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Injury Notes: Merzlikins, Chatfield, Coyotes

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The Columbus Blue Jackets lost their starting goaltender after the first period of this evening’s contest with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Per a team release, Elvis Merzlikins would not play the remainder of the game due to an illness. Michael Hutchinson was forced into action with Merzlikins ruled out for the night. Merzlikins did return to the team’s bench early in the second period, which should rule out anything serious. After trading goaltender Joonas Korpisalo at the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets can’t afford to have another netminder unavailable to them.

  • The Carolina Hurricanes announced defenseman Jalen Chatfield would not return to the team’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. He suffered an upper-body injury after playing just over seven minutes of action. Chatfield has played 61 games for the Hurricanes this season, scoring five goals and 12 points. The team added some depth on the blue line at the deadline when they acquired Shayne Gostisbehere, and that extra depth could be tested if Chatfield misses any time.
  • Per a team release, Arizona Coyotes winger Liam O’Brien is out of the lineup due to illness. The 28-year-old forward has scored one goal and seven points in 38 games for the Coyotes this season. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports added newcomer Brett Ritchie will have to wait before making his Coyotes debut as he is still dealing with visa issues after being acquired on Mar 3 from the Calgary Flames.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Corson Ceulemans

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3:48 p.m.: PuckPedia reports that Ceulemans’ deal carries a cap hit of $925K, with his salary structure the same in all three years of the contract. He’ll earn $832.5K in NHL salary, $92.5K in signing bonuses, and $80K in minors salary each season.

3:11 p.m.: The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed defenseman Corson Ceulemans, a 2021 first-round pick, to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2023-24 season, the team announced today. The team did not disclose financial details, although they noted he will be joining the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters on a professional tryout for the remainder of 2022-23.

Ceulemans, 19, leaves his college hockey career at the University of Wisconsin just a day after the school announced the firing of head coach Tony Granato. The school won a Big Ten regular-season title in the COVID-marred 2020-21 season, but Ceulemans’ two-year stint there wasn’t met with any team success.

He did impress offensively, recording 15 goals and 45 points in 67 games there across his freshman and sophomore campaigns. A two-way defender, Ceulemans’ public draft rankings ranged wildly due to a COVID-stifled eight-game stint with the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits being his sole league play during his draft year. He ended up going to the Blue Jackets in the late first round, 25th overall, after the team selected both Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger before him.

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen had the following words on one of his top prospects:

Ceulemans is an outstanding young defenseman who excels at both ends of the ice and we are thrilled that he is beginning his professional career this spring. He combines size and strength with excellent mobility and a knack to produce offensively and we are excited about his future with our organization.

With his collegiate season over, Ceulemans will join the Monsters, although he likely won’t get any playoff experience. Cleveland sits last in the North Division with a 23-25-6 record.

Flyers, Blue Jackets Discussed Hayes Trade

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Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek were on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast (20:00 mark) and had some interesting tidbits about deals that did not happen. One of them was the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets briefly talked about Kevin Hayes.

Hayes is a 30-year-old center who has three more years left on his contact with a cap hit just north of $7MM. Though he is having a productive season with 49 points in 61 games played, he drew the ire of head coach John Tortorella earlier this season and was made a healthy scratch. With the Flyers struggling in the standings, they may be eager to move out some cap space, leading to the Hayes talks.

Marek said the two teams did engage in “soft talks” and he would not be surprised if this was something both sides revisited in the offseason. Friedman also mentioned that he could see negotiations ramping up once again at the NHL Draft.

The Blue Jackets opened up plenty of cap space for next season when they traded Jakub Voracek to the Arizona Coyotes. Voracek and sixth-round pick were swapped for goaltender Jon Gillies which gives the Blue Jackets $8.25MM more cap space in 2023-24. That is more than enough to bring in Hayes.

Hayes would also fit well alongside Johnny Gaudreau. The pair played three seasons together at Boston College, culminating in a Hobey Baker Award for Gaudreau when he scored 80 points in 40 games in 2013-14. Hayes had 27 goals and 65 points in 40 games that season. Gaudreau is in the first year of a seven-year contract with an annual $9.75MM cap hit. He has 15 goals and 55 points in 60 games, but the Blue Jackets sit at the bottom of the NHL standings.

These talks were only preliminary, but it would be interesting to see Hayes and Gaudreau reunited at the NHL level. Definitely something worth keeping an eye on in the offseason.

