Arizona Coyotes Loan Liam Kirk To Finland’s Jukurit
Earlier this afternoon, the Atlanta Gladiators, the ECHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes and AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, caused a bit of a stir when they announced forward Liam Kirk had been recalled by the Coyotes. Though Kirk had been off to a strong start with the Gladiators, registering 11 points in 15 games thus far, a recall by Arizona appeared surprising, given he’s played just one game at the AHL level this season and just eight a season ago.
PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan clarified that transaction, reporting that Kirk had actually been loaned to Jukurit in the Finnish League, which is coached by former Coyotes forward Olli Jokinen. Morgan adds that with the transaction, Arizona will retain Kirk’s rights and chances are he’ll return to North America next season, most likely as a member of the Roadrunners.
The 22-year-old Kirk is an interesting case as a prospect. Born and raised in England, Kirk played the majority of his youth hockey in Sheffield, turning pro at the age of 16. Kirk’s success as a teenager at England’s highest level of hockey got him noticed and he was ultimately drafted in the seventh-round by the Coyotes in 2018.
After being drafted, Kirk came to North America and spent two strong seasons with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL, registering 47 points in 63 games his first season and 50 points in 47 games his second. Following his two-year OHL stint, Kirk returned to England for one season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, playing in just 14 games, but dominating with 20 points. The forward returned to North America last season, but played in just nine AHL contests between last season and this one combined. However, after joining the Gladiators earlier this season, Kirk appeared to find a groove.
The loan to Jukurit isn’t necessarily bad news or a demotion. In fact, this opportunity might be a step forward for Kirk. As talented as the players in the ECHL are, it’s the third league in North America and doesn’t see too many players that are representative of NHL competition. Jukurit, on the other hand, plays in Finland’s top league, where Kirk will face players who fit into one or more categories: stars and veterans of Europe’s top leagues, former NHL and AHLers, and top NHL prospects.
While the European game is different from what he’d see in the NHL, Kirk has had ample exposure to North American hockey in Peterborough and Atlanta, but now he’ll gain more exposure to top competition. Perhaps not as impactful to Arizona’s decision, but helpful to Kirk, the loan will get him closer to home, at least on the same continent.
Beck Malenstyn Loaned To AHL
After explaining that Beck Malenstyn is close to a return yesterday, the Washington Capitals have loaned the young forward to the AHL today. Malenstyn will join the Hershey Bears, now that he has recovered from a finger injury.
Selected 145th overall in 2016, few would have been surprised if Malenstyn never made it to the NHL. After all, he wasn’t a dynamic offensive player in junior, reaching a career-high of 56 points. But the 6’3″ forward did make it, debuting for the Capitals in the 2019-20 season thanks to a hard-working, physical playstyle.
Now a few years later and the 24-year-old has 20 games under his belt, including five this season with the Capitals. He had two points in those five, before leaving a game at the beginning of November and sitting out ever since. He’ll now have to get back up to speed in the minor leagues but could be a potential call-up down the road for the Capitals.
With Tom Wilson nearing a return, Washington is starting to get healthy again and is already one of the hottest teams in the league. The club has won five straight and nine of ten as they climb up the Metropolitan Division standings.
Evening Notes: Dermott, Zaitsev, Duchene
There’s a few things the Vancouver Canucks could use right now to help turn their season, and even with the addition of Ethan Bear, another defenseman would be among those needs. One defenseman the team has been without all season, Travis Dermott, appeared fairly close to returning, having been sent to the Abbotsford Canucks, Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, for a conditioning loan.
Dermott was able to get into a game with Abbotsford, failing to record a point but registering a +2 rating, however it doesn’t appear things went too well otherwise. According to Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin, Dermott has been recalled from his conditioning loan and now remains on LTIR. Generally one would expect a recall from a condoning loan to line-up with being activated off of IR, however this combined with the fact that Dermott played just the one game points to something else being amiss, though Allvin did not specifically clarify anything further.
- The Ottawa Senators returned from their Christmas break tonight at home against the Boston Bruins, but found themselves playing a man short pretty early on. The team announced that veteran defenseman Nikita Zaitsev suffered a lower-body injury during the first period of the game, which will keep him from returning. The 31-year-old hasn’t had his best season so far, even being placed on waivers back in November and sent to the AHL, however he has received consistent playing time since being recalled back on December 1st. Through 16 games, Zaitsev has three points, all assists, as well as 32 blocks and 39 hits. No update is available just yet on the injury going forward.
- The Nashville Predators are without forward Matt Duchene this evening as they take on the Dallas Stars at home, though fortunately it’s for good reason and not injury related. The team announced it was the birth of Duchene’s child that is keeping the star away from the rink. The Predators next play on Friday against the Ducks in Anaheim.
