Snapshots: Peca, Fox, Ferland
The Montreal Canadiens have lost a depth forward for more than a month, announcing that Matthew Peca will be out six weeks with a knee injury. Peca was injured when he got tied up with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin earlier this week.
Peca, 26, has played in just four games with the Canadiens this season, instead spending the majority of his season in the minor leagues. The 5’9″ forward was signed to a two-year, $2.6MM deal in July of 2018 but played just 39 games for Montreal last season.
- Adam Fox is still having an impact on the Carolina Hurricanes, despite not signing with them. CapFriendly points out that after Fox played in his 30th game of the season on Tuesday night, the third round pick that New York sent Carolina in the trade has been upgraded to a second round pick. It always seemed likely that the pick would be upgraded given his talent, but Fox has made it more than worthwhile for the Rangers by proving he can be an effective puck-moving option in the NHL.
- Though Micheal Ferland isn’t in the concussion protocol, he is seeing specialists for some symptoms that have popped up, according to head coach Travis Green who spoke with reporters including Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet. Ferland didn’t even make it through two games after returning from more than a month off, leaving Tuesday’s match against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Vitali Kravtsov Expected To Return From KHL
After a recent demotion to the minor leagues in Russia, it appears as though Vitali Kravtsov will instead make his return to North America. Several reports out of Russia along with Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post have the top prospect returning to the New York Rangers organization after being loaned overseas earlier this season. Kravtsov made headlines when he decided to go to the KHL instead of continue in the AHL, but just a few days ago Rangers GM Jeff Gorton told Cyrgalis that he had reached out to the young forward’s agent in hopes of getting him back to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The 19-year old Kravtsov was the ninth overall selection in 2018 and had a strong season in 2018-19 with Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. After signing his entry-level contract with the Rangers he came close to cracking the opening night roster this year, but instead was sent to Hartford to continue his development. After just five AHL games the team and Kravtsov worked out an agreement to have him return to the KHL, where he scored three points in 11 games for Traktor before the demotion.
An important part of the Rangers future, Kravtsov’s playing time and development is obviously something the team wants to control. When he was in the KHL that wasn’t the case, but returning to North America also doesn’t guarantee him huge minutes in the minor leagues. There is still a long way to go for the 6’3″ winger if he wants to be a full-time, impact player at the NHL level.
Minor Transactions: 12/12/19
Another busy day in the NHL with 12 games on tap, including the first game without Peter DeBoer behind the bench for the San Jose Sharks. Two other teams with new head coaches will battle in Calgary when the Flames take on the Maple Leafs, while the Detroit Red Wings limp into a matchup with the Winnipeg Jets. As those teams and rest prepare for tonight’s action, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.
- It was apparently a paper transaction for Filip Zadina and Dylan McIlrath, who didn’t actually have to fly to San Diego to get into the AHL lineup last night. They have both been recalled by the Red Wings ahead of tonight’s action. The Red Wings are close to getting a few of their important forwards back, but for now Zadina will continue to get a chance to show what he can do at the NHL level.
- Ryan Poehling hopes his own assignment isn’t for long after being sent to the Laval Rocket today. The Montreal Canadiens’ prospect could be recalled before Saturday’s game, unless someone is ready to return to action.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Joseph Blandisi from the minor leagues under emergency conditions, never a good sign for a team that has dealt with countless injuries this season. Blandisi has plenty of NHL experience, including eleven games with the Penguins this season.
- Joachim Blichfeld has been recalled by the Sharks, the first move under new head coach Bob Boughner. Blichfeld, 21, is the top scorer for San Jose Barracuda with 19 points in 20 games.
- The St. Louis Blues have returned Nathan Walker to the minor leagues after activating Oskar Sundqvist from injured reserve. Walker, 25, scored two points in his five games with the Blues and is still the leading scorer of the San Antonio Rampage with 22 points in 20 games.
- Austin Czarnik has been recalled from his conditioning stint by the Calgary Flames, but will remain on long-term injured reserve for the time being.
