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Injury Notes: Puljujarvi, Couture, Wahlstrom

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A few days ago, an insider for TSN, Chris Johnston, spoke tepidly about the possible return of former fourth-overall selection of the 2016 NHL Draft, Jesse Puljujarvi. After an apathetic transition to the Carolina Hurricanes at least year’s trade deadline, Puljujarvi went through double hip surgery only a couple of months ago, and will likely be seeing his third NHL opportunity.

Given his career trajectory up to this point, if Puljujarvi is able to work his way back adequately from surgery, he will almost assuredly be playing on a two-way deal, destined for the majority of the season in the AHL. In the most successful year of his career back during the 2021-22 NHL season, Puljujarvi was only able to procure 14 goals and 22 assists, hardly satisfying numbers from a top-five overall pick, especially entering into the prime age of his career.

If not already maxed out his potential as a hockey player, Puljujarvi is incredibly close to the cutoff line. When the return comes, there may be an opportunity on a rebuilding team such as the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, or San Jose Sharks; however, even their interest may be mild.

Other injury notes:

  • The captain of the San Jose Sharks, Logan Couture, has already missed the team’s opening night game against the Vegas Golden Knights and is expected to miss tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. Couture has been out with a lower-body injury since September 21st, but tonight’s game may be the last he misses. According to Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group, Couture is close to skating again and should join the team back on the ice soon.
  • Even though he was cleared to play earlier in the summer, forward for the New York Islanders, Oliver Wahlstrom, is still regaining strength in his knee according to Andrew Gross of Newsday. Last season, after the knee injury would sideline him for the rest of the season at the end of December, Wahlstrom played in 35 games, scoring seven goals and nine assists.

Sharks To Place Mikael Granlund On Injured Reserve

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San Jose Sharks center Mikael Granlund will be placed on injured reserve after re-aggravating a lower-body injury in last night’s season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports. Granlund logged 15:36 of ice time before leaving early in the third period. No corresponding recall has been made yet, nor has the IR placement been registered with the league.

Granlund is still listed as day-to-day, and it’s unclear whether he’ll miss more than the seven days (and three games, in this case) required to land on IR. Head coach David Quinn told reporters (including The Hockey News’ Max Miller) that Granlund is “not feeling great today” and that he noticed the previous injury rearing its head early in the game. The summer trade acquisition from the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the Erik Karlsson deal missed a significant chunk of preseason with the injury.

Granlund is coming off a brutal end to the 2022-23 season, during which he scored just one goal and five points in 21 contests with the Penguins after they acquired him via trade from the Nashville Predators in March. The 31-year-old never lived up to expectations in Nashville after they acquired him from the Minnesota Wild for then-youngster Kevin Fiala, only eclipsing the 50-point mark once after doing so thrice with the Wild. Last season was also one of the worst of his career defensively, posting a -15 rating and 48.2% Corsi share at even strength.

His injury leaves the Sharks with 12 healthy forwards, meaning a recall is necessary for the Sharks to have an extra on the roster. Most of their likely recall options – namely Ryan Carpenter, Oskar Lindblom or Jacob Peterson – are not waiver-exempt and would need to clear again should they play more than ten games or stay on the roster for 30 days. For now, Luke Kunin is likely to shift to center after playing on Granlund’s wing last night, and Kevin Labanc will likely make his season debut tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche after sitting against Vegas.

Blue Jackets Place Zach Werenski On Injured Reserve, Recall David Jiricek

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The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Zach Werenski on injured reserve after sustaining a quad contusion in last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on a hit from forward Garnet Hathaway, which resulted in a minor penalty and $5,000 fine. Werenski will miss between one and two weeks. In response, the team recalled top defense prospect David Jiricek from AHL Cleveland.

This continues to be a tough stretch of injury luck for Werenski, who missed the last 69 games of last season with a shoulder injury. Werenski skated 13:43 last night and recorded a -1 rating before exiting the game, which ended up being a 4-2 loss for Columbus in their home opener. It was the start of a four-game homestand for the Jackets, who don’t play on the road until October 21st at Minnesota.

It opens the door for Jiricek, the sixth-overall pick in 2022, to force his way onto the roster over the next few games. The Blue Jackets are reportedly shopping a defenseman to make room for Jiricek on the active roster, but a trade might now wait until later in the month with Werenski on the sidelines. Jiricek was one of the best rookies in the AHL last season, logging 38 points in 55 games for the Cleveland Monsters and earning a look in four NHL games with Columbus. He’s still looking for his first NHL point, however.

Columbus head coach Pascal Vincent confirmed earlier this morning that it wasn’t likely to be a long-term absence for Werenski, the team’s undisputed number-one defender. However, Jiricek, a right-shot defenseman, won’t be able to directly replace the role of Werenski, who plays on the left side. While Jiricek could get some significant minutes over the next few weeks, the most direct effect of this injury will be on offseason addition Ivan Provorov, who will now likely slide up to the top pairing alongside Damon Severson. Provorov had a tough outing against his former team last night, recording just two shot attempts and a -2 rating in over 25 minutes of ice time.