Boston Bruins Recall Craig Smith
Dec 21: Smith is back with the big club, though he never really left. Recalled from the minor leagues, he will be available for tomorrow’s game (as long as they don’t send him down again).
Dec 20: The Boston Bruins will try and save a little cap space over the holiday break, assigning Craig Smith to the AHL after the veteran forward cleared waivers yesterday. Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now reports that Smith remains with Boston for the time being, even though his contract has officially been loaned to the Providence Bruins.
Since the Bruins are no longer using any long-term injured reserve relief, they can accrue cap space every day they spend under the ceiling. By sending Smith’s contract down, $1.125MM of the $3.1MM cap hit will come off the books.
The 33-year-old will still be able to collect his full $4.3MM salary, but it certainly would be something to see him suit up for Providence. It’s been a decade since Smith played in the minor leagues, and even then he only spent four games in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals.
Selected in the fourth round of the 2009 draft, he became a star at the University of Wisconsin and stepped directly into the NHL after signing with the Nashville Predators, scoring 14 goals and 36 points as a rookie in 2011-12. The only reason he was even in the minor leagues the following season was because of the lockout-shortened season, and ever since he has been one of the most reliable middle-six forwards in the league.
After recording double-digit goals and at least 29 points in each of the last nine seasons, Smith had just four points in 18 games this year. Over an 807-game career, he has scored 192 goals and 402 points. At the end of the season, Smith’s three-year, $9.3MM deal will come to an end, leaving him an unrestricted free agent.
Latest On Matvei Michkov
Dec 20: SKA has officially announced the loan, sending Michkov to Sochi for the rest of the year.
Dec 19: As the 2023 World Junior Championship gets closer, hockey fans are focused on the next wave of talent. Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli will show why they are expected to go at the very top of next year’s draft, while competing against the best players in their age group from all over the world.
Well, not all over the world. Russia has been banned from the upcoming tournament because of its invasion of Ukraine, meaning Matvei Michkov – another top prospect – won’t get to compete.
Instead, Michkov is set to join the worst team in the KHL for the rest of the season as reports out of Russia have him loaned to HC Sochi. Though it may seem like a demotion, given his place with powerhouse club SKA St. Petersburg, it should allow the young forward to actually receive some regular playing time. So far this year he has played just a handful of shifts in the KHL, spending most of his time in the VHL, where he has 10 goals in 12 games.
Michkov, 18, is a very interesting prospect when it comes to the draft. Compared to Alex Ovechkin at times as he grew up, there is an expectation that he will become the next face of Russian hockey. If there weren’t other complicating factors, he would be pushing Bedard for the first overall selection.
The biggest of those factors is his contract, which will keep him in Russia through the 2025-26 season. This loan to Sochi does not extend or shorten his deal with SKA; it only gives him an opportunity to play through the end of the year.
Any team that selects him will have to wait, and though he is expected to come to North America when his contract is up, there is no guarantee of that just yet.
This opportunity, though, will be able to give NHL front offices a bit of a closer look (at least through video) before committing to a several-year wait. If he can show off for Sochi, even in a losing effort – the club is dead last in the KHL – the hype surrounding his future will only increase.
Evening Notes: White, Subban, Chinakhov
The Anaheim Ducks announced earlier this evening that defenseman Colton White has been sent to the San Diego Gulls, their AHL affiliate, for a conditioning loan. Unlike most conditioning loans in the minors where the player is either too young to be sent to the AHL otherwise (think Shane Wright and Brandt Clarke recently) or where the player is coming off injury, the 25-year-old White is AHL eligible and has been playing, suiting up as recently as Saturday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
For White, the defenseman has been playing somewhat sparingly this season, getting into just 16 of 32 games, not spending any time on IR. By going to the AHL, the defenseman should have an opportunity to play regularly and see top-end minutes during each game of the loan. Through those 16 games, White has just one point, an assist. White had spent his entire career in the New Jersey Devils organization before signing a two-year, two-way contract with Anaheim this summer.
- The Montreal Canadiens will be paying homage to one of their greats later this season, honoring the recently-retired P.K. Subban in a pregame ceremony on January 12th before the team takes on another of Subban’s former teams, the Nashville Predators. The former Norris Trophy winner spent his first seven seasons with the Canadiens before an infamous 2016 trade sent him to Nashville in a one-for-one swap with Shea Weber. Three years later, Nashville dealt Subban to the New Jersey Devils where he finished out his career. Subban ultimately retired this summer after hitting the free agent market.
- It would seem as though the injury issues simply couldn’t get any worse for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but on top of this morning’s news that captain Boone Jenner would require surgery, forward Yegor Chinakhov was forced to leave this evening’s game against the Dallas Stars with a lower-body injury. The forward will not return, the team announced. The injury happened early on in the game, Chinakhov colliding with a Stars player and leaving the ice gingerly. At this point, the compounding injuries do little to change things for the reeling Blue Jackets, however the silver lining to them was the ability to get young players like Chinakhov, a 2020 first-round pick, some quality minutes and opportunities. For now, Columbus will have to hold its breath that this injury won’t keep the young forward out for too long.