- The Anaheim Ducks have returned defenseman Brendan Guhle to the San Diego Gulls, reports Eric Stephens of The Athletic. He has spent most of the season with Anaheim, collecting four points in 18 games while logging over 17 minutes a night but with Josh Manson recently returning, there wasn’t a spot for Guhle in the lineup anymore.
Snapshots: Sorokin, Kapanen, Lapointe
The New York Islanders are hoping that top goalie prospect Ilya Sorokin will be coming over to North America sooner rather than later, but his KHL team is trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. Aivis Kalnins reports that CSKA Moscow has made a long-term contract offer to Sorokin, though at this point that doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
The fact that news of the offer made it out might also be a negotiating tactic for Sorokin, who is now 24 and has dominated the KHL for years. A third-round pick in 2014, Sorokin would be held to the entry-level system when he comes over, limiting his earning potential. If he signed that one-year ELC before the end of this season–his current deal in the KHL expires in April–he could become a restricted free agent and negotiate a more expensive deal. That’s exactly what Nikita Gusev did last season, and ended up signing a two-year, $9MM deal with the New Jersey Devils before playing a game in the NHL.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have things back on track under new head coach Sheldon Keefe, but still don’t have an answer for their lack of consistent backup goaltending. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet gives his thoughts on some of the potential options, but isn’t convinced they are going to do anything. Friedman does note however that the Maple Leafs could trade Kasperi Kapanen easily if they ever decided to, though currently don’t want to do that. Kapanen, 23, has turned into an extremely valuable two-way player for the Maple Leafs.
- The Montreal Canadiens announced that Guy Lapointe has been diagnosed with oral cancer. The physicians treating the Hall of Fame defenseman included a note that it has a very high cure rate and will start treatment in the coming weeks. Everyone at PHR wants to extend our best wishes to Guy and the Lapointe family.
Minor Transactions: 12/11/19
After last night’s busy schedule in the NHL only three games are on the docket for this evening. That includes a powerhouse Eastern Conference matchup between the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals however, perhaps a preview of a playoff matchup down the road. Boston and Washington easily lead their respective divisions with 46 and 49 points respectively, making them the best two teams in the NHL at the moment. As they and the rest of the league prepares for tonight, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.
- With a date against the Ottawa Senators tonight, the Montreal Canadiens have made several transactions. Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been placed on injured reserve, while Ryan Poehling and Christian Folin have been recalled from the AHL. Folin had been on a conditioning stint but could soon make his return to the Montreal lineup. Poehling meanwhile has been on fire for the Laval Rocket and will try to establish himself full-time at the NHL level.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled David Kase from the AHL for the first time in his short professional career. The 22-year old winger had six points in 21 games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but is defensively responsible and can potentially add another bottom-six option to the Flyers lineup.
- Filip Zadina has been sent back to the Grand Rapids Griffins, perhaps to get him away from the constant losing with the Detroit Red Wings. While he could be getting sent down just for the day to play tonight for the Griffins, their game is in San Diego while the Red Wings are headed home to play in Detroit tomorrow night. The team has also sent Dennis Cholowski and Dylan McIlrath to the AHL.
- Aleksi Saarela has been returned to the minor leagues by the Florida Panthers, after making his NHL debut and playing in three games total. The 22-year old prospect is still looking for his first point at the highest level, but is an intriguing player to keep an eye on in the Panthers’ system.
- After Micheal Ferland was knocked out of last night’s game with an upper-body injury, the Vancouver Canucks have recalled Zack MacEwen from the AHL. MacEwen has played in seven games earlier this year with Vancouver, recording two points.
- Adam Werner is back up with the Colorado Avalanche and will backup Pavel Francouz tonight, as Philipp Grubauer isn’t quite ready. It looked like the Avalanche would get their starter back for tonight’s action against the Philadelphia Flyers, but it appears as though they’ll have to wait a little longer.
- Gerry Mayhew is back with the Minnesota Wild, who have recently seen several top players go down to injury. Michael Russo of The Athletic believes the top three centers will be Viktor Rask, Ryan Donato and Joel Eriksson Ek tomorrow night, not exactly what the Wild had in mind at the beginning of the year.
