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Injury Notes: Lightning, Wild, Orlov

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are lagging behind the pace in the Atlantic Division, and injuries are becoming a complicating factor. Neither defensemen Erik Cernak nor Cal Foote was on the ice for their morning skate today after sustaining injuries in Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, according to The Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina. Mikhail Sergachev, who was also injured in that game, was present.

Tampa could be without both Cernak and Foote when they take on the Capitals in a rematch tonight. If neither is ready to go, no recalls will be necessary as Haydn Fleury and Philippe Myers are already on the active roster as healthy extras. The Lightning’s depth is doing little to support the strong play of its stars, a stark change from years past. They’ll need a gritty performance tonight to avoid dropping to .500 on the season.

  • Jordan Greenway has been a rarely-seen presence in the Minnesota Wild lineup this season, with injuries limiting him to just two games. After suffering yet another upper-body injury, he’s not expected to travel with the team on their one-game road trip to Nashville early this week, according to Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He’ll miss that game and today’s home matchup against the Sharks, while Matt Boldy continues to slot in aside Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek in Greenway’s usual spot. Brandon Duhaime, who’s missed two weeks with an upper-body injury, is a possibility for the Nashville game.
  • The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov participated in morning skate ahead of the team’s game tonight against Tampa, but is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. Orlov is on injured reserve and remains day-to-day. The 31-year-old has five assists in 13 games.

Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Larsson

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The Ottawa Senators recalled defenseman Jacob Larsson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators Sunday morning, according to the team’s communications department. The transaction comes after Thomas Chabot sustained an injury in yesterday’s 4-1 road win in Philadelphia.

Ottawa did have an extra healthy defenseman on the roster in Nikita Zaitsev, but he was waived last Wednesday after seeing his role diminish dramatically to start the season. He did clear waivers but has yet to be assigned to the minors. Larsson comes up instead, bringing 165 games of NHL experience with Anaheim to the active roster.

However, Larsson saw his semi-full-time NHL role disappear last season, playing just six games with the Ducks compared to 55 with AHL San Diego. He was waived and assigned to Belleville to begin the 2022-23 campaign, where he has two assists and a -10 rating in 12 games.

As for Chabot, the length of his absence is unknown as of last night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman did note that if Chabot misses any meaningful length of time, it could speed up Ottawa’s already well-established desire to acquire a defenseman via trade to upgrade their blue line. The team is yet again lagging behind expectations, sitting last in the Atlantic Division with a 5-8-1 record. Injuries have certainly been a factor in their sluggish start.

TSN’s Bruce Garrioch notes that Larsson’s recall signifies that Chabot will likely miss at least tomorrow’s game against the New York Islanders.

Evening Notes: Senators, Flames, Othmann, Trenin

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Rumors that the Ottawa Senators were interested in adding a defenseman to bolster their blueline have persisted since the beginning of this offseason. Over that time, the team has brought in a few exciting forwards like Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, acquired goaltender in Cam Talbot and saw forward Shane Pinto start to break out. Still, the team hasn’t been able to find the defenseman they were looking for. Recent struggles from the team have ignited those rumors even more, with the waiving of Nikita Zaitsev this week seeming to be the ’cherry on top.’ However, today’s Thomas Chabot injury has managed to heat things up even more.

On this evening’s 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night In Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Chabot’s status in relation to the injury was unknown, but that it could certainly accelerate Ottawa’s process to find another defenseman. Friedman adds that other executives around the league have confirmed that Senators GM Pierre Dorion has been “looking under every rock” when it comes to a defenseman. Still, Dorion may be hesitant, given the team’s situation, he could easily be handcuffed into a pricey move he may not truly want to make. On top of this, another reason Friedman mentions that could hold up a trade is the number of players who have no-trade clauses excluding most, if not all Canadian cities.

