will see the team doctors in Winnipeg tomorrow. Ehlers is in the final season of a seven-year $42MM contract and will become an unrestricted free agent next July. The 28-year-old has had a fantastic start to the season with nine goals and 16 assists in 24 games.

Blue Jackets Recall Mikael Pyyhtia

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

11:30 AM: Chinakhov will indeed sit out on Sunday, with NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda confirming the winger didn’t travel with the team to Chicago. The Blue Jackets will continue their road trip with a four-game trip into Western Canada, potentially hindering Chinkahov’s ability to return soon – though he could join the team partway through their trip.

10:30 AM: The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Mikael Pyyhtia. He was sent to the minor leagues on November 20th after making the Blue Jackets roster out of training camp. Pyyhtia’s call-up could suggest that Columbus winger Yegor Chinakhov won’t be healthy for the team’s Sunday game. Chinakhov is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and sat out of the team’s Friday win over Calgary.

Pyyhtia played in four games during his AHL stint. He scored in three of those outings for five points total – including a three-assist night in an overtime win over Milwaukee. That’s a welcome bout of scoring after Pyyhtia managed just one goal through 17 games to start his NHL season. Pyyhtia was similarly snakebit last season, recording just two assists in 17 games – after earning a midseason call-up from the AHL. The 2024-25 season marks Pyyhtia’s second full year in North America, having made the move to Ohio at the end of the Liiga’s 2022-23 campaign. He played in parts of four seasons with TPS prior to coming over, recording 63 points in 140 games.

Pyyhtia has never been known as a top-scorer, but this call-up gives him a chance to return to the NHL lineup with wind in his sails. Chinakhov was replaced on Friday by the return of top-six forward Cole Sillinger, though Columbus’ bottom-six could use a spark in scoring. Pyyhtia could step in for any of Zach Aston-Reese, James van Riemsdyk, or Kevin Labanc – with the latter the favorite to step out of the lineup recently.

Minnesota Wild Acquire David Jiříček From Columbus

at CDT | by 13 Comments

According to a team announcement, the Minnesota Wild have acquired defensive prospect David Jiříček and a 2025 fifth-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wild organization is sending back defenseman Daemon Hunt, a conditional 2025 first-round pick, Colorado’s 2026 third-round pick, Toronto’s 2026 fourth-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick to Columbus.

It’s been a long time coming for the former sixth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft. Jiříček will join the second organization of his very young career after several inconsistent years with the Blue Jackets. After scoring five goals and 11 points in 29 games for Czechia’s HC Plzeň, Jiříček was ranked as the fourth-best European skater and second-best defenseman by NHL Central Scouting before the 2022 NHL Draft.

Jiříček immediately came to the Blue Jackets organization upon being drafted, suiting up in 55 games for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. He impressed with six goals and 38 points in his rookie campaign in the AHL but unfortunately missed out on the league’s All-Rookie Team. Arguably Jiříček’s most impressive performance of the season came in the middle of the year during the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.

He scored three goals and seven points in seven games for Team Czechia while posting a +10 rating throughout the tournament. He was voted the best defenseman by the directorate and helped guide Czechia to the country’s first silver medal since 1985 when they shared a country with Slovakia.

Jiříček managed to debut in the NHL in the 2022-23 season but went scoreless over a brief four-game stretch. The following season allowed Jiříček his largest opportunity to make an impact with the Blue Jackets.

He scored one goal and 10 points over 43 games in Columbus last year. The organization kept him incredibly sheltered as the young defenseman only averaged 14:36 of ice time per game. Still, he showed flashes of being an elite two-way defenseman with a 92.4% on-ice save percentage in all situations which was especially good considering the Blue Jackets finished 31st in the NHL in goals-against per game.

Still, infrequent demotions and recalls by Columbus throughout the regular season prohibited Jiříček from gaining any traction for the Blue Jackets or Monsters. He finished the 2023-24 AHL season with seven goals and 19 assists in 29 games for Cleveland with another three goals and 11 points in 14 postseason contests.

The beginning of the 2024-25 season likely put the nail in the coffin for Jiříček’s future in Columbus. He cracked the team’s roster out of training camp but was hardly used by new head coach Dean Evason. He only suited up in six of the Blue Jackets’ first 18 games before being reassigned to the AHL on November 20th. His average ice time slipped even further with Jiříček only averaging 11:12 of ice time.

Jiříček will now join a Minnesota defense that projects to be one of the best in the league in a few years. The organization already deploys defensemen Brock Faber and Jared Spurgeon on the right side of the defense. Things look equally as impressive on the left side of the blue line with Jonas Brodin and recent draft pick Zeev Buium also projected in long-term roles.