Blackhawks’ Taylor Hall Out Week-To-Week

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Oct. 12: 7:57 a.m.: Hall is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, head coach Luke Richardson told reporters postgame. After splitting their first two games of the season, Hall’s absence likely means one of Mackenzie Entwistle or Reese Johnson will make their season debut Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.

Oct. 11, 9:02 p.m.: The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that veteran forward Taylor Hall left tonight’s game with an apparent injury he suffered in the first period of their matchup with the Boston Bruins. Little is known about Hall’s status as he did return in the second period of the game to take a shift on the powerplay but then left the ice and went straight up the tunnel immediately after.

The injury likely occurred when Hall took a hit in the neutral zone from former Bruins teammate Brandon Carlo. He stayed on the ice for some time before returning to the bench and making his way to the dressing room. The Hawks then ruled Hall out at the start of the third period leading to speculation about the severity of the 31-year-old’s injury.

Hall was expected to be a big part of the Blackhawks’ offense this season as they traded for him to be rookie Connor Bedard’s winger. With Hall out of action, veteran Andreas Athanasiou filled in along with Bedard and Ryan Donato. The Blackhawks don’t exactly have the depth to manage a long-term injury to a top 6 winger, and while they hardly view themselves as contenders this season, they likely want to give Bedard every opportunity to thrive with offensively capable linemates.

Hall didn’t have a very good season last year in Boston and was looking for a bounce-back campaign in Chicago. The former Hart Trophy winner posted just 16 goals and 20 assists last season in 61 games and was traded by the Bruins in a summer move that was basically a cap dump. Hall is now five years removed from his MVP season; however, he still is an impact player that could do a lot of damage with Bedard this season.

If Hall is out any length of time, it could make things more difficult for the Blackhawks to insulate Bedard, as they would have very few offensive weapons to line up alongside the rookie phenom. Chicago has plenty of capable NHLers, but there aren’t many of them who should be playing top 6 minutes in the NHL, and even fewer who should be playing on a team’s top line.

West Notes: Hintz, Mikheyev, Winnipeg

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Before their opening night matchup tomorrow night, Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News gives some clarification on the status of Dallas Stars’ forward Roope Hintz, sharing that he will be a game-time decision. Since September 27th, during training camp, Hintz has been out of the Stars’ lineup due to an upper-body injury, and Dallas does not seem keen to rush him back for the start of the regular season.

Starting off the first year of an eight-year, $67.6MM extension signed last season, Hintz will surely be a key missing part of the Stars’ lineup if he is unable to play. Dallas will be able to survive for the time being with him out of the lineup but would have a hard time replacing a player of his caliber in the lineup if it is more long-term.

At the very least, with the addition of Matt Duchene this summer and an incredibly affordable one-year, $3MM deal, the Stars appear to have added appropriate depth in case something such as this transpired. Not only do the Stars appear headed for a war with the Colorado Avalanche for the Central Division, but they are also looking to compete as the top team in the Western Conference, and potentially the entire league.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • One player who is confirmed to not be playing opening night is Ilya Mikheyev of the Vancouver Canucks. Relaying on the news from the head coach of the Canucks, Rick Tocchet, Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet announces Mikheyev will indeed miss the season opener. Mikheyev is still rehabbing from an ACL injury sustained last season in January, an injury that would prematurely end his season.
  • Murat Ates of The Athletic shares that the Winnipeg Jets have sent Simon Kubicek, Mark Liwiski, and Thomas Milic to their ECHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals. Last year, Kubicek also played in the AHL for the Manitoba Moose, while Liwiski spent his entire season in the ECHL for the Wichita Thunder. Milic, on the other hand, was the 151st overall selection for the Jets in the 2023 NHL Draft, coming out of the Seattle Thunderbirds organization of the WHL.

Sharks Notes: Simek, MacDonald, Okhotiuk, Couture, Bailey, Kaspick

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Before their opening night matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night, Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News relayed some injury information from the San Jose Sharks. Pashelka notes that defensemen Radim Simek, Jacob MacDonald, and Nikita Okhotiuk are all returning from injury.

There wasn’t any further information regarding their status for tomorrow night. Still, the fact that they are now all back skating gives some optimism that San Jose could see the return of several important blueliners in the coming days. For the time being, Simek and MacDonald are currently on injured reserve, while Okhotiuk finds himself on the season-opening injured reserve.

Throughout this year, the Sharks will give Simek plenty of opportunity and ice time, as he would be a prime trade deadline candidate on a contending team to shore up the bottom six of a defensive core. Okhotiuk on the other hand, a former second-round selection of the New Jersey Devils back in 2019, is a potential building block on defense in San Jose, after being acquired at last season’s trade deadline.