Trade Deadline Roundup: Eastern Conference

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While trade deadline day was largely a dud in itself, that was because so many moves were made in the days leading up to March 3rd.  With that in mind, here is a recap of the trades made in the Eastern Conference in the ten days leading up to deadline day to show who all moved where in what was a busy trade period overall.  Players and picks that were acquired and then flipped are only noted for their final destination.

Boston Bruins

Acquired: F Shane Bowers, F Tyler Bertuzzi, F Garnet Hathaway, D Dmitry Orlov, F Andrei Svetlakov

Traded: G Keith Kinkaid, F Craig Smith, 2023 first-round pick, 2023 fifth-round pick, 2024 first-round pick, 2024 third-round pick, 2025 second-round pick, 2025 fourth-round pick

Buffalo Sabres

Acquired: F Jordan Greenway, D Riley Stillman, D Austin Strand, 2023 third-round pick (LA), 2025 seventh-round pick (NSH)

Traded: F Rasmus Asplund, F Josh Bloom, F Anders Bjork, G Erik Portillo, D Chase Priskie, 2023 second-round pick (VGK), 2024 fifth-round pick

Carolina Hurricanes

Acquired: D Shayne Gostisbehere, F Jesse Puljujarvi

Traded: F Patrik Puistola, 2026 third-round pick

Columbus Blue Jackets

Acquired: G Jon Gillies, G Michael Hutchinson, 2023 first-round pick (LA), 2023 fifth-round pick (BOS), 2024 third-round pick (LA), 2025 seventh-round pick (VGK)

Traded: D Vladislav Gavrikov, G Joonas Korpisalo, F Gustav Nyquist, Jakub Voracek, 2023 sixth-round pick

Detroit Red Wings

Acquired: F Dylan McLaughlin, 2023 first-round pick (NYI), 2023 second-round pick (VAN), 2023 fourth-round pick (MIN), 2024 first-round pick (BOS), 2025 fourth-round pick (BOS), 2025 seventh-round pick (STL)

Traded: F Tyler Bertuzzi, D Filip Hronek, F Oskar Sundqvist, F Jakub Vrana

Florida Panthers

No trades made

Montreal Canadiens

Acquired: D Frederic Allard, F Denis Gurianov, D Tony Sund, 2024 fifth-round pick (SJ)

Traded: F Evgenii Dadonov, D Arvid Henrikson, F Nate Schnarr

New Jersey Devils

Acquired: G Zacharie Emond, F Timur Ibragimov, F Curtis Lazar, F Timo Meier, D Santeri Hatakka, 2024 fifth-round pick (COL)

Traded: F Andreas Johnsson, D Shakir Mukhamadullin, D Nikita Okhotyuk, F Fabian Zetterlund, 2023 first-round pick, 2024 second-round pick, 2024 fourth-round pick, 2024 seventh-round pick

New York Islanders

Acquired: F Pierre Engvall

Traded: 2024 third-round pick

New York Rangers

Acquired: F Anton Blidh, D Wyatt Kalynuk, F Patrick Kane, F William Lockwood, D Cooper Zech, 2026 seventh-round pick (VAN)

Traded: F Vitali Kravtsov, F Austin Rueschhoff, F Gustav Rydahl, D Andy Welinski, 2023 second-round pick, 2025 third-round pick, 2025 fourth-round pick

Ottawa Senators

Acquired: F Patrick Brown, D Jakob Chychrun

Traded: D Nikita Zaitsev, 2023 first-round pick, 2023 second-round pick, 2023 sixth-round pick, 2024 second-round pick, 2026 second-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick

Philadelphia Flyers

Acquired: F Brendan Lemieux, 2023 sixth-round pick (OTT), 2024 fourth-round pick (LA)

Traded: F Patrick Brown, F Zack MacEwen, F Isaac Ratcliffe

Pittsburgh Penguins

Acquired: F Nick Bonino, F Peter DiLiberatore, F Mikael Granlund, D Dmitry Kulikov, 2024 third-round pick (VGK)

Traded: F Teddy Blueger, F Brock McGinn, 2023 second-round pick, 2023 seventh-round pick, 2024 third-round pick, 2024 fifth-round pick

Tampa Bay Lightning

Acquired: F Michael Eyssimont, F Tanner Jeannot

Traded: D Cal Foote, F Vladislav Namestnikov, 2023 third-round pick, 2023 fourth-round pick, 2023 fifth-round pick, 2024 second-round pick, 2025 first-round pick

