Late Night Notes: Tanev, Makar, Wutzke
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was taken out of Saturday night’s game on a stretcher, following a collision with Philadelphia Flyers winger Matvei Michkov halfway through the third period. It wasn’t clear exactly where Tanev took the bump, though he was fitted with a head immobilizer.
It is a terrible outcome in what was meant to be Tanev’s first full game back from a previous injury. He was activated off of injured reserve earlier on Saturday, after missing 11 days and four games with a concussion sustained on October 21st.
Tanev remained a core part of Toronto’s blue-line prior to his October 21st injury. His plus-three through seven games is the second-highest among Toronto defenders. He also leads the blue-line with four takeaways on the year.
Toronto could be pushed to recall Dakota Mermis, who was assigned to the AHL to make room for Tanev’s return. Mermis has no scoring through one appearance in the NHL, and two in the AHL, this season. He could continue to fit outside the lineup, should Toronto continue leaning on Philippe Myers and Simon Benoit in a nightly role.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The Colorado Avalanche have assigned forward Taylor Makar to the AHL. Makar made his NHL debut on Saturday. He posted one hit and no shots in just six minutes of action. The night was also Taylor’s first chance to play alongside brother Cale Makar at the NHL rank. Despite playing for the same junior and college programs, the two hadn’t formally played together, largely thanks to Cale being three years Taylor’s senior. With this move, the younger Makar will now return to the AHL ranks, where he’s already accrued four points and 14 penalty minutes in nine games. He’s playing through his rookie AHL season, after earning a five-game sample in the league following the end of his senior year last season.
- Minnesota Wild goalie prospect Chase Wutzke has been traded in the WHL. He moved from the Red Deer Rebels to the Moose Jaw Warriors in a lofty trade – with one first-round, two second-round, one third-round, and two fourth-round draft picks headed back to Red Deer. Wutzke will bring starting upside to the Warriors. He’s posted a .889 save percentage in nine games so far this season, a that mark sits above both of Moose Jaw’s goaltenders. That should earn Wutzke the starter’s crease sooner rather than later, and give Moose Jaw one more piece to help push towards a long season.
Zuccarello About A Week From Returning
The Wild could soon be getting a needed boost up front. On Friday, head coach John Hynes indicated (Twitter link) that winger Mats Zuccarello is within a week or so of returning to the lineup. The 38-year-old has yet to suit up this season due to a back injury that also caused him to miss training camp. While Zuccarello isn’t a major scoring threat, he’s one of Minnesota’s better playmakers and is coming off a solid showing in 2024-25 that saw him record 19 goals and 35 assists in 69 games. His eventual return would go a long way to giving them a second scoring line, an area that has been an issue in the early going this season.
Wild Believed To Be Looking To Add A Middle-Six Forward
Heading into last offseason, there was an expectation that the Wild would be busy with much more salary cap space at their disposal. Instead, their spending was relatively tempered, headlined by the additions of winger Vladimir Tarasenko and center Nico Sturm. They also re-signed center Marco Rossi to a bridge deal after a prolonged period of trade speculation. The end result was them entering the season with much more cap space than they’ve been accustomed to.
At the moment, Minnesota has over $4.2MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. That amount is lowered a bit by the fact that they have 15 forwards counting against their cap thanks to injuries to Sturm and winger Mats Zuccarello, neither of whom have played this season.
It appears they’re looking to put that cap flexibility to use sooner than later. Anthony DiMarco of The Fourth Period reports that Minnesota is believed to be looking to add a middle-six forward. While they’ve been known to be coveting center help for several years now, they’re not limiting their search to just that position; they’re open to adding on the wing as well.
Entering play tonight, the Wild sit 21st in the NHL in goals scored despite having three forwards (Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Rossi) all averaging at least a point per game. While that line is producing, they’re not getting a ton of help elsewhere. Tarasenko has only scored once, Joel Eriksson Ek has just two goals, and Marcus Foligno is still looking for his first point of the season.