Other Sharks notes:

  • In a bit more negative injury information, Pashelka also relays on that Sharks’ captain, Logan Couture, did not skate today, and has had some sort of setback in his lower-body injury. Being placed on injured reserve on September 21st during training camp, the going notion was that Couture would be evaluated on a week-to-week basis. Given that tomorrow will mark three weeks on injured reserve for the veteran forward, there may be some pessimism surrounding Couture’s availability tomorrow night.
  • Still coming from Pashelka, and moving away from injuries, he announces that the AHL affiliate of the Sharks, the San Jose Barracuda, are planning on signing forwards Justin Bailey and Tanner Kaspick to AHL contracts for the upcoming season. Of the two, Bailey is the only one with NHL experience, playing a total of 82 games over seven years, scoring five goals and four assists.

Kings’ Viktor Arvidsson To Miss Season Opener, Arthur Kaliyev Recalled

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1:46 p.m.: Kings head coach Todd McLellan informed reporters that Arvidsson’s timeline for return is “a bit longer than day-to-day” (via The Athletic’s Eric Stephens). Hence, an emergency recall to give the Kings a 12th forward for Saturday’s game is likely.

1:37 p.m.: Los Angeles Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson will miss tonight’s season opener against the Colorado Avalanche with a lower-body injury, team editorial content manager Zach Dooley relays. The Kings are expected to play down a forward and only dress 17 skaters due to cap constraints.

The team recalled forward Arthur Kaliyev from AHL Ontario today and assigned goaltender David Rittich there after clearing waivers. However, Kaliyev will miss the first two games of the season due to a four-game suspension doled out during preseason play for kneeing Anaheim Ducks forward Chase De Leo. Los Angeles does not have the cap space to recall an additional forward to replace Arvidsson.

Slotting in for the suspended Kaliyev, however, will be 21-year-old winger Alex Laferriere. The 83rd overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft is expected to make his NHL debut on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala.

Playing short a forward creates the option of a $0 emergency recall for the Kings to execute before their second game of the season, which is Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Of course, that would be unnecessary if Arvidsson is ready to return. He’s listed as day-to-day and has not been ruled out for that contest. Arvidsson, 30, enjoyed quite a strong campaign with the Kings last season, recording 26 goals and 59 points in 77 games. He is entering the final season of a seven-year, $29.75MM contract initially signed with the Nashville Predators in 2017 and is slated for unrestricted free agency in the summer.

West Notes: Coyotes, Blueger, Beauvillier

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After sending them down to AHL Tucson earlier in the week, the Arizona Coyotes announced Sunday they’ve recalled defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok. The 23-year-old and 22-year-old defensemen, respectively, combined for 11 games played in the NHL last season.

Arizona makes the recalls as they battle injury uncertainty with some of their defensemen. Head coach André Tourigny told PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan earlier Sunday that multiple defenders were “dinged” up in Saturday’s 7-1 preseason drubbing of the Anaheim Ducks. Carrying Kesselring and Kolyachonok on the active roster for now gives the Coyotes some flexibility as they make their final roster choices ahead of Monday’s opening night roster deadline. Arizona must submit a cap-compliant roster of no more than 23 players before 4 p.m. CT tomorrow. That roster limit may have precipitated today’s choice to send forward Dylan Guenther, who does not require waivers, to AHL Tucson. While the team has not issued a comment, it may be that the Coyotes plan on carrying 12 forwards and nine defensemen when they submit their roster tomorrow to account for the uncertainty surrounding some of their defenders’ availability for Friday’s season opener against the New Jersey Devils. With Kesselring and Kolyachonok in the ranks, the Coyotes are now carrying ten defenders, so it’s likely one of them will return to Tucson within the next 24 hours.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference this weekend:

  • Vancouver Canucks forward Teddy Blueger is sidelined on a day-to-day basis with an undisclosed bruise, which left him off the ice today for practice. That wasn’t Blueger’s idea, however, as head coach Rick Tocchet told Sportsnet’s Randip Janda that he didn’t want to risk exacerbating the Latvian pivot’s injury. The Canucks’ regular season opener is in three days against the Edmonton Oilers, and the offseason free-agent addition is expected to make his Vancouver debut centering the fourth line. Blueger, 29, recorded 16 points in 63 contests last year split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights, for whom Blueger was the 13th forward en route to their first Stanley Cup championship.
  • Sticking with Vancouver, winger Anthony Beauvillier is also currently absent from the team’s practice ranks thanks to a bout with the flu. He is day-to-day and, as it stands, could miss the season opener Wednesday. The Canucks, who are currently roster juggling to maximize the potential LTIR relief from defenseman Tucker Poolman’s contract, will need clarity on Beauvillier’s status after tomorrow’s roster deadline to make any corresponding recalls from AHL Abbotsford.

