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Jordan Kyrou Loaned To AHL

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According to the AHL transaction page, St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou has been loaned to the San Antonio Rampage. That would indicate that Kyrou is close to returning from the offseason knee surgery that had him on season-opening injured reserve to begin the year.

Kyrou, 21, is one of the top prospects for the Blues after impressing in the AHL last season. Though he recorded just three points in his 16 games with St. Louis, he was often the best player on the ice in the minor leagues and had 43 points in 47 games to show for it.

There’s obviously no guarantee that he’ll be back with the Blues right away whenever he is deemed healthy, but Kyrou could give the team another option as they look to overcome their sluggish start. Sitting at 4-2-3 so far, the team has allowed 30 goals in nine games and doesn’t quite look like the stingy team that took home the Stanley Cup just a few months ago.

Prospect Notes: Nalimov, Andersson, Pare

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The doctrine of “no trade-backs” apparently isn’t held in as high regard in Russia. Chicago Blackhawks goalie prospect Ivan Nalimov has had a strange past few months to say the least. The 25-year-old keeper signed with HK Sochi early in the off-season, but was surprisingly traded not long after to SKA St. Petersburg in July. A product of SKA’s system and a former first-round pick of the team, Nalimov actually seemed like he had stumbled into some good luck with a familiar fit on a top club. Yet, after not making an appearance through the first month of the season, Nalimov has been traded back to Sochi, the team announced. When Nalimov asked for a trade last season, he was talking about his NHL rights, but KHL teams obliged nonetheless, as this is his third time being traded since. He began last season with the Kunlun Red Star, but was moved to Avangard Omsk midway through the year. He’s now in his second stint with Sochi since last season ended. In fact, Nalimov has been a part of seven different KHL clubs over the past four years. Some would think that lack of consistency would have a negative effect on his development, but Nalimov has been solid for several years now and was stellar down the stretch and in the postseason for Omsk last year. Yet, it’s no wonder why he is so eager to make the jump to North America and find some normalcy to his career. Nalimov has since rescinded his trade request from the Blackhawks, and just in time too. Chicago’s tandem of Corey Crawford and Robin Lehner will both be unrestricted free agents this season and veteran minor leaguers Anton Forsberg and Jean-Francois Berube are now gone. If he plays well again this season and then signs with the Blackhawks, there’s a real possibility that Nalimov could compete with Collin Delia for the backup job in Chicago next year.

  • Another prospect getting a fresh start is young defender Axel Andersson. Property of the Boston Bruins, who selected him in the second round in 2018, Andersson stayed overseas last year in his native Sweden. While he made the jump from the junior-level SuperElit to the second-tier Allsvenskan, it was a somewhat underwhelming campaign. Andersson arrived at training camp this year looking for a change of scenery and for a while it looked like that might come with AHL Providence. Andersson suited up for a couple of Boston’s preseason games and then took part in the entirety of Providence’s camp. However, he always faced an uphill battle to find regular ice time with the team this year, as they count Alexander Petrovic, Urho Vaakanainen, Jeremy Lauzon, and Jakub Zboril, as well as long-time member Chris Breen and highly-regarded project Cooper Zech among the names with guaranteed play time. So instead Andersson has joined his CHL rights holder, the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. The Bruins have officially loaned Andersson to Moncton, who are excited to add a talented defenseman that they used a first-round pick on in this year’s CHL Import Draft. Moncton head coach and director of hockey operations John Torchetti, a Boston native, was no doubt influential in convincing the Bruins that the QMJHL would be more beneficial for Andersson than a return to Sweden or limited minutes in the AHL. He’ll get to play internationally this season anyway, as Andersson is expected to suit up for the Swedes in the World Junior Championship.
  • The Bruins are happy with the decision on Andersson, somewhat of a project player, but may already be regretting giving up on another slow-to-develop prospect. Cedric Pare, a sixth-round pick of Boston in 2017, is tearing up the QMJHL early this season. Pare is the first player with double-digit goals in the entire CHL, notching ten through eight games with Rimouski Oceanic. Of course, it bears mentioning that Pare is centering a line that features presumptive 2020 top pick Alexis Lafreniere and Calgary Flames dark horse prospect Dmitri Zavgorodny. However, Pare is still showing that his skill and skating are finally catching up to his size and two-way intelligence. Those latter abilities were on display though his first three junior seasons, but the offense was lacking. Pare has yet to crack 20 goals or 50 points in a season, but is well on his way at an outrageous pace of 80+ goals and 130+ points. The Bruins’ rights to Pare expired early this summer when the team opted not to extend him an entry-level contract. He is now likely to be a hotly-pursued free agent later this year and the odds are that Boston is not at the top of his list of destinations.

