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Pacific Notes: Eichel, Canucks, Kokko

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After placing forward Jack Eichel on injured reserve only two days ago, the thought was that the injury was not serious, and Eichel would only be missing a maximum of three games with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the organization announced today that Eichel underwent successful lower-body surgery, and would be out on a week-to-week basis.

This injury news will certainly change the trajectory of the Golden Knights’ season for some time, as it would for any team operating without their top option at the center position. Moving forward, with Eichel for at least the next week or two, Vegas will continue to operate with Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy centering the top two offensive lines.

Scoring at a point-per-game pace for the second straight year with the Golden Knights, Eichel joins a growing list of injured players in Vegas, a reality that has led to a rough patch in the season for the organization. As the injuries continue to pile up, after starting the year as the top team in the NHL, the Golden Knights are 6-9-0 in their last 15 games, being outscored by a margin of 11 goals over that stretch.

Other notes:

  • Having already been one of the most aggressive teams on the trade market this season, the Vancouver Canucks are still looking to add at this year’s trade deadline. In a quote reported by Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the General Manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin, stated, “I think I owe it to the players. We know that they are capable of playing at this high level. And if they continue to do that, it’s on me to support them and give them opportunities to be successful”. Even though another trade could put Vancouver over the top in the Western Conference playoff race, Allvin will have to get creative in any move, as the team only has a projected $1.22MM available in deadline cap space.
  • In a confirmed transaction according to EliteProspects, the Seattle Kraken have loaned goaltender Niklas Kokko to the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga. Kokko was originally a second-round selection of the Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft and suited up for Team Finland U20 in the 2023-24 World Junior Championships only a few weeks ago.

Atlantic Notes: Stamkos, Monahan, Kane

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Before the start of the 2023-24 regular season, captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Steven Stamkos, rather publicly voiced his frustration with the Lightning organization, primarily over the fact that the team had not yet approached him about a contract extension beyond this season. Although Stamkos had not found his name in any trade speculation up to this point, if Tampa Bay were to fall out of playoff contention by the trade deadline, it would be a reasonable conclusion given the events that took place over training camp.

However, even after succinctly explaining that the Lightning organization would wait until after this season to address the future of Stamkos with the organization, the General Manager of Tampa Bay, Julien BriseBois, states that the team has no interest in moving Stamkos in a trade. This morning, Joe Smith of The Athletic reported that the Lightning would not be moving Stamkos for any reason and that the team envisions Stamkos in Tampa Bay beyond this season.

It shouldn’t be too difficult for the Lightning to retain Stamkos, as it is more than likely he will earn a decrease to his current $8.5MM salary. However, if Tampa Bay believes they are due for a transitionary period as an organization, they may view the available cap space as more prudent than bringing back their long-time captain on another contract.

Other notes:

  • One player who has found himself in trade speculation for yet another season is a veteran forward for the Montreal Canadiens, Sean Monahan. However, the General Manager of the Canadiens, Kent Hughes, still believes everything is on the table in regards to Monahan’s future with the club, and the team may even opt to extend him rather than trade him (X Link). Playing on a one-year, $1.985MM contract for Montreal, Monahan has returned nicely from an injury-riddled 2022-23 season, scoring 11 goals and 25 points in 43 games for the Canadiens this year.
  • After leaving the team’s game on Sunday night, Helene St.James of the Detroit Free Press reports that forward Patrick Kane will miss the next two games for the Detroit Red Wings with a lower-body injury. Although the head coach of the team, Derek Lalonde, has assured the media that the organization is not concerned with it being related to Kane’s previous hip issues, there still will be some caution from Detroit moving forward.

Pacific Notes: Couture, Burakovsky, Beniers, Dunn, Leason

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The Sharks will remain without captain Logan Couture this week as he’s been ruled out for the remainder of their road trip, head coach David Quinn said (via San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng). Couture is slowly nearing a return from a lower-body injury that’s sidelined him for the whole season to date, and he’s been skating for over a month. However, Quinn has repeatedly preached caution by not rushing him into the lineup and risking re-aggravation of the injury.