The Wild’s already solid defense has helped them to a 15-4-4 record to start the 2024-25 NHL season making this year’s first-round pick expendable. Minnesota announced that the conditions on the first-round pick include top-five protection. The inclusion of a first-round pick was likely a bare minimum for the Blue Jackets organization despite this one likely falling outside of the lottery.  The other three draft draft selections heading to Columbus give the organization eight for the 2026 NHL Draft and eight for the 2027 NHL Draft.

Hunt, reportedly the final part of the deal, is in a similar situation, albeit a lower profile, to that of Jiříček. He’ll be familiar with Evason after having played a handful of games for him last season but didn’t have any legitimate pathway to the NHL in Minnesota. He had been enjoying a quietly productive season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild tallying four assists in nine games.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the Wild were finalizing a deal for Jiříček.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report Hunt’s inclusion in the deal.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report a majority of the trade package.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blue Jackets Reassign Jet Greaves, Joseph LaBate To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets made a pair of expected roster moves before their contest tomorrow afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks. The organization announced they’ve reassigned goaltender Jet Greaves and forward Joseph LaBate to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.

LaBate is back in the American Hockey League with the Monsters after a brief trip on the waiver wire. He’s already collected five games in Cleveland this season on a tryout agreement scoring one goal and four points with six PIMs. His AHL career has lasted a decade with LaBate scoring 64 goals and 137 points in 410 games since entering the AHL in 2014-15.

The 6’5″, 209-lbs centerman also has NHL experience despite not playing in a game since 2016-17. He suited up in 13 games for the Vancouver Canucks but failed to register any points. Still, he made his presence known by collecting three fighting majors in his brief stint.

Similarly, Greaves will return to a familiar environment in Cleveland. Due to Daniil Tarasov’s illness, the Blue Jackets recalled Greaves yesterday to serve as backup against the Calgary Flames. Given that Columbus likely isn’t looking to accrue any more cap space for the trade deadline, this roster move nearly confirms Tarasov’s return tomorrow.

Greaves has been a consistently solid goaltender for the Monsters since debuting in the AHL during the 2021-22 season. In four years, he’s posted a 68-43-14 record in Cleveland with a .905 save percentage and 2.98 goals against average.

Multiple Teams Showing Interest in Nils Hoglander

at CDT | by 7 Comments

It wasn’t long ago that Canucks winger Nils Hoglander looked like an important part of Vancouver’s long-term plans.  But things haven’t gone as well this year for him and it appears that teams are starting to kick the tires to see if he’s available.  ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that the Capitals, Penguins, and Blue Jackets are among the teams who have explored the possibility of acquiring Hoglander.

Hoglander made an early impact with Vancouver, picking up 13 goals and 14 assists in 56 games in the shortened 2020-21 season.  However, his output dipped in the next two seasons, capped off by him spending the bulk of the 2022-23 campaign in the minors with AHL Abbotsford.

However, Hoglander took a big step forward last season.  The 23-year-old set new career highs in goals (24) and points (36) despite playing almost exclusively in the bottom six, averaging just 12:06 per game.  Still, he was a regular throughout the season and the playoffs, restoring some value along the way.

That was enough for the Canucks to hand him a three-year, $9MM contract extension that will begin next season.  While it walks Hoglander right to UFA eligibility at 27 in the 2028 offseason, it looked as if he was going to be a capable bottom-six option for them for a while.

But things haven’t gone anywhere near as well this season.  He has been limited to just two goals and three assists in 21 appearances so far despite basically having the same role.  Along the way, his shooting percentage has dropped from 20%, a mark that’s hard to maintain, down to 8.7% which is a little below league average.

While Hoglander’s price tag will be $3MM next season, it’s a much more manageable $1.1MM this season as he wraps up his bridge deal.  That’s especially important for Washington, a team that is effectively capped out and well into LTIR.  Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has ample cap space after moving Lars Eller to the Caps earlier this month while Columbus is at the bottom of the league in spending this season.  All three teams make some sense for Hoglander’s services as a player to potentially help their bottom six group while being young enough to still be in the plans if those teams wind up having to pivot to a rebuild down the road.

Despite his slow start, there still should be a fairly strong market for his services beyond those three Eastern Conference teams should GM Patrik Allvin decide to make him available which could make his trade value higher than it might seem.  If the Canucks decide to try to shake things up, Hoglander is a potentially viable candidate to move.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top