Minor Transactions: 12/08/19
Goals were not exactly hard to come by on Saturday, as 10 of 11 contests featured 5+ goals, including five games with 8+ goals. While there are only five games on the docket on Sunday, there is a good chance of at least one more high-scoring affair, as the Panthers host the Sharks in a match-up of the two teams tied for 29th in goals against average. While you follow along with the action today – five games starting over a span of five hours – keep an eye on the transactions made by those teams out of action today, preparing for the week ahead. Judging by the number of early moves, it could be a busy day:
- After last night’s win, the Carolina Hurricanes returned forwards Brian Gibbons and Clark Bishop to the AHL, as announced by the Charlotte Checkers. The duo have been on the move frequently this season and that is unlikely to change soon. With both being sent down, the Canes currently have just 12 forwards and 19 skaters on the active roster and are about to embark on a long, five-game road trip on Tuesday. They are unlikely to depart before filling at least one of their two remaining roster spots with another forward, highly likely to be either Gibbons or Bishop, if not both.
- Rookie forward J.C. Beaudin is headed back to the minors, as the Ottawa Senators announced that he has been reassigned to AHL Belleville. Beaudin, 22, has played in 15 games with Ottawa this season but has recorded one lone point. In five games with Belleville, he has also been held to just one point. The Senators would likely like to see him rediscover his scoring touch before bringing him back up.
- Joseph Blandisi is another player being demoted, as the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that the two-way veteran has been sent down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Blandisi has split his season evenly between the NHL and AHL, but with double the scoring in the minors, unsurprisingly. Now in his fifth pro season, Blandisi has grown accustomed to splitting his time between the two levels and playing very different roles depending on the locale. A top-six forward in the AHL, Blandisi has been almost exclusively asked to play a bottom-six role in Pittsburgh, as well as with previous teams.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have made a swap, sending Anton Wedin down to the AHL and recalling Dylan Sikura. Sikura, the former Northeastern University standout, has not played in the NHL this season after skating in 33 games last year. However, he has finally earned the call as he leads the Rockford Ice Hogs with nine goals and 16 points in 22 games. Wedin, a rookie in his first season in North America, also has a nice 4-7-11 line in 17 games with Rockford but was held off the scoresheet in four games with Chicago, prompting his return.
- Austin Poganski has been reassigned to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, the St. Louis Blues announced. The move comes more than a week after Poganski was recalled, yet the young forward did not make an appearance in that time with the Blues. Poganski is still searching for his NHL debut, two years removed from a strong run at the University of North Dakota.
- While the Boston Bruins placed defenseman Steven Kampfer on waivers earlier today, CapFriendly also noted that the Colorado Avalanche have put forward T.J. Tynan on waivers as well. The 27-year-old career minor-leaguer got an extended run with the Avalanche this year after only appearing in three NHL games prior to that. He got 14 games in Colorado, only picking up one assist in that span. Tynan has already appeared in 377 AHL games and would be an unlikely candidate to be claimed.
- The Edmonton Oilers announced they have activated forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins from injured reserve and have assigned forward Colby Cave to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL. Nugent-Hopkins has missed the last six games with a hand injury, but will now return to the team and give their top-six a significant boost. Nugent-Hopkins has five goals and 16 points through the Oilers’ first 25 games before going down with the injury. Cave will return to Bakersfield where he has two goals and five points in 16 games.
- The Montreal Canadiens have recalled forward Riley Barber from the Laval Rocket of the AHL, according to Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan. The 25-year-old Barber, who signed with the Canadiens in the offseason after four years in the Washington Capitals system, leads Laval with 18 points, but has been much more impressive over the past two or three weeks and could help Montreal as a speedy fourth-line option.
- The Vancouver Canucks have returned goaltender Michael DiPietro to AHL Utica, notes TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal. He had been up as the backup while Jacob Markstrom was away from the team but with Markstrom back, he’ll go back to the Comets to get some playing time.
David Sklenicka Clears Unconditional Waivers
Saturday: Sklenicka has cleared waivers, Engels reports, paving the way for his deal to be terminated. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that the defenseman will be signing in the KHL.