With that in mind, it makes sense that GM Bill Guerin appears to be looking at what might be out there on the trade front. On top of having some struggling veterans, top prospects Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren have seen very limited playing time; it might be more beneficial for their development to play a bigger role with AHL Iowa over fourth-line ice time in Minnesota. Adding a middle-six forward could push one of them off the active roster, allowing for that extra playing time to happen while ideally giving their offense a bit of a boost as well.
Having said that, this is still a little early in the season for teams to start parting with proven talent. While there has been plenty of speculation around players like Nicholas Robertson (Toronto) or Yegor Chinakhov (Columbus), there’s no guarantee that adding one of them – or someone like that – would come in and give their attack the shot in the arm that they’re seeking. But if they’re looking for someone with more of a track record, they may have to wait a while yet before the market really starts to open up.
Wild Activate, Reassign Cameron Butler
The Wild announced yesterday that they’ve activated forward Cameron Butler from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to the AHL’s Iowa Wild. They did that in conjunction with demoting Michael Milne after he cleared waivers. Only defense prospect Stevie Leskovar remains on the non-roster list that Minnesota submitted at the beginning of the month.
Butler will now begin his first season in the Wild organization. They acquired the 6’4″, 209-lb winger from the Blue Jackets in June in exchange for depth forward Brendan Gaunce. The checking-oriented Butler signed with Columbus as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and is in the final season of his entry-level contract, so he may be one-and-done in Minnesota and Iowa if they opt not to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season.
Things haven’t gone well for Butler on the offensive side of the puck since turning pro. The 23-year-old has just four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 91 career AHL games, all of which came with the Blue Jackets’ affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. He wasn’t a regular in their lineup last season, limited to 37 appearances. He’s racked up plenty of hits and penalty minutes, but his lack of offensive acumen and contribution has led to a -18 rating for his career. In fact, Butler has never been a plus player in a single season on record in his junior or minor league career.
He was still a semi-capable scorer in juniors, though, and Minnesota hopes he can regain some of that confidence in a new environment this season. Butler does have one NHL game to his name, coming in March 2024 with Columbus. He skated just one shift in a shootout win over the Penguins before being returned to the AHL the next day.
It’s not clear what injury was keeping Butler out of the lineup, but he’s now been cleared to return. Whatever it was, it kept him out of entering a preseason game for the Wild as well.
Wild Activate, Reassign Michael Milne
Oct. 30: Milne cleared waivers and will be on his way to Iowa, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Oct. 29: The Wild have activated forward Michael Milne from season-opening injured reserve and subsequently placed him on waivers with intent to assign him to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement.
Assuming he clears, the 23-year-old Milne will be kicked off his fourth professional season, all in the Minnesota organization. He was a third-round pick in 2022 as an overager out of WHL Winnipeg and immediately turned pro. Last year marked his NHL debut, although it was a brief one. The 5’11” winger only got into one game, an early-season loss to the Stars, and posted three hits in 6:34 of ice time before heading back to Iowa.
The British Columbia native has been out since the beginning of the month with an undisclosed injury, but today’s news indicates he’s been medically cleared to resume practicing and will do so in the minors. He may still have some upside down the line, but he’s yet to have an offensive breakthrough with Iowa. He made 60 appearances for the club last season, scoring 15 goals and 11 assists for a career-high 26 points.
Milne was a restricted free agent this past offseason but received a qualifying offer from the Wild, who promptly inked him to a two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the AHL in July. He’ll be arbitration-eligible next summer, which could dissuade Minnesota from giving him a qualifying offer this time around if they’re not sold on his future.
