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Chicago Blackhawks Make Several Roster Moves

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The Chicago Blackhawks have placed Tyler Johnson on injured reserve, and sent Isaak Phillips to the AHL. In their place, Luke Philp and Filip Roos have been recalled.

Johnson played just five shifts last night before exiting with an ankle injury, and was seen in a walking boot after the game. It’s just the latest in a long list of setbacks this season, derailing what has looked like a strong bounce-back whenever Johnson is in the lineup.

Through 22 appearances, the 32-year-old forward has five goals and 14 points, already doubling his point total from last year. He just can’t seem to stay healthy, leading to multiple stints on injured reserve. One thing in his favor is his contract, which will ensure his financial stability for another year. Johnson is signed through 2023-24 at a $5MM cap hit.

Phillips, 21, has played in 11 games for the Blackhawks this season and recorded his fourth point of the year on Saturday. The young defenseman has seen inconsistent ice time and has looked overmatched at times, but generally showed that he will soon be ready for NHL action.

He’ll be replaced on the roster by Roos, who skated in 15 games earlier this year before a recent stint in the minor leagues. The 24-year-old undrafted defenseman has three NHL points to his name in this, his rookie season.

Should Philp enter the lineup, it will be his first taste of NHL action. Undrafted, the 27-year-old has battled through three years at the University of Alberta and parts of four minor league seasons before getting this opportunity. This year with the Rockford IceHogs he has been outstanding, scoring 30 points in 31 games so far.

East Notes: Panthers Injuries, Capitals, Carlo

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There was some good news health-wise last night for the Florida Panthers, who are attempting to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Sam Bennett both suffered upper-body injuries during last night’s win against Minnesota. Yet, head coach Paul Maurice said post-game that both players might be good to go for tomorrow’s game against the Rangers.

Even if one or both of Ekblad and Bennett can’t play tomorrow, it’s great news that neither player is expected to be out long-term. Ekblad’s already missed a handful of games due to injury this season, and his 20 points in 37 games is a bit of a step back from his usual pace. Still, he’s one of the best defensemen in the league and is dominant on the power play, one of Florida’s strengths. Bennett is also an essential part of Florida’s secondary scoring, as the 26-year-old is sixth on the team in scoring with 30 points in 48 games and plays nearly 18 minutes per game.

  • Don’t expect the Washington Capitals to follow in the Boston Bruins’ footsteps regarding load management. While it was reported earlier this week that Bruins might consider resting captain Patrice Bergeron at points down the stretch, Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette told The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir that he does not intend to employ a similar technique with the Capitals roster, which has been prone to injuries for much of the season. El-Bashir suspects that the Capitals’ slim cushion on a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference discourages Laviolette from resting any stars, something the Bruins and their world-shattering pace don’t have to worry about.
  • Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub and NBC Sports Boston reports that Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo will play tonight when they host the San Jose Sharks. Carlo sustained a lower-body injury in a January 19 game against the Rangers but will not miss any further action. One of the league’s best pure defensive defensemen, Carlo has a goal and seven assists in 41 games this season, along with a career-high +23 rating.

Injury Updates: Ekblad, Bennett, Slavin, Foligno

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Just as the Florida Panthers have begun to make a real push to climb the Eastern Conference standings, the team has been hit with a rash of major injuries. The team is down to an Alex Lyon–Mack Guzda tandem in net, and now it seems they could be without their top defenseman. The Panthers have announced that 2014 first-overall pick Aaron Ekblad and 2014 fourth-overall pick Sam Bennett each suffered an upper-body injury in tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild.

Per the team, Eklbad is doubtful to return, while Bennett has been ruled out. Ekblad is no stranger to injury troubles, as he has missed chunks of time in each of the past two seasons. Ekblad hasn’t escaped the Panthers’ team-wide regression from their President’s Trophy-winning form of last season, but he still has scored 20 points in 36 games and averages 24 minutes a night. While the emergence of Brandon Montour might help the team weather any extended Ekblad absence, this news is still unwelcome for a club desperate to gain ground on other contenders.

Some other injury notes from tonight’s games:

  • The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that defenseman Jaccob Slavin has suffered a lower-body injury, and will miss tonight’s game against the New York Islanders. With Slavin out, the Hurricanes will be missing one of the NHL’s best defensive defensemen. Offseason trade acquisition Dylan Coghlan has moved into the lineup in Slavin’s place, and will have a chance to put some quality play forward in the absence of Carolina’s top blueliner.
  • The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Marcus Foligno will miss tonight’s game against the Panthers due to a non-COVID illness. While this is unlikely to keep him out of the lineup for any extended period, it does come as another piece of bad news in a difficult season for Foligno. The 31-year-old forward scored 23 goals last season and has seen much of that offense dry up this year, as he’s scoring at just a nine-goal 82-game pace.