Pacific Notes: Seattle, Canucks, Puljujarvi, Palmu

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The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft is still two full seasons away, but the Seattle expansion team is not messing around in the meantime. If early indications hold true, Seattle will make their presence felt in the NHL long before they actually become an official club. On Thursday night, the second night of the new campaign, Seattle is already out scouting the competition – or more likely the 2021 free agent class and possible Expansion Draft offerings. The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that, presumably for the first time, a Seattle scout is at a game in an official capacity. Former NHLer Stu Barnes is set to watch the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars square off, two talent-laden teams who will likely have tough decisions to make come expansion time. However, this is likely just the beginning. Expect Barnes and company to be a fixture at games for the next two years.

  • With the Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal and Maple Leafs’ John Tavares recently joining the elite group that is NHL captains, the number of teams without a captain has shrunk even further. The Vegas Golden Knights have yet to name the first captain in franchise history, while the New York Rangers have also been without a captain since 2017-18. Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and Vancouver Canucks have holdover vacancies from last season. However, this group is about lose yet another member. Canucks head coach Travis Green has stated that the team will formally announce their new captain ahead of their home opener on October 9. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini confirmed as much today, stating that he, Green, and GM Jim Benning saw leadership begin to develop last season and feel they are ready to name a captain. Vancouver has already named four alternates – Alexander Edler, Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter, and Chris Tanev – and the odds are that the new “C” will be one of the current “A”’s. If the team wants to reward loyalty and establish a veteran leader, Edler is the likely choice. If they want to anoint a young core player as the man to take the team into the future, Horvat will be the selection. Those two have a better chance than Sutter or Tanev, both of whom have seen their roles on the team questioned over the last year or so, but anything is possible.
  • Speaking with Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes in his latest “31 Thoughts” column that it is his impression that the team is simply waiting and hoping for a better return on disgruntled prospect Jesse Puljujarvi. Puljujarvi followed through on his threat and signed in Europe this off-season when the Oilers wouldn’t trade him. Since then, Edmonton has shifted their focus solely to moving out the young winger, but only at a fair price. Friedman writes that Holland can only hope that Puljujarvi’s trade stock gets a boost from his performance in Finland. Thus far, Puljujarvi has seven points in eight games for the Liiga’s Karpat, which puts him in the top-20 scorers early on, but not exactly at the top. Friedman does mention some actual names – for the first time – that came up in trade talks this summer but were seemingly dismissed by Edmonton: a trio of forwards including the Carolina Hurricanes’ Julien Gauthier, the St. Louis Blues’ Klim Kostin, and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Alexander Volkov.
  • Another NHL prospect staying in Europe for a while longer is the Canucks’ Petrus Palmu. After news emerged on Wednesday that he was likely to be officially loaned to JYP of the Liiga, the Finnish club confirmed the transfer today. Palmu, a 2017 sixth-round pick who signed his entry-level contract in 2018 and played briefly in the AHL to begin last season, will continue to develop overseas for another year at least. Now officially signed with JYP, Palmu is set to make his season debut this weekend.

Prospect Notes: Merkley, Karlberg, Chudinov

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When the OHL’s Peterborough Petes released their training camp roster last week, star defenseman Ryan Merkley was suspiciously absent. The San Jose Sharks 2018 first-round pick was only acquired by the Petes midway through last season and was expected to play a major role for the team this year. However, that won’t be the case. Merkley’s agent, J.P. Barry, relayed to Mike Davies of The Peterborough Examiner that he has been informed that Peterborough is working to trade Merkley and do not plan to begin the season with him on the roster. Petes GM Mike Oke confirmed as much, telling Davies that “We’ve decided we’re going to go in a different direction. Finding another opportunity for Ryan would probably be best for everybody… [W]e just felt it wasn’t the right fit.” Oke stated that no specific incident led to the team’s decision on Merkley, but this is hardly the first time that the young blue liner has worn out his welcome. A player that has continuously been followed by rumors of immature behavior and poor sportsmanship, Merkley was thought to have been initially traded to Peterborough from the Guelph Storm under similar circumstances. These personality concerns also likely played a factor in Merkely’s drop to No. 21 overall last year, as his offensive ability might have otherwise warranted a higher draft slot. Nevertheless, the Sharks remain committed to their prospect defender and Oke and Barry are certain that Merkley is still a valuable commodity in the OHL. In fact, the Petes expect to get a similar package back in a trade as what they gave up for him: a top young player and a package of high picks. Merkley is a talented player – he has recorded 193 points in 188 career OHL games – and will get a fair shake at Sharks training camp, but his defensive ability still needs work and he will almost certainly end up back in the OHL this season. The question is with who and whether his continued behavioral issues will follow him to his next stop as well.

  • Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Marcus Karlberg will also be playing somewhere different this season. The 19-year-old forward, a 2018 third-round pick, has been loaned to a new club for the 2019-20 season. AIK of Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the Allsvenskan, announced that they have acquired Karlberg’s services from Leksands IF for the coming season. Karlberg was a near point-per-game player for Leksands’ U-20 SuperElit team early last season before being promoted and recording 11 points in 44 games in the Allsvenskan. Karlberg had clearly outgrown the junior level, but with Leksands earning a promotion to the SHL, the team was likely wary of moving the young forward to Sweden’s top pro level. Karlberg’s growing ability is obvious – he is a fast, hard-working forward who doesn’t let his small frame limit him – but remaining in the Allsvenskan for another year is likely a better developmental move. AIK hope that he can break out and perhaps contribute to another promotion-worthy campaign.
  • While he can barely be considered a prospect anymore, Russian defenseman Maxim Chudinov is already back to impressing in the KHL. Likely one of the best players in the world never to try his hand at the NHL, Chudinov still remains Boston Bruins property as a 2010 seventh-round pick. The 29-year-old rearguard has been playing in the KHL since even before the Bruins took a flier on him and has become well-known for his top two-way play and even more so for his howitzer of a shot. Chudinov put his slapper on display in the KHL’s season opener yesterday, scoring from behind his own blue line. Amazingly, this is the third time in this calendar year alone that Chudinov has accomplished that unthinkable task. A multiple-time Gagarin Cup champion and KHL All-Star, it’s possible that Chudinov could finally decide he wants a new challenge in his career and the Bruins would surely welcome him with open arms, despite their depth on defense. However, with his 30th birthday arriving this season, it’s more likely that Chudinov will simply remain a “what could have been” for NHL fans.

Sharks Loan Jonathan Dahlen To Timra

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There had been speculation dating back to last season that Sharks prospect Jonathan Dahlen was looking to return to Sweden.  That has now come to fruition as Timra of the Swedish Allsvenskan announced that the winger has signed a one-year deal with the team after San Jose officially loaned them his rights.  His entry-level deal contains a European Assignment Clause although teams will often bring a player to training camp first before going that route.

Dahlen’s brief time in North America has been somewhat rocky.  The former Vancouver prospect was touted as one of their better prospects heading into last season but he didn’t make a big impact in the minors (29 points in 50 games with AHL Utica) and he was eventually traded to San Jose for forward Linus Karlsson, a 2018 third-round pick.  While the move is more understandable now knowing that Dahlen didn’t want to stay in the minors for next season, that’s still a notable drop in value in a short period of time.

2019-20 will mark the final year of Dahlen’s NHL contract and it will be interesting to see what happens next with him.  A strong season could have the 21-year-old back on the NHL radar but at the same time, if he does well at home, he could very well simply opt to stay there.  Either way, the Sharks can retain his rights by tendering him a qualifying offer next June.

Jacob Moverare Loaned To Frolunda

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The Los Angeles Kings have already made a decision on where Jacob Moverare will play next season. The 20-year old defenseman will return to the SHL to play for Frolunda once again, meaning another year of his entry-level deal will be burned without him suiting up in the organization.

Drafted 112th overall in 2016, Moverare signed his entry-level deal just a few weeks later. The deal slid forward for two seasons as the young defenseman suited up in the OHL, but after turning 20 it kicked in for 2018-19. He spent last season in the SHL with Frolunda, scoring seven points in 42 games but being a bigger contributor in their ultimately successful playoff run for both the SHL title and Champions Hockey League championship. Spending this year overseas again will leave him with one season left (2020-21) on his entry-level deal, after which he will be a restricted free agent.

Even if the Kings do end up burning through his entry-level deal, they obviously feel as though his development is best served playing at home. Frolunda is considered one of the best organizations in Sweden and should provide another solid opportunity for the young defenseman to take his game to the next level. Not much of an offensive player, the 6’3″ Moverare could still develop into a legitimate defensive option at the NHL level with his long reach and solid awareness.

Despite being loaned, Moverare will still count towards the Kings’ 50-contract limit, a number which they are relatively close to reaching depending on what they do with some of their young prospects that might not count depending on where they spend 2019-20.

