Atlantic Notes: Brodie, Luff, Richard
David Alter of Sports Illustrated reports that per head coach Sheldon Keefe, Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman T.J. Brodie will not be in the lineup tonight. Keefe confirms that Brodie has been fine for the most part, but remains a little banged up as the Maple Leafs continue their final stretch toward the playoffs. During a flurry of trade deadline activity, the Maple Leafs have added Conor Timmins, Erik Gustafsson, Luke Schenn, and Jake McCabe, while only moving defenseman Rasmus Sandin off their roster.
Keefe did not specifically use the word “maintenance”, but with nine defensemen on the active roster ready to fill in, this is exactly what it seems like for Brodie tonight. Having been placed on the injured reserve twice already this year, Brodie is having a down year for his standards. Playing in only 47 games so far this season, Brodie has two goals and nine assists for the Maple Leafs. Although his point scoring is down, Brodie has still been racking up the blocked shots and serving valuable minutes on Toronto’s penalty kill.
Other notes:
- The Detroit Red Wings announced that they have recalled forward Matt Luff from their AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins. Playing in his first season in the Red Wings’ organization, Luff actually missed over two months of play from an injury at the beginning of the season. Playing in only seven games for Detroit, the forward has scored one goal this year. In the minor leagues, Luff has been a very productive forward for the Griffins, scoring 25 points in 28 games.
- Being recalled on emergency loan on March 9th, the Montreal Canadiens have sent forward Anthony Richard back to their AHL affiliate Laval Rocket. Playing in 13 games this season for the Canadiens, Richard has scored three goals and two assists. Unlike his production in the NHL, Richard has been one of the best players in Laval this season, if not one of the best players in the minor leagues altogether. In 49 games played for Laval, the forward has scored 24 goals and 31 assists.
Detroit Prospect Redmond Savage Reportedly Entering Transfer Portal
- New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver has reported that three NHL prospects are hitting the transfer portal, meaning they are exploring the possibility of transferring to another NCAA program. The first is Los Angeles Kings prospect Jack Hughes, a 2022 second-round pick who scored 16 points in 32 games for Northeastern. The next is Detroit Red Wings 2021 fourth-rounder Redmond Savage, who scored 14 points in 32 games for Miami University (Ohio) and made the United States World Juniors team the past two tournaments. The final player is Anaheim Ducks prospect Sam Colangelo, the 36th overall pick at the 2020 draft. Colangelo’s production declined from last season when he scored nearly at a point-per-game rate, and he could be looking for a fresh start for his age-22 campaign.
Detroit Red Wings Sign Antti Tuomisto
Per a team release, the Detroit Red Wings have signed defenseman Antti Tuomisto to a two-year entry-level contract, beginning in 2023-24. The team did not disclose financial details.
Tuomisto, a 2019 second-round pick of Detroit, signs on with the organization after his first taste of professional hockey last season with Liiga’s TPS Turku. He finished tied for the team lead among points from defensemen with 20, along with former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Teemu Kivihalme.
At 22 years old, Tuomisto does already have some North American experience, and a fruitful one at that. Tuomisto was a member of last year’s University of Denver team that won the national championship, recording a goal and eight assists in 35 games. It was his sophomore campaign at the school.
Tuomisto is a two-way defender with towering size, measuring 6’5″ and 205 pounds. It was a smooth transition to pro hockey for Tuomisto, whose college numbers were somewhat disappointing.
While a solid prospect, the list of players drafted immediately after Tuomisto in 2019 makes the pick seem less appealing in hindsight. Goalies Pyotr Kochetkov and Mads Sogaard, as well as forward Nils Hoglander and top defense prospect Jackson LaCombe, were selected closely after Tuomisto.
It’s unclear whether Tuomisto will join the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins on a tryout for the remainder of the season or wait until fall to make his return to North America.
Detroit Red Wings Recall Austin Czarnik, Simon Edvinsson
The Detroit Red Wings recalled center Austin Czarnik and defenseman Simon Edvinsson from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins today under emergency conditions, as announced in a team release.
This is Edvinsson’s first recall to the NHL, and it could mean the 2021 sixth-overall pick makes his NHL debut over the weekend. He takes the place of Ben Chiarot on the roster, who is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
The 20-year-old Edvinsson has five goals, 27 points, and a -3 rating with the Griffins this season, his first in North America. Detroit inked him to an entry-level contract at the end of last season after Edvinsson broke into professional hockey full-time with Frölunda HC of the SHL.
Czarnik returns to Detroit after the team returned him to Grand Rapids earlier in the week. The diminutive, versatile forward has two goals and an assist in 15 appearances with the Red Wings this season. He will likely center the fourth line between Adam Erne and Alex Chiasson in tomorrow’s game against Colorado.
While a late-season slide unfortunately took Detroit out of the playoff picture just as the deadline approached, the benefits of selling can be seen here for a young team. Getting Edvinsson into some NHL games down the stretch could go a long way toward creating an NHL-ready player for next season.
Injury Notes: Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins
Detroit Red Wings coach Derek LaLonde announced that defenseman Ben Chiarot is week-to-week with an upper body injury, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.