  • Many have wondered how the struggling Calgary Flames, who have lost seven in a row, plan to break out of their funk. Lead by what seemed to be a slump-proof head coach in Darryl Sutter, the Flames have been unable to win a game since their 5-1-0 start, no matter the change or tweak. Also from Friedman this evening, it appears the Flames have been actively looking for a scoring forward. However, Friedman adds, the team has been on that search since August, meaning it’s not the team’s poor performance that has necessitated that search, but instead an offseason objective yet to be fulfilled. Not having found the player they wanted this offseason, the team eventually signed forwards Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin to PTO’s, but released the pair after underwhelming training camp performances. Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike speculates that perhaps the team had hoped the scoring forward could be found in one of those PTO’s or one of the team’s young players, and with neither of those coming to fruition, the team finds itself once again searching for that asset.
  • There hasn’t been an NHL trade since the Ethan Bear deal on October 28th, and certainly no blockbusters in a while, but it looks as though a big time OHL deal will be going down. New York Rangers 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann is expected to be dealt by the Flint Firebirds to the Peterborough Petes, says Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. Othmann, 19, is off to a red-hot start to this season with 11 goals and 13 assists in 16 games. Ironically, Flint is in Peterborough this evening to take on the Petes, however Othmann, who is suspended, did not play.
  • Nashville Predators forward Yakov Trenin will not play in tonight’s game against the New York Rangers, the team announced. According to the Predators, Trenin is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 25-year-old has one goal and three assists through 14 games this season.

Carolina Hurricanes Place Teuvo Teravainen On IR

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7:54 pm: As Ruff reports, Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour was asked this evening how much time Teravainen could miss, the coach saying he believes Teravainen could “be out for a while.”

5:32 pm: According to Carolina Hurricanes’ team reporter Walt Ruff, the team has placed forward Teuvo Teravainen on injured reserve, retroactive to November 10th. No corresponding move was reported. The move leaves Carolina with just 21 of 23 available roster spots filled, but with approximately $7MM in available LTIR space.

Teravainen, 28, suffered an upper-body injury part-way through Carolina’s 7-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night, forcing him to leave the game. Ruff had reported yesterday that the forward would not travel with the team on iss brief two game road trip, however the extent of his absence beyond that was unclear. Placing him on IR doesn’t necessarily mean Teravainen will be out long-term, but could allow the team to add an extra player should they choose to. After this two-game trip in Colorado against the Avalanche, then against the Blackhawks in Chicago, Carolina comes home for one game against that same Colorado team on Thursday before heading back out for another quick two-game trip that begins in Minnesota against the Wild next Saturday.

Although things seem to be firing on all cylinders for Carolina and a number of their key players, the same cannot be said for Teravainen. The veteran has just seven assists to start the season, two of those coming Thursday before being forced to leave. A natural playmaker, Carolina has come to rely on Teravainne for at least 60 points per season, which has included a career-high 76 points in 2018-19, and a very solid 65 points over 77 games last season.

Injury Notes: Murray, Bowers, Red Wings, Capitals, Kravtsov

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When the Toronto Maple Leafs elected to overhaul their goaltending group this offseason, the biggest question aside from rebound performances from Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, would be health. Thus far, the team has seemingly received a positive answer when it comes to performance from both goaltenders, but health has been an issue. Murray found himself on LTIR with an abductor injury after just one game and last weekend, Samsonov found himself on IR with a knee injury suffered on a Brad Marchand penalty shot. After the emergency signing of AHL netminder Keith Petruzzelli, the team has relied on Erik Kallgren to shoulder the load while waiting for one of Murray or Samsonov to return.

Earlier today, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe provided a brief update on Murray when he spoke with the media, including The Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. Per Keefe, Murray is doing well physically and has even been cleared to play. However, Keefe says, Murray is not quite ready to return, with the organization’s performance team waiting to see a few more things before they believe he can return to game action. Although Murray’s return can’t come soon enough for Toronto, assuring the netminder is 100% ready for game action is key. Even if he’s completely healthy, as he appears to be, Murray has been out of game action for a month, a considerable amount of that time spent not receiving the daily work and repetition necessary to be a competitive NHL goaltender. Had Murray been rushed, Toronto might find itself with a healthy Murray, but not the one they need.