Injury Notes: Wood, Bogosian, Nylander
Blue Jackets winger Miles Wood will be in the lineup versus the Sabres on Tuesday, head coach Dean Evason said. It’s Wood’s first outing in over two weeks after leaving an Oct. 13 game against the Devils because of a stick to the eye. He never landed on injured reserve, in part due to Columbus carrying a bare-bones roster to start the year, but was ruled out for at least a week by the team anyway at the time of the injury. It was a significant injury that caused Wood to experience remarkably inhibited vision for multiple days due to blood in his eye. However, he underwent testing last week after it cleared, which indicated he avoided any permanent damage.
The 30-year-old had a goal and two hits in his first three games as a Blue Jacket after he was acquired from the Avalanche over the summer. Zach Aston-Reese will be scratched to accommodate Wood re-entering the lineup alongside Isac Lundeström and Yegor Chinakhov, Evason said. It will be Aston-Reese’s first scratch of the young season; Chinakhov started the season as the extra forward before Wood’s injury created an opening for him in the lineup.
There are more injury notes from around the league:
- Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian‘s status has been downgraded from day-to-day to week-to-week, head coach John Hynes said Tuesday (via Joe Smith of The Athletic). Minnesota already placed Bogosian on injured reserve last week, so he’s eligible to return at any time, but it doesn’t appear they’re going to need to worry about activating him soon. After a decent start to the season in bottom-pairing duties, the 15-year veteran sustained a lower-body injury against the Capitals on Oct. 17 and has now missed five games. Bogosian posted a plus-three rating with nine blocks and six hits in five games before landing on IR, controlling 48.2% of shot attempts at even strength in the process.
- Maple Leafs star William Nylander remains a game-time decision ahead of tonight’s game against the Flames, per head coach Craig Berube (via Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun). Nylander was banged up with a lower-body issue last Friday against the Sabres and was a late scratch for the second half of their back-to-back with Buffalo after taking warmups. The 29-year-old, now in his 11th season, still leads the team with 11 assists, 14 points, and five takeaways through eight games.
Upper-Body Injury For Foligno
- Wild winger Marcus Foligno is dealing with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss tonight’s game against San Jose, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran has already had X-rays but the results are not yet known. Foligno is off to a tough start to his season offensively as he has been held off the scoresheet in his first nine appearances although he’s averaging a little over three hits per game.
Wild Place Zach Bogosian On Injured Reserve
Oct. 23: The Wild announced that they’ve reassigned Haight back to Iowa. He did not play in the lone game of his call-up, yesterday’s 4-1 loss to the Devils. Rossi returned for that contest, so his services as a healthy extra are no longer needed.
Oct. 21: The Wild announced they’ve placed defenseman Zach Bogosian on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 17. His roster spot will go to forward Hunter Haight, who’s been recalled from AHL Iowa in the corresponding move.
It isn’t a meaningful update to Bogosian’s status. He remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury he sustained while blocking a shot against the Capitals last Friday. He’s already missed two games, and the IR placement means he’ll miss one more, tomorrow against the Devils, until he’s eligible for activation prior to Saturday’s game at home against the Mammoth. David Jiříček was brought up in his place over the weekend and directly replaced the fellow righty in third-pairing duties alongside Jacob Middleton. He hasn’t been particularly noticeable, recording a minus-one rating, one shot on goal, and no blocks or hits.
The 35-year-old Bogosian hopes his absence doesn’t stretch out much longer than one more game. He’s been surprisingly effective to begin the season, posting a plus-three rating in five appearances with nine blocks and six hits. The 18-year veteran has positive possession impacts at even strength, including a 56.4 xGF%, churning out a stable defensive presence in his limited minutes (13:53 per game). Jiříček, while more offensively gifted, hasn’t been able to deliver that physicality or defensive play. For a team struggling to produce offense at even strength, scoring just eight goals at 5-on-5 through seven games, getting a positive possession player like Bogosian back in the lineup will be a help, even if just a marginal one.