Couture’s return won’t have much of an effect on the Sharks’ on-ice fortunes. Their 23 points and .267 points percentage are both the worst in the league this season, coupled with a -90 goal differential that demonstrated little optimism for improvement. They may have some upward mobility into the 31st or 30th places in the league standings, but even that seems unlikely past the halfway point of the season. However, his return to the organization is an important emotional win – the veteran of over 900 games and 14 seasons in a San Jose sweater remains an important locker room presence and provides some more quality depth for youngsters like William Eklund, Henry Thrun and Fabian Zetterlund to skate with.

More from around the Pacific Division:

  • The Seattle Times’ Kate Shefte relays that the Kraken are without three major players for today’s tilt against the Penguins: winger André Burakovsky, center Matthew Beniers and star defenseman Vince Dunn. Burakovsky, 28, is out with a lower-body injury sustained early in Saturday’s 7-4 win over the Blue Jackets. It continues an extremely injury-plagued season for the Swedish winger, whose previous upper-body injury had limited him to 13 games on the year. He has one goal and five points after finishing second on the Kraken in points per game last year with 39 points in 49 appearances. The 21-year-old Beniers, meanwhile, sustained an upper-body injury against Columbus after appearing in all 42 Kraken games thus far this season. His sophomore campaign has been rocky after taking home the Calder Trophy last season, posting just six goals and 19 points after notching 57 points last season. His possession numbers remain strong, however, a positive sign that his decline in production likely isn’t permanent. Dunn is out with an undisclosed injury after logging 22 minutes against Columbus on Saturday. The 27-year-old should earn himself a few Norris votes at season’s end, leading the team in scoring with 35 points while playing over 23 minutes per game. He’s in the first season of a four-year, $7.35MM extension.
  • Ducks winger Brett Leason is not in the lineup for today’s game against the Panthers after leaving Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Lightning with an upper-body injury.  The 24-year-old has already set a career-high in points with 12 through 36 appearances this year, scoring six goals and posting a -6 rating in bottom six minutes. Entering the game against the Lightning, he had been a healthy scratch in two of the last four games. He hasn’t been given a return timeline by the team yet.

Sabres Recall Kale Clague, Move Jeff Skinner To IR

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5:30 PM: The Sabres have sent Clague back to the AHL after the defenseman served as a healthy scratch for the team’s Monday win over the San Jose Sharks.

9:00 AM: The Sabres have recalled defenseman Kale Clague from AHL Rochester, per a team announcement. To create the necessary space on the active roster, the team moved star winger Jeff Skinner to injured reserve, according to CapFriendly.

The latter move is purely for roster management purposes and does not change Skinner’s recovery timeline. He remains listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Clague’s recall comes after defenseman Mattias Samuelsson took an elbow to the head from Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek early in the second period of Saturday’s 1-0 loss. Samuelsson did not return to the game and is likely out for this afternoon’s contest against the Sharks.

The 25-year-old Clague isn’t projected to dress against San Jose, but he does provide some needed defensive depth on the NHL roster. Buffalo lost multiple defenders to injury at points during the loss to Vancouver, namely Connor Clifton and Rasmus Dahlin. At one point during the contest, after Dahlin and Samuelsson had both exited the contest to go into concussion protocol due to separate hits to the head, veteran blueliner Erik Johnson was ineligible to play for five minutes after fighting Canucks center J.T. Miller, whose hit knocked Dahlin out of the game. That gave the Sabres only three available defensemen for a stretch, leading depth forward Zemgus Girgensons to play some shifts on the blue line. Head coach Don Granato confirmed both Clifton and Dahlin are cleared to play in today’s contest against the Sharks, although Samuelsson will remain out.

Clague, a second-round pick of the Kings in 2016, re-joined the Sabres on a one-year deal a few days after becoming a UFA in July. It was his second straight season without receiving a qualifying offer, which allowed the Sabres to sign him to a new deal at a slightly discounted cap hit. He’s in his second season in the Sabres organization after spending the first five seasons of his pro career with the Kings and Canadiens.

