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Three Players Out Tuesday For Nashville Predators

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The Nashville Predators will play Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with an injury-hampered lineup. Per the team, goalie Juuse Saros and defensemen Matt Benning and Mattias Ekholm are all unavailable for the tilt against Detroit.

Saros and Ekholm are both out with non-COVID-related illness, a growing trend across the NHL as cold and flu season hits. Benning is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Benning played all of Nashville’s last game, a win against the Montreal Canadiens. He had an assist in 15:51 of ice time. The nature of the upper-body injury is unknown.

The losses of Saros and Ekholm are tough to swallow. Saros has once again been the rock of this Predators team that still finds itself in playoff contention with a .921 save percentage in 20 games played. Ekholm, while he hasn’t produced much on the scoresheet (just five assists), is second on the team in ice time per game (23:18).

David Rittich gets the start in goal in place of Saros, while call-up Connor Ingram will serve as the backup. Ben Harpur and Philippe Myers re-enter the lineup in place of Benning and Ekholm.

Nashville Predators Acquire Kole Sherwood

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The Nashville Predators have acquired minor league forward Kole Sherwood from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for future considerations. The move will give the young forward a new opportunity as he plays out his one-year, two-way contract.

Sherwood, 24, signed that deal in July with the Senators after failing to receive a qualifying offer from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The undrafted forward has played in 13 games for the Belleville Senators so far and has four points. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been in the lineup the last four games for the minor league club (all wins), leading to this change of scenery.

There’s actually some NHL experience in the 6’1″ forward too. Sherwood played 11 games for the Blue Jackets spread over three seasons and registered nine penalty minutes and an assist. The brother of Colorado Avalanche forward Kiefer Sherwood, the younger Kole was once a scoring machine in the OHL for three different clubs. In 2017-18 he put up 44 goals and 86 points in 76 games for the Kitchener Rangers, but wasn’t really ever able to bring that level of production to the professional level.

In this case, future considerations likely mean not much of anything, as Sherwood was already not being used by the B-Sens. It is possible that an AHL trade will follow, but mostly Ottawa will just receive the benefit of an extra NHL contract slot. The team now sits at 46 of their 50 allotted contracts.

A Case For Nashville To Not Re-Sign Filip Forsberg

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  • The Predators will soon have a decision to make on pending UFA winger Filip Forsberg. Do they re-sign him and keep trying to win with their current core or go in a different direction to shake things up?  Adam Vingan of The Athletic makes the case (subscription link) that Nashville should take the latter option over running the risk of being saddled with another high-priced contract on a core that already has over $46MM in commitments for 2024-25.  Considering that core probably isn’t good enough to contend, moving on from Forsberg – likely making him a rental trade at the deadline – would be another critical step in GM David Poile’s shakeup, one that saw Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Ellis head elsewhere this past summer.

Patrick Harper Clears Unconditional Waivers

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Nov 25: Harper has cleared waivers according to Friedman, meaning a contract termination could soon follow.

Nov 24: In addition to Nathan Bastian, who was placed on regular waivers today, Nashville Predators minor league forward Patrick Harper is on unconditional waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Harper’s contract will likely be terminated, should he clear waivers.

The 23-year-old forward has played in nine games with the Milwaukee Admirals this season, failing to score a single point. A fifth-round draft pick in 2016, he is in the final season of a two-year, entry-level contract signed in 2020 after his college career came to an end. During that contract, he’s played just 24 games at the AHL level, with just two points (and no goals) to show for it.

A two-time member of the U.S. World Junior team, Harper’s size is his limiting factor at the professional level. The 5’7″ forward was a dynamic offensive player at Boston University, but that production hasn’t carried over to the AHL.

If he does see his contract terminated, Harper would become an unrestricted free agent able to sign with any NHL team, though usually in these cases a contract has already been worked out overseas.

Filip Forsberg Skating With Team

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  • Speaking of Central Division reinforcements, the Nashville Predators had Filip Forsberg on the ice today at practice. The injured forward has only played in a single game this month and nine on the season so far. It’s not clear exactly when he’ll be back in the lineup, but the team has remained within striking distance in the meantime, just two points behind the Minnesota Wild for first place in the division.

Filip Forsberg Returning To Ice, Nick Cousins Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Nashville Predators are on a roll, winning seven out of their past 10 games, but they’ve been without their best forward in Filip Forsberg since early November. Placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, Forsberg is now “trending in the right direction” according to head coach John Hynes. Forsberg is now skating, a good sign for the 27-year-old Swede. At the time of his injury, he’d scored four goals and seven points in nine games while averaging a tick over 18 minutes per game. Forwards like Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene (both with 16 points in 16 games) have done an admirable job stepping up in his absence, but still, Forsberg’s return to this lineup gives this team an added scoring boost. Hynes notes, however, that there’s no definitive timetable for Forsberg’s return.