  • It’s been a long road for forward Shane Bowers between being a first-round pick in 2017 and his NHL debut on Thursday night, and unfortunately, he’ll have to wait a while longer to play in NHL game number two. The 23-year-old suffered an upper-body injury after just 1:46 of time-on-ice Thursday and is now out long-term. According to Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now, who spoke to Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, Bowers is expected to miss six weeks. The injury is surely a tough break for Bowers both physically and mentally, however after several years of sub-par performance that interrupted his development, he had been off to a strong start in 2022-23, recording six points in ten AHL games. That performance, combined with his once-high prospect status is something the Avalanche will surely keep in mind as he works his way back.
  • The Detroit Red Wings have had themselves an up-and-down start to the season, currently holding a record of 7-4-3. While many had high hopes for the team after a busy offseason, their record through 14 games may be better than it seems given the team’s difficult injury issues early on. In fact, some of those injury woes may be resolving themselves shortly, says Michigan Live’s Answer Kahn. As Kahn writes, rookie forward Elmer Soderblom, who missed Thursday’s game against the New York Rangers, is still considered day-to-day. Defenseman Jake Walman, who had shoulder surgery this offseason, is expected to return to the lineup and make his season debut at some point during Detroit’s four game road trip, which begins tonight in Los Angeles against the Kings and concludes a week from tonight against the Blue Jackets in Columbus. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who suffered a broken hand just two games into the season, is expected to return Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
  • Despite placing him on IR just yesterday, Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov skated at optional practice this morning and will be joining the team on its upcoming road trip, says NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Washington’s road trip begins tomorrow in Tampa Bay against the Lightning and concludes Thursday at the St. Louis Blues. Orlov, who was injured last Saturday, is eligible to come off of IR as soon as tomorrow, as the placement was back-dated to the injury, however it’s unclear what Washington’s plan is exactly. The team had placed Orlov on IR in order to make room for fellow defenseman John Carlson, who the team activated yesterday. Should they wish to activate Orlov, a corresponding roster move would be necessary. Not joining the Capitals on their trip is forward T.J. Oshie, who is on IR dealing with a lower-body injury.
  • New York Rangers forward Vitali Kravtsov will not play tonight when the Rangers take on the Predators in Nashville. The forward is dealing with a stomach bug, reports Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Kravtsov, 22, has just one point in six games so far in his return to North America.

Capitals Activate John Carlson, Place Dmitry Orlov On IR

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It has been a particularly tough start to the year on the injury front for the Capitals who have been without several key players for the full season while several other regulars were injured within the first few weeks.  However, There’s at least some good news coming as NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti relays (Twitter link) that defenseman John Carlson has been activated off injured reserve, paving the way for him to return tonight against Tampa Bay.  To make room for him on the roster, Washington has transferred blueliner Dmitry Orlov to IR.

Carlson, who has been one of the most productive blueliners in the NHL in recent years, got off to a strong start to his campaign with six points in nine games but suffered a lower-body injury two weeks ago against Nashville.  While Washington won that game, they only were victorious in one of the six contests that Carlson missed.

As for Orlov, he suffered a lower-body injury last Saturday against the Coyotes.  Accordingly, Washington can back-date the placement which means he technically is eligible to return on Sunday at which point they’d need to make another roster move to free up a spot for him.  Orlov has made an early impact with five assists in 13 games while logging over 21 minutes a night.

Even with Carlson’s return, the Capitals are still quite banged up at the moment as joining Orlov on the injured list are forwards Carl Hagelin, Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom, Connor Brown, T.J. Oshie, and Beck Malenstyn; they’ll even be without head coach Peter Laviolette for at least the next two games after he entered COVID protocol earlier today.  Despite the lengthy injury list, they’re hanging around at close to a .500 points percentage as they enter tonight’s game with a 6-7-2 record.

Injury Notes: Teravainen, Grant, Helm, Bowers

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After moving Frederik Andersen to injured reserve earlier today, the Carolina Hurricanes are facing some more injury troubles. Team reporter Walt Ruff reports that forward Teuvo Teravainen will not travel with the team on their upcoming two-day road trip due to an upper-body injury suffered last night in the team’s 7-2 trouncing of the Edmonton Oilers.

While the Hurricanes have been hot, Teravainen has not. The 28-year-old Finn is off to a slow start, having yet to score 14 games into the season. He has logged seven assists, though, which is tied for third on the team. Depth scoring has been a concerning issue for the Hurricanes to start the year (outside of leading point-getter Martin Necas), a trend that will need to quickly reverse in order to account for Teravainen’s absence over at least the next two games. Either Necas or Seth Jarvis could likely get re-elevated to a top-line role in Teravainen’s absence.

  • The Anaheim Ducks announced via a team release Friday that forward Derek Grant has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to November 3. Grant has missed the team’s past three games with an upper-body injury and is still classified as day-to-day. Given he’s already missed more than the week required by the injured reserve placement, this is purely a paper transaction for roster purposes and he is eligible to return at any time. The corresponding roster transaction was an AHL recall, bringing defenseman Austin Strand up from the San Diego Gulls.
  • Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters today, including Jesse Montano of DNVR Sports, that forward Darren Helm had another surgery (reported to be a hip abductor muscle procedure) and is “on the mend.” Helm, 35, has yet to play this season after suffering an abdominal injury during last year’s Stanley Cup run. He has now been moved to LTIR, giving the team roughly $500,000 in cap space to work with as injuries pile up.
  • One of the forwards that were serving in a depth role to replace help is also on the injured list. After making his NHL debut last night, 2017 first-round pick Shane Bowers is undergoing an MRI, according to Bednar. Bowers played just 1:46 before leaving the game. After a pair of tough AHL campaigns, Bowers looked like his development may be back on track with six points in 10 games to start the season in AHL Colorado.