This is his first recall of 2023-24 after clearing waivers at the end of training camp. The puck-moving blueliner leads Rochester defensemen in assists (15) and points (17) this year in 31 games. It’s the most minor-league action he’s seen since he played 49 games with AHL Ontario in 2019-20.

In 33 games with the Sabres last year, Clague posted four assists while averaging 15:06 per game, all coming at even strength. He posted the best possession metrics of his career in a decent sample, per Hockey Reference – a 52.7% Corsi share, 50% expected goals for, and a +0.1 expected rating at even strength, to be exact. If he can replicate those, there are much worse options to have as an injury fill-in.

Patrick Kane Will Not Return To Game Tonight

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In tonight’s Original Six matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, an injury took place in the first period that may change the trajectory of Detroit’s season. Early on in the period, the Red Wings announced that forward Patrick Kane would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury.

The injury in question took place over two moments, with Pontus Holmberg delivering a solid body check to Kane along the boards, and Holmberg once again guiding Kane into a collision with the net in the Red Wings’ defensive zone.

Obviously, with the nature of the collisions, and Kane’s past injury history, Detroit’s main concern will be with Kane’s hip. Infamously, this past summer, Kane became one of a handful of players to undergo hip resurfacing surgery, delaying his eventual return to the NHL until December 7th.

If Kane is set to miss time away with this injury, it would be a tremendous blow to a Red Wings team that had just recently rebounded from a slow stretch in December. After a 2-8-1 showing in Kane’s first 11 games with Detroit, the team holds a 5-1-1 record in their last seven contests.

Since signing a one-year contract with the Red Wings back on November 28th, Kane has scored seven goals and 16 points in 18 games, with four of those points coming on Detroit’s powerplay. Although sitting 20th on the team in games played, Kane has climbed up to 14th on the team in scoring.

In Detroit’s view, there will be a lot of hope coming from the organization that Kane does not miss any action beyond tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs. However, although Kane has silenced many doubters in his return from hip resurfacing surgery, the poor track record of the surgery in the NHL still looms large.

Vegas Golden Knights To Place Jack Eichel On Injured Reserve

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Although nothing has been officially confirmed by the team, Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that the Vegas Golden Knights have placed Jack Eichel on injured reserve. Since Eichel has not played a game since January 11th against the Boston Bruins, he will be able to return on January 20th against the Pittsburgh Penguins, only missing three games in total.

Currently, the Golden Knights have not reported exactly the exact injury that Eichel is dealing with, but it will be the first time he has been placed on the injured reserve since December 12th, 2022. In another largely healthy season for Eichel, he is leading Vegas in scoring, putting up 19 goals and 44 points in 43 games.

Eichel joins a growing list of Golden Knights who are missing time due to injury, as Adin Hill, William Karlsson, and William Carrier all find themselves on the team’s injured reserve, and Shea Theodore is still placed on the long-term injured reserve. Staying relatively healthy for most of the beginning of the season, Vegas’ incredible 11-0-1 start has turned into a still respectable 24-14-5 record on the year.

Fortunately for the Golden Knights, the team just recently passed the halfway point in the season, and all players currently injured are still expected back by the end of the season. Reminiscent of last year’s Colorado Avalanche, Vegas is having its organizational depth challenged only a year removed from winning the Stanley Cup.

With Chandler Stephenson likely sidelined for the team’s game tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators with an illness, the Golden Knights may have to rely on Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio to center the top two lines unless they are comfortable moving Ivan Barbashev off of the wing.

Central Notes: Foligno, Jones, Manson, Lehkonen, Scheifele

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Blackhawks winger Nick Foligno is already on injured reserve with a fractured finger sustained last week against the Devils but has remained without a recovery timeline. Today, he told reporters (including the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope) that doctors have informed him he’ll be on a week-to-week timeline.