Buffalo Sabres Activate Ilya Lyubushkin
The Buffalo Sabres are activating defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin ahead of tonight’s game, putting him right into the lineup. Lyubushkin hasn’t played since November 28th while dealing with an undisclosed injury. In a corresponding move, the team announced that defenseman Jeremy Davies has been returned on loan to the Rochester Americans, their AHL affiliate.
A key veteran and quality shutdown defenseman, the Sabres have surely missed Lyubushkin’s steady presence in their lineup. Though Lyubushkin doesn’t play top minutes for the Sabres, averaging just 15:24 time-on-ice this season, his 76% of defensive zone starts show just how much Buffalo trusts him in their own end.
As for Davies, the former New Jersey Devils prospect got into just one game ont his recall, his only NHL contest of the season, which came this Saturday. He’ll return to Rochester where he’s been a steady piece of their blueline amid a season of injuries and recalls affecting the entire Sabres organization. With Rochester, Davies has five points in 19 games to start the season.
Blue Jackets To Loan David Jiricek For World Juniors
The Blue Jackets have made a decision on Czechia’s request to loan defenseman David Jiricek for the upcoming World Juniors. As Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (subscription link), Columbus will let the 19-year-old participate in the event where he’ll play alongside two more team prospects in forward Martin Rysavy and defenseman Stanislav Svozil.
Jiricek was the sixth-overall pick by the Blue Jackets in the summer despite missing significant time due to an injury sustained in the original version of the World Juniors last December. This will be his third time participating in the event (not including the canceled edition).
His first season in North America has been a successful one to the point where it was possible that Columbus could have declined the Czechs’ request in order to allow him to continue his momentum with AHL Cleveland. Jiricek is on a nice run with the Monsters with an impressive 11 points in his last 10 games and is likely to have another NHL stint at some point in the second half of the season after getting into two games back in late October. It seems likely that Columbus will want to keep him below the 10-game threshold to not activate the first year of his contract.
The roster for the Czechs hasn’t been finalized yet – they have three cuts still to make – but as things stand, they’re likely to send 12 NHL-drafted prospects to the event with Jiricek being the headliner. On top of that, the team will likely also have draft-eligible winger Eduard Sale, who is expected to be a lottery selection in June. Accordingly, they could be an under-the-radar team to keep an eye on.
St. Louis Blues Recall Logan Brown, Assign William Bitten To AHL
The St. Louis Blues this afternoon announced they’ve recalled forward Logan Brown from the Springfield Thunderbirds, their AHL affiliate. In a corresponding move, the team has assigned forward William Bitten to Springfield. Brown had been in the AHL on a conditioning loan, which the Blues assigned him to Thursday. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report the move.
Brown, 24, is in his second year as a member of the Blues organization, splitting time with St. Louis and Springfield last season, recording 11 points in 39 games with the NHL team. A former top prospect with the Ottawa Senators, Brown had been trying to gain traction in the NHL after a modest breakout last season. But, the forward found himself on LTIR after playing just five games this season. Now, after the brief conditioning stint, Brown can look to stay healthy and get back into a groove in the Blues’ lineup.
Bitten was recalled back on December 3rd and made his long-awaited NHL debut that night. In four NHL games to date, the 24-year-old has just one assist, coming in his second game. By getting Bitten back themselves, Springfield will hope to get more of the scoring touch he had earlier this season, with eight goals over his first 20 games.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Rasmus Kupari, Jordan Spence To AHL
The Los Angeles Kings have joined in on the flurry of transactions ahead of tomorrow night’s roster freeze. The team announced that forward Rasmus Kupari and defenseman Jordan Spence have both been loaned to the Ontario Reign, their AHL affiliate. No corresponding moves were announced.
One of many talented young Kings players, Kupari has split his time between Los Angeles and Ontario this season as he continues to tear up the AHL, but struggles to become an impactful NHLer. Through 11 AHL games in 2021-22, Kupari has nine points, however in 18 NHL games, he has just five points while averaging 10:38 per night. Certainly with more ice time comes more points, but as it goes, more ice time likely won’t come without more points.
As for Spence, the 21-year-old defenseman has struggled to consistently crack the Kings lineup through no fault of his own, falling victim to the organization’s incredible defensive depth. Last season, Spence played 24 games with Los Angeles, recording eight points, but had a phenomenal 42 points in 46 games on Ontario’s blueline. This season has been much of the same, Spence registering 21 points through 22 games for Ontario. The Australian-born Spence was only able to make his 2022-23 NHL debut last night, playing in the Kings game against the San Jose Sharks before being sent back down.