Columbus Blue Jackets Expected To Recall Gavin Bayreuther, Marcus Bjork

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It was a great win over their former coach last night but it came at a price for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team appears to have lost Zach Werenski long-term, while Erik Gudbranson was also removed from the game with a more minor injury. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic expects an update for both later today but notes that Gavin Bayreuther and Marcus Bjork will likely be coming up from the AHL.

Bayreuther, 28, played in 43 games for the Blue Jackets last season and has already suited up once this year. The minor league veteran doesn’t bring much offense to the table but is at least an experienced option to insert into the lineup. For long stretches, he’s probably not what you want though, which is what makes the recall of Bjork a little more interesting.

The 24-year-old Swede signed a one-year, entry-level contract last May to join the Blue Jackets organization after playing the last four seasons in the SHL. A star at the junior and minor league level in Europe, the undrafted defenseman has shown incredibly well in his short stint with the Cleveland Monsters. Through 11 games, Bjork has two goals and five points, and appears to be getting his first call-up to the NHL.

While losing Werenski drastically injures the Blue Jackets’ hopes of competing in the Metropolitan Division, it also could open up some opportunities to test young players. Top pick David Jiricek also played two games for the club earlier this year and has been good in the minor leagues, while Jake Christiansen played eight games for the team last season and could be due for another opportunity.

Kraken Place Jamie Oleksiak On IR, Send Joey Daccord To AHL

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It turns out that bringing goaltender Magnus Hellberg back today wasn’t Seattle’s only roster activity of the day.  Root Sports’ Scott Malone relays (Twitter link) that the Kraken have placed defenseman Jamie Oleksiak on injured reserve while also sending goaltender Joey Daccord back to AHL Coachella Valley as he is no longer listed on the team’s active roster.

Oleksiak suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday’s game against Nashville and it’s evidently one that will keep him out for at least a week due to the IR placement.  The 29-year-old was off to a nice start to his season with three goals and two assists in his first 14 games while logging 18:33 per night, good for third among Seattle’s blueliners.  Cale Fleury has been up with the team all season as the reserve defender but has been scratched for every game but now will get a chance to see some game action; he played in nine contests with the Kraken last season.  Seattle doesn’t have enough cap space to recall a seventh defender for now although Chris Driedger could easily be moved to LTIR to free up some short-term flexibility on that front.

As for Daccord, he has been up with the big club for the last few weeks with Philipp Grubauer on injured reserve although he only made one appearance during that time.  His demotion could mean that another team placed a claim on Hellberg which means that Seattle wouldn’t be able to loan him to the Firebirds.  Alternatively, management might feel that the 26-year-old is simply better served getting into some game action having been on the bench for the bulk of his time with the Kraken.

St. Louis Blues Place Robert Bortuzzo On Injured Reserve

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The St. Louis Blues, stuck in a losing spiral that has them dead last in the NHL, will have to pull themselves out of it without the help of Robert Bortuzzo. The veteran defenseman was placed on injured reserve today with an upper-body injury. Tyler Tucker was recalled from the AHL in his place.

Bortuzzo, 33, has barely seen the ice this season anyway, averaging just over 12 minutes in his 10 appearances. Even with an entire career spent on the third pairing that is the lowest ice time he’s seen, and the results haven’t been very good. With him out, the Blues will have to go in a different direction with that spot, perhaps even the youngster coming up from Springfield.

Tucker, 22, was a seventh-round pick of the Blues in 2018 and has moved his way up the organizational depth chart by being extremely hard to play against. The left-shot defenseman racked up 114 penalty minutes last season for the Thunderbirds and was a wrecking ball in the playoffs, helping the club to the Calder Cup Finals. In 11 games this season he’s turned up the offense with seven points, while still being strong in his own end.

Even earning a recall is a big deal for a seventh-round pick, but it seems like Tucker might actually get into the lineup if the Blues can’t find a way out of this losing streak. Why not try out something different, especially on the back end where the Blues have given up 43 goals in 11 games.

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