The Blackhawks’ most veteran player, at 36 years old and 1,100-plus games played, is fresh off signing a two-year, $9MM extension. He’s seen heavy deployment with rookie Connor Bedard this season, although both are now sidelined due to separate injuries both sustained against the Devils. He’s been elevated back to first-line minutes for the first time since 2021, his last season as captain of the Blue Jackets, partly due to additional injuries to other Blackhawks forwards like Taylor Hall. With eight goals and 17 points through 39 games, he’s fourth on the team in points behind Bedard, Philipp Kurashev and Jason Dickinson.

More from the Central Division:

  • Sticking with Chicago, number-one blueliner Seth Jones is officially back in the lineup tonight against the Stars after missing 15 games with a lower-body injury, per NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis. Coming out to make room is veteran Jarred Tinordi, who had two points in his last three games. Jones, who has averaged over 25 minutes per game this year, returns to a top-pairing role with youngster Alex Vlasic to his left. Despite his injury, Jones and Vlasic have still seen the most ice time together of any Blackhawks defense pairing this season at 254 minutes in 25 games, per MoneyPuck. In 27 appearances on the year, Jones has 11 assists and a -5 rating.
  • Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson has returned to the lineup tonight against the Maple Leafs, as initially reported by The Denver Post’s Corey Masisak. The 32-year-old, who’s no stranger to injuries, missed the last two contests for undisclosed reasons. He’s taken a major step forward defensively in his second full season with Colorado, posting a 53.4% Corsi share at even strength through 37 games this year. He’s supplemented that with five goals and 12 points, playing his best hockey since coming to Denver via trade from the Ducks at the 2022 trade deadline.
  • Injured Avalanche winger Artturi Lehkonen is nearing a return from his neck injury that’s kept him out since the beginning of November, head coach Jared Bednar said earlier this week (via Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now). Bednar said Lehkonen could return during the Avs’ lengthy road trip, which has four games remaining after tonight and wraps up on January 20 in Philadelphia. The 28-year-old would be a huge boost to Colorado’s top six and had eight points in his first 12 contests. Now in the second season of a five-year, $22.5MM deal, he would presumably help anchor a second line that, at least tonight, currently features no players with over half a point per game this season with Valeri Nichushkin out with illness.
  • Jets top-line center Mark Scheifele isn’t playing tonight against the Flyers with a lower-body injury sustained Thursday against Chicago, per the team. Captain Adam Lowry moves up to the first line in his absence to center Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi. Scheifele’s 27 assists and 41 points through 41 games both lead the team, so it’s a sizable loss for a squad looking to extend their eight-game win streak. He’s in the final season of an eight-year, $49MM carrying a $6.125MM cap hit but is locked into a seven-year extension with an $8.5MM cap hit beginning next season.

Atlantic Notes: Anderson, Chartier, Bellows

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The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that winger Josh Anderson will not play tonight due to a lower-body injury and that he will be evaluated on a daily basis.  The 29-year-old had a dreadful start to his season as he was held without a goal for his first 24 games but since then, he has fared better with seven goals and two assists in his last 17 outings.  His spot in the lineup will be taken by Joshua Roy who was recalled late last night.  Montreal presently has over $25MM in salaries for their injured players per CapFriendly with this injury pushing that number past the $30MM mark.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Senators center Rourke Chartier has been activated off LTIR, TSN 1200 reports (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last four weeks with a concussion.  Chartier has played in a career-high 25 games so far this season on Ottawa’s fourth line, picking up two points while winning just over half of his faceoffs.  With Anton Forsberg landing on LTIR on Friday, the Sens don’t need to make a corresponding move to get cap-compliant.
  • Nick Barden of The Hockey News points out that Kieffer Bellows’ PTO with AHL Toronto has now come to an end. After not catching on with a team to start the season, the 25-year-old joined the Marlies in early November and was quite productive, notching 14 goals and 12 assists in his 25-game stint.  Bellows is eligible to sign another PTO or a full-season contract with either the Marlies or Maple Leafs but with the success he had, the veteran of 95 career NHL appearances could also attract some interest elsewhere.