Friday: The Montreal Canadiens have placed David Sklenicka on unconditional waivers according to Eric Engels of Sportsnet. That usually precedes a mutual contract termination, which would make sense in this case given Sklenicka has played just seven games for the Laval Rocket this season. The 23-year old was assigned to the Maine Mariners of the ECHL yesterday but after refusing the assignment, will instead become an unrestricted free agent when his contract is terminated.
Sklenicka was one of two signings the Canadiens made in the summer of 2018 out of the Czech Republic along with Michal Moravcik, who already saw his deal terminated in January. Even though they didn’t work out, the Canadiens risked almost nothing by bringing them in and giving them a chance to show what they could do on North American ice.
Canadiens Assign Charles Hudon To Laval
- The Canadiens have returned Charles Hudon to AHL Laval, per the AHL’s Transactions Page. The winger has been shuttled back and forth routinely in recent weeks in order to slow down his waiver clock. Hudon has played in nine games with Montreal so far this season, recording one assist.
Injury Notes: Chicago, Minnesota, Columbus, Montreal
The Chicago Blackhawks have placed both Duncan Keith and Andrew Shaw on injured reserve, though both of their designations are retroactive and allow the team to activate them at any point. Without them, the team is down to just 21 players on the active roster meaning they could potentially bring up some more bodies to help out.
More injury placements from around the league:
- The Minnesota Wild have sent Mikko Koivu back home to see the team doctor, placing him on injured reserve in the process. Greg Pateryn has been recalled from his conditioning stint and placed back on injured reserve, while Nico Sturm has come up from the AHL.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets meanwhile have moved Zach Werenski to injured reserve, retroactive to November 30th. The young defenseman is expected to miss four weeks thanks to a shoulder injury, which opened the door for Andrew Peeke to get his first NHL chance.
- For the Montreal Canadiens, Jesperi Kotkaniemi has suffered a concussion from the big check he took last night. Kotkaniemi was leveled by Nikita Zadorov in the corner and is out indefinitely, though avoided any other significant damage.
Minor Transactions: 12/04/19
After a busy Tuesday night in the NHL there are just four games on the schedule for this evening. One of those will see the Pittsburgh Penguins try to cobble together a healthy lineup in order to take on the reigning Stanley Cup champions, while another has Nazem Kadri returning to Toronto for the first time since an offseason trade took him to the Colorado Avalanche. As teams prepare, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Dennis Gilbert from the minor leagues, while Duncan Keith continues to deal with injury. Keith has already been ruled out of the Blackhawks two-game road trip, meaning Gilbert gets another chance to be on an NHL roster.
- Mathieu Olivier has been reassigned to the minor leagues by the Nashville Predators, after playing in his first eight NHL contests. The young forward recorded one point in those games, but will have to wait for his next opportunity.
- The Montreal Canadiens have sent Gustav Olofsson to the minor leagues, and later recalled Otto Leskinen for the first time in his career. Leskinen was signed just last spring to an entry-level contract after impressing in Finland, and has 12 points in 24 games for the Laval Rocket.
- Mikhail Vorobyev has been recalled by the Philadelphia Flyers, who moved Michal Raffl to long-term injured reserve today. Raffl will be out up to a month with a broken finger, meaning Vorobyev might get a solid look in the NHL.
- Jean-Sebastien Dea has been returned to the minor leagues by the Buffalo Sabres, as they prepare for their Western Conference road trip. The Sabres will have Kyle Okposo with the team during that trip, though it is not clear yet if he will play after dealing with another concussion.
- Brian Gibbons has been recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes, who missed Andrei Svechnikov at practice as he deals with a minor injury. Gibbons, 31, is always one of the team’s first injury call-ups and has been up and down all season.
- Filip Chlapik has been sent back to the minor leagues by the Ottawa Senators, who are in Edmonton today to play the Oilers. That likely signals that J.C. Beaudin or Mikkel Boedker will be back in the lineup tonight, according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia.
- After moving Antti Suomela to injured reserve, the San Jose Sharks have recalled Lean Bergmann from the AHL. Bergmann, 21, has played in eight games for the Sharks this season but spent most of the year with the San Jose Barracuda where he has 12 points in 15 games.