Chiarot played just over 19 minutes in Detroit’s 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. He is in the first season of a four-year contract with the Red Wings at a cap hit of $4.75MM.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Ryan Poehling has been activated from injured reserve, the team announced on Twitter. Poehling last played on Feb. 11 in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. He has 11 points in 38 games this season for the Pens, his first in Pittsburgh. Poehling has scored 18 goals in his career, three of which came in his NHL debut in 2019. Also announced by the Penguins was Alexander Nylander‘s recall status being updated from emergency recall to regular recall. Nylander has played four games for Pittsburgh this season, recording an assist, and has played well in the AHL, with 25 goals and 25 assists for 50 points in 54 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Detroit Reassigns Luff, Czarnik
This morning, the Detroit Red Wings assigned Matt Luff and Austin Czarnik to the AHL, as they await a game later this week. The Red Wings don’t play again until Saturday afternoon against the Colorado Avalanche, giving them a chance to save some money in the meantime.
Poll: Who Will Be The Wild Card Teams In The Eastern Conference?
Now that the NHL and AHL trade deadlines have passed, the league is full speed ahead toward the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. With between 15-18 games left in the regular season, there are only nine points separating the seventh-place and 13th-place teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
If the season ended today, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins would cross the finish line as the wild-card winners in the East. In their last ten games, respectively, the Islanders are 7-2-1, while the Penguins are 5-4-1. Whether or not they have the rosters to get it done, both teams made moves at the deadline in hopes of making the playoffs this year.
Following behind them, the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators are making the strongest case to move past the Islanders and Penguins. In their last ten, the Panthers are 6-4-0, while the Senators are 7-3-0. The Panthers are not the same dominant team that they were last year, but they still have an extremely talented roster led by Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk.
The Senators are following a much different course. After a few seasons of rebuilding, the Senators are finally a fun hockey team to watch again. After signing Claude Giroux and making a trade for Alex DeBrincat, the Senators had hope for meaningful games in April at the beginning of the season. Starting slow out of the gate, it seems this team has put it all together as the season has progressed. By acquiring top trade candidate Jakob Chychrun at the deadline, the Senators have the team to bring the Eastern wild-card race down to the wire.
Rounding out the last of the group that could theoretically reach the playoffs, the Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, and Detroit Red Wings are still within striking distance. The Capitals and Red Wings both chose to sell at the deadline, while the Sabres’ biggest move was acquiring Jordan Greenway from the Minnesota Wild. The Sabres have a similar aura around them as the Senators, after they too have an exciting team after years of rebuilding. However, all three of these teams have a losing record in their last ten games, with the Sabres’ last game being a 10-4 blowout loss to the Dallas Stars.
So who will it be PHR readers? Cast your vote and let us know which two teams will win the wild-card race in the East.
Detroit Red Wings Recall Austin Czarnik On Emergency Basis
The Detroit Red Wings have announced that forward Austin Czarnik has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, on an emergency basis.
The move comes as Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri looks set to miss time due to an injury. Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde told the media today that Fabbri would miss Detroit’s game against the Boston Bruins, but remained “fairly optimistic” that Fabbri will eventually return this season.
Czarnik, 30, has spent most of this season in AHL Grand Rapids, where he has played well as a leading scorer for the team. He’s a veteran of over 150 NHL games, and while he’s scored just three points in 12 games this season, he can typically be counted on to give some competent depth minutes to a team in a pinch.
Czarnik last appeared in the NHL in December, with his most recent game coming on a December 19th loss to the Washington Capitals. While it’s unclear if Czarnik will directly replace Fabbri’s spot in the Red Wings’ lineup, he will give Lalonde another option to work with as he looks to stay afloat in a highly-competitive Eastern Conference.
Robby Fabbri Out Day-To-Day
More than just Detroit Red Wings fans cringed when they saw Robby Fabbri limp off the ice last night with a lower-body injury. The 27-year-old has been through multiple major knee surgeries in his career, but keeps coming back and showing that he can contribute at the NHL level on reconstructed ACLs.
When he missed practice today, it seemed like it might be bad news for the talented winger, but head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters that Fabbri is only out day-to-day. The Red Wings will be cautious for obvious reasons, but the team is optimistic that he avoided a serious injury.
Arizona Coyotes Acquire Steven Kampfer
The trade deadline, despite its name, is not exactly a full stop for NHL transactions. Players can still be dealt after it passes, but are then deemed ineligible for the rest of the regular season and playoffs. Ineligible, that is, at the NHL level.
Almost every year, there is a deal or two that comes in after the deadline that includes minor league players swapping clubs. This time, it’s the Detroit Red Wings and Arizona Coyotes hooking up on a trade that will see Steven Kampfer join the Tucson Roadrunners in exchange for future considerations.
Kampfer, 36, is no longer eligible to play for the Coyotes this season but can help the Roadrunners down the stretch, and potentially discuss an extension with Arizona. The veteran defenseman is a well-respected pro who started his career with the Boston Bruins in 2010, and wore an “A” for the U.S. at the 2022 Olympics.
Despite being just 24-26-6 on the year, Tucson is actually in a playoff position in the Pacific Division. That spot is only a hair ahead of the teams chasing them, though, meaning Kampfer’s help will be much appreciated over the next 16 games.
Grand Rapids, on the other hand, is likely going to miss the postseason, unless they can orchestrate an incredible turnaround over the last part of the season. They sit last in the Central, 11 points behind the Iowa Wild for the final playoff spot.