Tomas Nosek To Miss At Least Four Weeks

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The Bruins will be without a key depth veteran for the next little while as the team announced that center Tomas Nosek suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left foot on Thursday night.  He will miss at least the next four weeks due to the injury and will be re-evaluated at that time.

The 30-year-old is in his second season with Boston after signing a two-year, $3.5MM deal with them last summer.  Nosek is one of their most-used penalty killers, ranking second to only Charlie Coyle in shorthanded ice time among forwards while he has won over 58% of his faceoffs, good for second on the team behind Patrice Bergeron.  Offensively, he has chipped in with three goals and five assists in 42 games but his biggest contributions certainly come at the defensive end.

Notably, this injury dropped the Bruins down to 11 healthy forwards on their active roster so a recall from AHL Providence was expected.  While not announced by the team yet, they have recalled forward Joona Koppanen, per the AHL’s transactions log.  While they have next to no cap space, they do have plenty of flexibility in LTIR with Jake DeBrusk and his $4MM AAV on there while Nosek is eligible to be moved to LTIR as well considering how long he is set to miss and Koppanen’s recall will trim that space.

Islanders Recall Aatu Raty, Cal Clutterbuck Out Indefinitely

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Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday against Buffalo that will keep him out indefinitely.  The team has decided who will take his place on the roster, announcing (Twitter link) that center Aatu Raty has been recalled from AHL Bridgeport.

Raty is in his first full season in North America and has spent the bulk of the year so far in the minors, notching seven goals and eight assists in 27 games.  The 20-year-old has gotten into seven games with New York as well, collecting a pair of goals while averaging 8:25 per game.

Notably, Raty was still 19 as of September 15th which means the nine-game threshold for junior-aged players still applies.  Once he plays in his tenth NHL game this season, he will officially burn the first year of his entry-level contract.  If he plays in fewer than that, he’ll still have three years left on his contract after this season.  That’s something the team will certainly be keeping in mind with this move.

If Raty sticks around for a while on this recall and pushes past that threshold, the next one for them to consider would be 40 games on the active roster which would accrue him a season of eligibility for unrestricted free agency.  However, they’re a long way from that point at the moment.

As for Clutterbuck, it has been a tough season for the 35-year-old who has battled an upper-body injury a couple of times already.  He has suited up in 34 games for the Isles, picking up four goals and four assists while chipping in with 130 hits.

Max Pacioretty Suffers Torn Achilles

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5:04 PM: The Hurricanes have now officially announced the news.

4:55 PM: It turns out Pacioretty’s MRI was done today, not on Monday as originally reported. In what is absolutely awful news for both Pacioretty and hockey fans everywhere, the MRI revealed, as reported by Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer, that Pacioretty tore his right Achilles tendon, just two weeks after returning to action. It’s the same injury he suffered in August, and although no firm timeline has been released by the team, it will in all likelihood knock him out for the rest of the season.

This news likely confirms that Pacioretty will eventually end up placed on long-term injured reserve. While Pacioretty’s health and recovery will undoubtedly be the Hurricanes’ first priority here, this development does impact their roster-building plans for the rest of the season. The additional cap space afforded by a Pacioretty LTIR placement could have a significant impact on the rest of the team’s season and the trade market as a whole.

For Pacioretty, the priority will be getting his health back in a good place. The 34-year-old forward has played some of the best hockey of his career in recent years, but he has been limited to only sporadic availability due to injuries. With this bit of news, it’s clear he now faces another long recovery on his road back to the ice.

12:47 PM: After just five games, Max Pacioretty is back on injured reserve. The Carolina Hurricanes moved the veteran winger after he suffered a non-contact injury last night to the same leg that underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon last summer.

The Hurricanes have not given a timeline for Pacioretty’s recovery, and according to Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer, won’t be making a determination until next week. They’ve moved his scheduled MRI to Monday.

It is brutal news for a player that worked so hard to come back, especially given how well he had fit into the Carolina lineup. Pacioretty had three goals in his first three games with the team, though was also held out for two games recently due to a lower-body injury.

If it is another torn Achilles, Pacioretty would be out for the rest of the season. Injuries have become something of a pattern for the 34-year-old in the back half of his career. A player once known for his durability and consistency, Pacioretty has now played just 44 games since the start of 2021-22.

Even worse, his contract will expire at the end of this season, making him an unrestricted free agent. If the injury is as serious as it seems, another months-long rehab will be a difficult pill to swallow, with no guarantee of a financial or competitive future.

For the Hurricanes, it could mean they suddenly have some extra cap flexibility to play with. Should Pacioretty head back to long-term injured reserve, the team could make any number of moves at the deadline. His entire $7MM salary could essentially be replaced if he is not going to return this season.

Kasperi Kapanen Out Week-To-Week

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The nightmare season for Kasperi Kapanen continues. The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Kapanen will be out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury.