Senators Notes: No. 19 Pick, Paajarvi, Hogberg

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Perhaps excited by the extension of Anthony Duclair and the additional second-round pick added by the Erik Karlsson contract, both occurring earlier today, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion was very positive and open when speaking with the media today. Per The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Dorion began by discussing the team’s plans for the upcoming NHL Draft. The Senators will travel to Vancouver tomorrow to begin meetings ahead of the round one of the draft on Friday night, but Dorion has already had many conversations with rival GM’s. Dorion states that he has already spoken with multiple teams about possibly moving up in the first round from No. 19. The Senators are without their own first-rounder, owed to the Colorado Avalanche from last year’s Matt Duchene trade, but the team was fortunately able to recoup a top pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in their own sale of Duchene. With that said, No. 19 is not exactly where a rebuilding team would like their first pick to be, even though Ottawa already has a deep, talented pipeline. Following the Karlsson news, CapFriendly reports that the Senators now have 28 picks in the next three drafts, including 16 in the top three rounds. That is plenty of ammunition if Dorion decides that he wants to move up the board on Friday. Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks have hinted at their willingness to move back, while the Colorado Avalanche may also be open to moving their second pick in the round, No. 16. If Dorion is intent on moving up, he should be able to find a taker.

  • Dorion also made the somewhat surprising reveal that the Senators are not pursuing a contract extension with free agent forward Magnus Paajarvi. Paajarvi, 28, has spent the past season and half with Ottawa after coming over from the St. Louis Blues on waivers in 2017-18. Although the 2009 tenth overall pick has never been able to live up to his draft stock nor his rookie year production, Paajarvi has grown into a solid two-way player and enjoyed the best season since his first in Ottawa this past year. Paajarvi seemed like a safe bet to stay with the Senators, especially given his key role on the penalty kill, but Dorion has other plans. He did say that talks continue with fellow UFA’s Oscar Lindberg and Brian Gibbons, both of whom performed well after deadline trades, as well as RFA defenseman Cody Ceci. As for Paajarvi, he’ll likely land on his feet elsewhere in the league once free agency opens.
  • Finally, Dorion announced that a contract resolution with RFA goaltender Marcus Hogberg is imminent. Hogberg is expected to sign with the team this week after rumors emerged early this off-season that he was considering a move to Europe. It remains possible that Hogberg could still be loaned elsewhere, as his signing only adds to a logjam of keepers in both Ottawa and AHL Belleville. The Senators expect to enter next season with a tandem of veteran Craig Anderson and returnee Anders Nilsson. As of now, Mike Condon will also be in the mix. In the minors, the team hopes to give top goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, college standout Joey Daccord, and now Hogberg the time in net they need to develop properly. If that is going to be impossible, even with a likely Condon departure, Hogberg is the top candidate to be loaned away, despite his advantage in pro experience.

Daniil Tarasov To Play In Finland

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When the Columbus Blue Jackets signed Veini Vehvilainen earlier this spring, it made for quite a crowded goaltending position within the organization. Even with Sergei Bobrovsky and Keith Kinkaid scheduled to leave in free agency, the team had four goaltenders under contract for next season with another—Joonas Korpisalo—expecting a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent. Out of those five, there isn’t a ton of NHL experience, making it unclear how the minor league playing time would be sorted out. Today an answer has been revealed, with Daniil Tarasov being loaned to Porin Ässät of Finland’s Liiga.

Tarasov, 20, only signed his own entry-level contract in May, ending his career in Russia after debuting in the KHL this season. Originally selected in the third round two years ago, the young netminder has plenty of development left before he can make a real impact on the Blue Jackets organization despite his impressive year. With so many minor league goaltenders in the system, Tarasov may have been forced to sit and watch more often than not, meaning a placement in Finland will get him much more playing time.

The Finnish team has announced it will be just a one-year deal, meaning the Blue Jackets will once again face this problem next spring. At least at that point they’ll have a better grasp on their goaltending situation, as there is no guarantee they even have their 2019-20 starter in the organization right now.

Jordan Binnington’s Bruins Past Could Play A Role In Cup Final

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Plenty has been said about the meteoric rise of St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington this season. The 25-year-old rookie began the year as the team’s fourth-string option in net and did not make his first NHL start until January. Yet, he miraculously managed to pick up 24 wins in the second half of the season behind a league-best 1.89 goals against average and has led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Final. Part of Binnington’s dominance is that his emergence from obscurity meant that most opponents this season had little to no experience with facing him. However, the part of Binnington’s story that is now in the spotlight, and one that many still may not realize, is that last season Binnington played for none other than the AHL’s Providence Bruins.