Haight comes up to give Minnesota some extra forward depth while fellow pivot Marco Rossi nurses a short-term injury. Rossi already missed yesterday’s win over the Rangers with an undisclosed injury, and Haight’s summons indicates he likely won’t be available tomorrow, either. Haight, 21, made the Wild’s opening roster submission and made his NHL debut in their first two games of the season, posting a minus-two rating and a 43.8 FO% while averaging 9:22 per game. The 2022 second-rounder understandably won’t get much development with that kind of usage and performance and was promptly sent to the minors. As such, his recall isn’t expected to be a lengthy one. He’s also struggled to begin the year in Iowa, going pointless with a minus-three rating through a pair of games.
Marco Rossi, Zach Bogosian Out For The Wild
The Minnesota Wild will be without forward Marco Rossi and defenseman Zach Bogosian in Monday night’s game against the New York Rangers, head coach John Hynes told Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Both players suffered lower-body injuries as the result of blocked shots – Bogosian sustaining his on Friday, and Rossi getting hurt on Saturday.
This news will bring an end to Rossi’s team-leading iron-man streak. He has played in a consecutive 173 games, dating back to April 2023. That tally is the 30th-longest streak in the NHL, and the fourth-longest among players 24 or younger. With Rossi’s streak ending, Minnesota’s new team-leader will be Matt Boldy, who has played in 161 consecutive games – 33rd-most in the league and sixth among U24 players.
More than ending a team-leading streak, Minnesota will be losing one of their top forwards with Rossi’s absence. He has served as the team’s top-line center between star wingers Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov. That trio is one of only two Wild lines to score multiple even-strength goals this season – though they’ve still been outscored by opponents two-to-three, despite winning the expected-goals race with 2.1-to-1.7. Rossi himself has scored five points in six games, putting him on pace to exceed the career-high 60 points he potted in 82 games last year.
Joel Eriksson Ek will move to the top-line in Rossi’s place, while Ben Jones steps into a fourth-line center role. This swap will also promote rookie Danila Yurov into the top-nine, providing a stronger platform for him to find his first career point after going scoreless in his first four NHL games.
Minnesota will also lose the reliable Bogosian, who has served as a stout veteran presence on the team’s bottom-pair for the last three seasons. His ice time has dwindled every year in Minnesota, falling to just 14 minutes on average through five games this season. He’s posted a plus-three in the muted role, but otherwise has yet to manage any notable stat changes this season. David Jiříček will stick in the lineup in Bogosian’s absence. Jiříček recorded one shot on goal in a relief role on Saturday. It was his second NHL game of the season.
Wild Recall David Jiricek And Tyler Pitlick, Assign Liam Ohgren To AHL
The Wild have made a trio of roster moves heading into their game tonight against the Flyers. The team announced that they’ve recalled defenseman David Jiricek and winger Tyler Pitlick from AHL Iowa while assigning winger Liam Ohgren to Iowa.
Jiricek has been up for most of the season but has played just once, resulting in his assignment to the minors yesterday. He suited up for Iowa last night, making him eligible to be recalled as he has fulfilled the one-game requirement, part of the new rules brought into play this season to try to cut down on paper transactions.
Jiricek hasn’t had a lot of success at the NHL level since Columbus drafted him sixth overall in 2022. He has played in just 60 games at the top level since then, 43 of which came in 2023-24; since then, he has been more of an AHL player, even after Minnesota dealt four draft picks and Daemon Hunt to acquire him last season.
Pitlick, meanwhile, is in his first season with Minnesota after signing a two-year, two-way deal with them on the opening day of free agency back in July. He’s off to a good start in Iowa with two goals through three games and has 420 career NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons with eight different franchises. His best showing came back in 2017-18 with Dallas when he had 14 goals and 13 assists in 80 games.
As for Ohgren, while he has played in all five games so far, playing time has been rather limited as he’s averaging just 9:10 per game while failing to record a point. Given that he’s still just 21 and waiver-exempt, it might be better for his development to play in a more prominent role with Iowa for a little while Pitlick, a 33-year-old veteran, is better suited to play a low-minute role on the fourth line. Ohgren had 37 points in 41 games with Iowa last season.