It’s brutal timing for the 26-year-old, as Kapanen had just started to find a consistent level of play. Through healthy scratches, benchings, and demotions, he has 17 points in 35 games so far. While only one of those points had come in his last seven appearances, there were some encouraging signs that he could fit into a bottom-six role for the rest of the season.

Now, with a weeks-long injury, he’s back to square one. The Penguins gave Kapanen a two-year, $6.4MM contract in the offseason when many wondered whether he would even get a qualifying offer. The deal now looks like one of the worst on the team, with Pittsburgh desperate for cap space to make a deadline addition.

An injury of this length could be a worst-case scenario. It might not be long enough to justify long-term injured reserve (and even if it is, they’ll have to keep room open for his activation), but keeps him off the active roster as the deadline approaches.

For other injury updates, the head coach Mike Sullivan called Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling game-time decisions, while Kris Letang, Josh Archibald, and Jan Rutta are not yet ready to return.

Los Angeles Kings Make Several Roster Moves

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The Los Angeles Kings have completed a handful of moves, starting with the placement of Carl Grundstrom on injured reserve. He is expected to be out through the All-Star break, according to team reporter Zach Dooley. With Gabriel Vilardi also dealing with a minor injury, the team has recalled both Samuel Fagemo and Alex Turcotte from the minor leagues. Tobias Bjornfot is coming with them, giving the Kings another body on defense.

Grundstrom, 25, is having a season just like his first two, chipping in some offense while generally being a pain on the forecheck. Through 37 games he has six goals and ten points while racking up 93 hits. The Kings signed him to a two-year deal worth $1.3MM per season to be exactly that, and his absence will certainly be noticed.

Still, it’s not a huge loss for a club that has so many young prospects to fill the void. Fagemo, 22, has 12 goals through 27 games with the Ontario Reign this year and has been excellent when given a chance in the NHL. Turcotte, meanwhile, is still trying to find his way after being the fifth-overall pick in 2019. The 21-year-old has 12 points in 19 games for the Reign but is still looking for his first at the NHL level.

East Notes: Norris, Bastian, Slafkovsky

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It was a long wait to return from a shoulder injury for Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris, but still shorter than most expected. He’ll be returning to the lineup tonight as the Senators take on the Pittsburgh Penguins, as told to reporters pregame, including the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch.

Norris told reporters that he was “excited” to face such a tough challenge down the middle in his first game back since October 22, where he’ll be competing against some of the world’s best in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But with no exhibition games or conditioning stint to test out his shoulder, don’t expect him to be active in the faceoff dot just yet. He’s been placed on a line between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux, and while Norris may play center during actual gameplay, Giroux will take the lion’s share of the draws when that unit is deployed. Norris’ return is a huge boost for the Senators’ dwindling playoff hopes, as they remain among the bottom teams in the Eastern Conference with a 19-21-3 record.

  • Another lengthy absence could come to a close this week, as New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters that winger Nathan Bastian is a possibility for Thursday’s matchup against Seattle. Bastian hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury early in a November 26 game against Washington, leading to almost a two-month absence. The 25-year-old has eight points through 21 games after recording a double-digit goal total for the first time last season.
  • With 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky now likely shut down for the season with a knee injury, some have questioned Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes’ decision not to give Slafkovsky any time in the AHL. Hughes told reporters in a press conference today that the organization didn’t want concerns around Slafkovsky’s development to come primarily about offensive production, as he feared might happen if the Slovak forward spent extended time with the Laval Rocket. Instead, the organization opted to keep “a close eye” on him and keep him focused on holistic development with Canadiens coaches. Hughes said that an AHL loan in the near future wasn’t out of the question for Slafkovsky, but that’s now out of the question given his injury.

Cale Makar Out Day-To-Day

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The Colorado Avalanche will again be absent a core piece, albeit for a short while. Head coach Jared Bednar said today that defenseman Cale Makar is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury but traveled with the team on their road trip.

Last year’s Conn Smythe and Norris Trophy winner, Makar sustained the injury in a three-point effort on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings. With 43 points in 42 games in 2022-23, Makar is amidst his third consecutive season at a point-per-game pace.

Colorado will be without its superstar defenseman tonight as they take on the Calgary Flames. However, Makar hasn’t been ruled out for the remaining two games of their northwest swing against Vancouver and Seattle.

As injuries to core pieces continue throughout the season, the concerning trend is truly beginning to wear down the defending Stanley Cup champions. The team is 3-6-1 in their past ten games, and they sit four points back of the Flames for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, making tonight’s game all the more critical.

In Makar’s hopefully short-term absence, veteran defender Erik Johnson slots in alongside Devon Toews on the team’s top pairing. They’re already without Bowen Byram and Josh Manson due to injury, meaning Colorado will be missing half their normal defense core tonight.

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