Toronto Maple Leafs

Acquired: D Erik Gustafsson, F Sam Lafferty, D Jake McCabe, D Luke Schenn, F Radim Zohorna, 2023 first-round pick (BOS), 2024 third-round pick (NYI), 2024 fifth-round pick (CHI), 2025 fifth-round pick (CHI)

Traded: F Joey Anderson, F Pierre Engvall, F Pavel Gogolev, F Dryden Hunt, D Rasmus Sandin, 2023 third-round pick, 2025 first-round pick, 2026 second-round pick

Washington Capitals

Acquired: D Rasmus Sandin, F Craig Smith, 2024 third-round pick (BOS), 2024 third-round pick (MIN), 2025 second-round pick (BOS), 2025 second-round pick (COL)

Traded: F Lars Eller, D Erik Gustafsson, F Garnet Hathaway, F Marcus Johansson, D Dmitry Orlov

Sean Kuraly Out Six Weeks

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Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sean Kuraly is expected to miss six weeks after suffering a left oblique strain during practice on Thursday. The team made the announcement on Friday, adding another name to a long list of Blue Jackets injuries this season.

Game 82 of Columbus’ season, against the Buffalo Sabres, is exactly six weeks from today, meaning Kuraly may have played his last game of 2022-23. If so, he finishes the campaign with 10 goals and seven assists in 59 games, his second consecutive season hitting double-digit goals.

Kuraly had averaged 14:49 per game, serving as a quintessential bottom-six checking center for Columbus. His line with Eric Robinson and Mathieu Olivier had been Columbus’ most consistently deployed unit of the season, per MoneyPuck, surviving many injury-related lineup changes.

While the Blue Jackets are the healthiest they’ve been in quite some time, they’re still without Zach Werenski, Jake Bean, and Justin Danforth, none of whom are expected to return this season. Lane Pederson, claimed on waivers from the Vancouver Canucks at the end of January, could slide into Kuraly’s spot in the lineup between Robinson and Olivier.

Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Jonathan Quick

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Jonathan Quick never really did join the Columbus Blue Jackets. After this week’s trade, the veteran goaltender was immediately back on the market, following some reports that he was blindsided and upset about being traded from the Los Angeles Kings.

He didn’t make much sense for the Blue Jackets, given their current situation, so they have quickly found him a new home. Columbus has negotiated a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights to send Quick back to the Pacific Division. The Blue Jackets will receive Michael Hutchinson and a 2025 seventh-round pick, while retaining 50% of Quick’s contract.

Given how little Columbus received in this deal, it seems like more of a favor than anything to a veteran goaltender who didn’t want to join a losing team for the last few months of the season.

A 2025 seventh-round pick is about the lowest-valued asset you can receive, and Hutchinson is on an expiring deal that will be of little use to the Blue Jackets.

What this trade does set up, however, is a potential matchup between Quick and the Kings in the playoffs. With question marks around the health of Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit, there is a real chance that Quick gets playing time in Vegas, and potentially some revenge on the team that he believed he would spend his entire career with.

The question now is whether Quick has any effective hockey left in him. The 37-year-old has been bad this season, posting an .876 save percentage in 31 appearances, and has an .896 over his past five seasons combined. Perhaps the Golden Knights can find a way to unlock prime Quick for a few months, but it seems unlikely at this point.

Arizona Coyotes Acquire Jakub Voracek

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The Arizona Coyotes continue their run on contracts they will never have to pay out. The team has acquired Jakub Voracek from the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with a 2023 sixth-round pick, in exchange for Jon Gillies. Voracek’s career is in doubt, and according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, there is insurance coverage for next year’s $7.8MM salary.

The move is important for a few different reasons. One, it gets the Coyotes much closer to the salary cap floor for next season, meaning they can make additional trades in the next 24 hours to jettison more expensive pieces like Nick Schmaltz or Lawson Crouse that may be drawing interest.

For the Blue Jackets, the move lets them get out from long-term injured reserve and under the salary cap ceiling, meaning performance bonuses from this year will no longer be carried over to 2023-24. With only the cost of a sixth-round pick to pay, it makes plenty of sense to get Voracek’s contract off the books.