Without an AHL affiliate in 2017-18, St. Louis was forced to split their minor league prospects between several AHL teams. With limited options for play time in net, the Blues opted to leave Ville Husso with many of his teammates on the San Antonio Rampage – now the team’s new affiliate – and loaned Binnington by himself to Providence for the year. Binnington played well, but made just 28 appearances over the course of the season as the backup to the Bruins’ Zane McIntyre. More importantly, he spent the whole campaign with the team.

Could this be an advantage for Boston in their upcoming Stanley Cup clash with the Blues? It certainly won’t hurt, but the bulk of the Bruins’ regulars did not spend much time in Providence last season. Of the players to skate in at least half of Boston’s games this season, only Danton Heinen and Matt Grzelcyk suited up for Providence last season and the pair combined for just 18 early-season games. Even current Bruins reserves like Peter Cehlarik, Trent Frederic, and Karson Kuhlman (none of whom are likely to draw into the Cup Final anyway) only spent limited time playing with Binnington. And the P-Bruins’ top players from last season – Austin Czarnik, Kenny Agostino, Colby Cave – have since departed the organization.

The one outlier, and potential Stanley Cup x-factor, is defenseman Connor Clifton. Clifton played the full season in Providence last year and spent much of this season in the AHL as well. However, Clifton has jumped on the opportunity presented by injuries to Kevan Miller and John Moore and has asserted himself as a starter for the Bruins this season. Even with Moore now healthy, as well as Steven Kampfer in the mix, the rookie defenseman has held on to his spot on the right side of the team’s bottom pair. Clifton has been trusted with meaningful minutes and even recorded his first NHL goal in the Eastern Conference Final. A player on the smaller side who makes up for his lack of stature with both tenacity and intelligence, Clifton is not a player to be overlooked and his experience playing with Binnington could be key for the Bruins.

Of course, Providence head coach Jay Leach and organizational goalie coach Bob Essensa, among others, will also surely have input on Binnington. So too will former net mate McIntyre, who has served as Boston’s emergency third-string goalie in recent weeks. There’s no reason to believe that one season as the minor league backup for the Bruins will give the team all they need to totally figure out the red-hot goaltender, but Boston may have a slight advantage over other teams this postseason when it comes to beating Binnington.

L.A. Kings To Loan Jacob Moverare To Sweden

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Los Angeles Kings defensive prospect Jacob Moverare is on the move, again. A fourth-round pick in 2016, the Swedish prospect signed his entry-level contract almost immediately after being selected. After the deal slid for two seasons while Moverare was paying for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads, the Kings felt Moverare still was not prepared for North American hockey last season. Rather than send him to AHL Ontario, the team instead loaned the young defender to the Swedish Hockey League’s Frolunda HC in the first year of his contract.  Apparently, they still feel the same way. Swedish newspaper Goteborgs Posten reports that Frolunda has already received word that Moverare will re-join the team next season.

While it is not out of the ordinary to see a loan of this kind for a young foreign player, it is rare to see it done twice. Moverare will have burned two years off of his entry-level contract before ever playing in a professional game in North America, seemingly just because of L.A.’s depth in minor league defensemen. While a top-four NHL defender is one of the Kings’ most glaring needs this off-season, they do have considerable depth in fringe NHL talent. Sean Walker, Paul LaDue, and Kurtis MacDermid are all signed through next season while Matt Roy and Daniel Brickley are restricted free agents. All five of those young defensemen suited up for the Kings this season, but barring major roster changes, only two or three will win spots in L.A. to begin next season. Then there is an influx of talent from the college and junior ranks, as Mikey Anderson, Markus Phillips, and Sean Durzi will also be in play in Ontario. There simply isn’t room for Moverare to play meaningful minutes in the AHL next season, but when will there be?

Another loaned season should not be seen as an indictment of Moverare’s play. A highly productive player at the junior level, Moverare showed in the SHL last season that his pro game is likely to skew more toward the defensive strengths in his game rather than offensive. However, he could still be a very solid stay-at-home option. Moverare is a right-shot defenseman who plays a strong, competitive game and is known for his hockey IQ. At 6’3″ and 200 lbs., Moverare can hold his own defensively, but also skates well and compensates for some lacking skill with great vision and positioning. Just a victim of the numbers game for L.A., the Gotenborgs report indicates that the Kings simply feel that Moverare’s development would be better served remaining in Sweden, but another year abroad doesn’t mean that he won’t play for the Kings one day.

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