Pyotr Kochetkov In Concussion Protocol; Hurricanes Recall Yaniv Perets

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The Hurricanes will be without another goalie for the foreseeable future as the team announced that Pyotr Kochetkov is in concussion protocol, meaning he is out indefinitely.  In a subsequent move, the team announced the recall of Yaniv Perets from ECHL Norfolk.

Kochetkov suffered the concussion in last night’s game against Anaheim, leaving in the second period.  The timing of it certainly isn’t ideal as the 24-year-old was in the midst of a nice run, posting a .924 SV% in his last ten games, giving Carolina some much-needed stability between the pipes.  He joins Frederik Andersen (blood clots) as netminders who are out of the lineup.

This means that veteran Antti Raanta will take over the number one role for the time being.  It has been a rough year for the 34-year-old as his early struggles eventually resulted in him passing through waivers unclaimed last month before being recalled after two AHL games.  Raanta has a 3.27 GAA with a save percentage of just .862 in 17 games this season.

He’ll be joined by Perets, the only recallable option the Hurricanes have.  The 23-year-old is in his first professional season after a stellar college career with Quinnipiac where he had a 1.34 GAA and a .935 SV% over three seasons with them.  This season, he has played exclusively in the ECHL (since Carolina doesn’t have a direct AHL affiliate), posting a 2.62 GAA with a .906 SV% in 15 games.

The Hurricanes have been speculatively linked to a handful of goaltenders in recent weeks but with Kochetkov playing well lately, that speculation had started to cool off.  However, if the young netminder is set to miss extended time, GM Don Waddell may have no choice but to seriously explore what options might be out there.

Senators Recall Mads Søgaard, Anton Forsberg Likely Headed To LTIR

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The Senators recalled top organizational goalie prospect Mads Søgaard from AHL Belleville today, a team release states. As Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch points out, this is likely a precursor to number-two netminder Anton Forsberg being placed on long-term injured reserve, as the Senators would otherwise not have the cap space available to execute the transaction.

Forsberg, 31, left last night’s loss against the Sabres late in the first period with a groin injury and did not return. Head coach Jacques Martin told TSN 1200 this morning that Forsberg’s absence was not expected to be short-term, although he did receive an MRI today to determine the extent of the injury and, correspondingly, a recovery timeline.

It’s been a tough season for Ottawa’s goalie tandem of Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, but more so for Forsberg. After missing the last 32 games of the 2022-23 season with a freak double MCL tear, the Swede was looking to re-establish himself after proving he could be a capable NHL option since joining the Sens in 2020.

Instead, he and Korpisalo have been among the ten worst goalies in the league this season. Korpisalo has allowed the third most goals above expected with 9.5, per MoneyPuck, trailing only the Maple Leafs’ Ilya Samsonov and the Devils’ Vítek Vaněček. Forsberg is seventh on the list with 7.9 goals allowed above expected, despite playing in 16 games compared to Korpisalo’s 26. His box stats read out as a 7-8-0 record, .889 SV%, 3.35 GAA, and one shutout.

An LTIR placement rules Forsberg out through the All-Star break in early February. He would be eligible to return to action for the team’s February 10 home game against Toronto.

That means the 23-year-old Søgaard is in for a month-long stint on the NHL roster, his longest of the season. The 6-foot-7 Dane had been recalled on two occasions this year to serve as short-term injury insurance but has not appeared in an NHL game since playing in 19 of them last season. In his first example of extended NHL action, Ottawa’s 2019 second-round pick posted an 8-6-3 record and .889 SV% being an injury-depleted team at the tail end of the campaign.

This season in Belleville, Søgaard’s numbers are pristine. His .920 SV% in 16 games is tied for sixth among AHL netminders with at least ten appearances, and it’s a significant leap forward from his pedestrian numbers in his first two full professional seasons. Carrying that momentum forward into some appearances with Ottawa could help him steal the lion’s share of the starts away from Korpisalo, at least until Forsberg returns.

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