If it is the end of his career as suspected, thanks to multiple head injuries, Voracek will go down as one of his generation’s more underrated offensive players. With over 800 points in his career, he sits 177th all-time and is just shy of the top 100 in assists with 583.

He’ll join a long list of players who have technically been part of the Coyotes organization but never played a game for the team, should he miss next season as expected.

Arizona now has Voracek, Shea Weber, and Bryan Little on the books for next season, a total of nearly $21.4MM in cap hits that won’t play a minute of ice time. On the other hand, they also have 36 draft picks over the next three years, including 21 in the top three rounds.

Blue Jackets Loan Jet Greaves To AHL

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  • In the wake of the team’s stunning acquisition of legendary goaltender Jonathan Quick last night, the Blue Jackets have loaned netminder Jet Greaves to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. The 21-year-old departs Columbus’ roster without having yet played in an NHL game. He’s an undrafted OHL product who split last season between AHL Cleveland and the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings and has started 29 games for the Monsters this year.

Los Angeles Kings Trade Jonathan Quick

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Late last night, another franchise icon was sent packing. The Los Angeles Kings agreed to trade Jonathan Quick, along with a conditional 2023 first-round pick and 2024 third-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo. The deal has now been officially announced, with the conditions revealed.

They’re very simple. If the Kings qualify for the playoffs this year, they will give Columbus a first-round pick. If they miss, they will owe second-round picks in 2023 and 2024.

The move must be bittersweet for Kings fans, who have cheered on Quick for more than a decade. On the one hand, the team is shipping out the most successful goaltender in franchise history, the backbone of its two Stanley Cup teams and winner of the 2012 Conn Smythe trophy. On the other, Quick’s performance had declined significantly this season, and the club is poised to make a serious playoff run if they can improve the goaltending.

Through 31 appearances this season, Quick has a save percentage of just .876, easily the worst of his career. The uber-athletic goaltender has seemed a step behind the play, and can’t seem to string together multiple good starts. In his last appearance as a King, he allowed three goals on seven shots before being pulled less than halfway through the game.

Still, this is a goaltender that has more than twice as many wins as the next-best in Kings history. Quick’s 370 career wins not only dwarves second-place Rogie Vachon’s 171, but put him 19th on the all-time NHL list. Despite never winning a Vezina Trophy (his closest came in 2012 when he finished second), Quick has a decent chance of reaching the Hall of Fame eventually as one of only 17 goaltenders to win the Conn Smythe. Add in an Olympic silver medal and two Jennings trophies, and it was a pretty productive career for the 2005 third-round pick.

The Kings are focused on this season, though, and bringing in two players to help them compete in the playoffs.

Gavrikov, 27, has been talked about for months, and was moved out of the lineup by Columbus for two weeks before they eventually moved him. The big, rangy defenseman can contribute in many ways, and could find even more success playing on a Kings blueline that can give him more support. With the Blue Jackets, he was likely asked to do too much, playing more than 22 minutes a night as their most reliable option, once Zach Werenski went down to injury.

Korpisalo is perhaps the more interesting addition, though, if only because he has caught fire of late. The 28-year-old goaltender has a .911 save percentage on the season, but that number rises to .916 if you look at his last ten, in which he has lost in regulation just three times. Those may not sound like earth-shattering numbers, but on a Columbus team that is one of the worst in the league, they are encouraging.

The Blue Jackets are getting not only two significant draft picks, but also an asset in Quick that might have some extra value. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that Columbus will check around to see if they can flip the veteran goaltender to a contending team.

At the very least they come away from another deadline with a first-round pick. Gavrikov was expected to test the free agent market, while Korpisalo was likely on his last legs with the team, as they prepare to turn over that roster spot to Daniil Tarasov.

Kings Have Shown Interest In A Gavrikov-Korpisalo Package Deal

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The Kings have been shopping around for help on the back end and could stand to add some goaltending depth for the playoff run.  It could be a one-stop shop for Los Angeles as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that they’re showing interest in a package deal with Columbus that would see them add blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, both pending unrestricted free agents.  Gavrikov is logging a career-high 22:20 per night this season for the Blue Jackets and would fit in nicely into their top four while Korpisalo, who was also scratched tonight for trade-related purposes, has put up a .911 SV% on a rebuilding Columbus squad.  The two carry a combined cap hit of $4.1MM which is more than Los Angeles can currently afford although it’s worth noting that the Blue Jackets have two remaining retained salary slots remaining.

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