Snapshots: Houston, Lafrenière, Cooke

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Despite NHL commissioner Gary Bettman saying recently that league expansion wasn’t imminent, many didn’t believe him. In fact, his comments re-ignited an expansion discussion that was already hot, bringing it to a fervor not quite seen in a while. One city that’s remained a constant in expansion discussions over the past few cycles is Houston. TSN’s Chris Johnston boosted a report from the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen today, pointing out that the Toyota Center in downtown Houston is undergoing significant renovations: one of them being the addition of ice-making equipment in a big first step to bring the arena to NHL readiness.

The addition is part of an ongoing $30MM renovation to the arena, currently the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. The Rockets owner, Tilman Fertitta, will likely be the name to put in a bid for an NHL franchise should the league take applications for team 33 (and potentially 34) soon. Houston, the fifth-largest TV market in the United States, hasn’t had a notable pro hockey team since the AHL’s Houston Aeros were relocated to become the Iowa Wild in 2013.

Elsewhere around the league tonight:

  • After a much-publicized disappointing preseason, there’s more bad news for New York Rangers winger Alexis Lafrenière. The team announced Saturday night he’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not practice today. While he is likely to start the season on his off-wing alongside Filip Chytil and Artemi Panarin, it certainly hasn’t been the start under new head coach Peter Laviolette that Lafrenière has been looking for. The 21-year-old first-overall pick in 2020 had 39 points in 81 games last season.
  • Many NHL fans from the 2000s and early 2010s will remember enforcer Matt Cooke, who earned himself many lengthy suspensions over the course of his 16-season, 1,046-game NHL career. After only coaching for a few seasons at the high school level in Minnesota since retiring in 2015, he’s now being entrusted with the head coaching job of an NHL affiliate. The ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, the second-tier affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced today Cooke will be their next head coach. Cooke succeeds Eric Wellwood, who was promoted to an assistant role with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies last summer.

Yegor Chinakhov, Daniil Tarasov Will Begin Season On IR

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will place both forward Yegor Chinakhov and goaltender Daniil Tarasov on injured reserve prior to Monday’s opening-night roster deadline, per The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. Chinakhov is listed as day-to-day with a back injury, while Tarasov carries a day-to-day designation for a knee injury. Both sustained the injuries shortly after training camp began in mid-September.

Chinakhov, 22, is three years removed from being one of the most surprising first-round picks in recent memory. So far, it appears to have been somewhat of a worthy gamble – he notched 13 points in 30 games for Columbus last season and has posted strong numbers in limited AHL action since coming to North America before 2021-22. Unfortunately, missing nearly all of training camp may have cost him a spot in the NHL lineup when he does return from injury. Not only does the winger not require waivers for assignment to AHL Cleveland, but his roster spot wasn’t secured – many young forwards were battling for spots in Columbus’ bottom six, all of whom had more chances during camp to earn the trust of head coach Pascal Vincent.

While it’s concerning that an injury that’s carried a day-to-day designation for two-and-a-half weeks may stretch out closer to a month, the news surrounding Tarasov’s health gives even more pause. When the Blue Jackets confirmed Tarasov’s injury on September 23rd, Portzline reported that it wasn’t serious. In fact, he went so far as to say Tarasov would be available at that point if the regular season was beginning. Luckily, Portzline had already confirmed this knee injury is not related to a significant one he suffered during the 2021-22 campaign, but it’s still not a good sign to see a seemingly innocuous pre-season injury stretching out and affecting regular-season availability.

The 24-year-old Tarasov had a much clearer path to a roster spot entering camp as the undisputed backup to starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins. A 2017 third-round draft pick, Tarasov got off to quite a hot start to his career, posting a .936 save percentage in four contests with Columbus in 2021-22 before the previous knee injury ended his campaign. He played 17 games last season, recording a subpar .892 save percentage and 3.91 goals-against average, but still posted far superior numbers to Merzlikins’ eye-opening .876 save percentage and 4.23 goals-against average. There were few goalies worse than Merzlikins last season, and his -25.9 goals saved above expected per MoneyPuck ranked last out of all goalies to play 20 games in 2022-23.

Another name near the bottom of last season’s list was Spencer Martin, who the Blue Jackets claimed on waivers last week from the Vancouver Canucks to serve as Merzlikins’ backup until Tarasov returns to action. Martin, 28, is largely an AHL veteran but got a shot as the Canucks’ backup last season, appearing in 29 contests and recording a .871 save percentage. It was a necessary claim, as the Blue Jackets’ only two goalies under NHL contract were 22-year-old Jet Greaves, an undrafted free agent signing entering his third season of pro hockey, and 19-year-old Nolan Lalonde, who will spend this season as the starter for the OHL’s Erie Otters.

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