  • There’s more good news on the Predators front, as the team’s activated forward Nick Cousins from injured reserve. Cousins was originally placed on injured reserve on November 7 and he’s missed the team’s past four games. The versatile 28-year-old forward has been spending most of his time on the wing this season, scoring three points in 12 games while averaging 12:24 per game. He’s expected to ride shotgun with Ryan Johansen and Eeli Tolvanen in his return to the lineup.

Injury Notes: Hayes, Golden Knights, Carrier

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Center Kevin Hayes didn’t take warmups and isn’t playing for the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, as originally reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi. Head coach Alain Vigneault originally expected Hayes to play and he nor the team have yet to offer an update on Hayes’ absence. Max Willman was recalled from Lehigh Valley today under emergency conditions and is in the lineup for that game. Hayes has two points in two games this season after missing the team’s first 12 games while recovering from offseason core muscle surgery.

More injury notes from around the NHL:

  • The injury parade continues for the Vegas Golden Knights, as The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports defenseman Shea Theodore is unlikely to suit up for Thursday’s contest against the Detroit Red Wings. Theodore fell awkwardly during the Knights’ last game Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes, a 4-2 loss. The team hasn’t moved Theodore to injured reserve, but he joins Alec Martinez on the list of Golden Knights defensemen absent from the lineup. However, Granger notes that Zach Whitecloud is “progressing quickly” and could potentially suit up for the Detroit game.
  • Per Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes, defenseman Alexandre Carrier could return to the team’s lineup Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens. Carrier isn’t on injured reserve, but he’s been out of the lineup for the past week with an undisclosed injury. In 13 games this season, the 25-year-old has five points while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game.

Predators’ Mark Borowiecki To Face Player Safety Hearing

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3:34 p.m.: Per the Department of Player Safety, there will be no supplemental discipline assessed to Borowiecki. A Twitter statement relays that “after a hearing and a review of all available angles, [the Department has] determined that Borowiecki is braced for contact and does not extend or otherwise direct his knee into Jaskin in a way that merits further discipline.

10:58 a.m.: The Nashville Predators could be about to lose a veteran defenseman for some time, as the NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that they will have a hearing with Mark Borowiecki on Sunday. The league will review Borowiecki’s kneeing penalty from Saturday night, which forced the Arizona Coyotes’ Dmitrij Jaskin from the game.

As far as suspension hearings go, this should be as close to a prima facie case as they come. Borowiecki clearly targets Jaskin with a knee-to-knee hit as the forward slows up at the red line while carrying the puck in transition (video). The referees did not miss the blatant contact, awarding Borowiecki a five-minute major and game misconduct. The Coyotes took notice as well, with Antoine Roussel jumping in to fight Borowiecki, adding another five minutes to his count. It will be hard for Borowiecki to argue that the contact was purely incidental when everyone else on the ice saw it as purposeful.

If Player Safety takes into account whether the victim of the penalty was injured and the severity of the injury, as they typically do, that could result in an even longer absence for Borowiecki. There was no question that Jaskin was hurt on the play, as he had to be helped from the ice and did not return to the game, but the initial outlook of the injury is far worse than just that. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan relays word from Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny that Jaskin is expected to be out “really long term” as a result of the kneeing infraction. He adds that Jaskin could miss the rest of the season.

Borowiecki has been suspended three times previously in his NHL career, but not since 2018 and never for boarding. Regardless, is very likely to add a fourth to his resume today and the only real question is the length.

Predators Recall Cole Smith, Assign Rocco Grimaldi To Milwaukee

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  • The Predators announced that they have recalled forward Cole Smith from AHL Milwaukee while sending winger Rocco Grimaldi down to the Admirals.  Smith made his NHL debut last season and has three goals and three assists in nine minor league contests this season.  As for Grimaldi, he cleared waivers on Friday after being held off the scoresheet in his five games with Nashville this season and will look to get back on track with Milwaukee.

Three Players Clear Waivers

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Nov 12: Comeau and Kero have both cleared waivers, according to Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News. They can now be assigned to the minor leagues. Grimaldi has also cleared for the Predators.

Nov 11: Chris Johnston of TSN reports that Blake Comeau and Tanner Kero of the Dallas Stars, and Rocco Grimaldi of the Nashville Predators have all been placed on waivers today.

Comeau is clearly the biggest surprise of the three, given his place with the Stars and history in the NHL. The veteran winger has been wearing an “A” as an alternate captain at times this year and has more than 900 games played at the NHL level. Many of those have come with the Stars, who he has been with since 2018, when he signed a three-year, $7.2MM deal with the club in free agency.

Now on a one-year, $1MM contract he signed in June, Comeau’s cap hit will be entirely buried in the minor leagues even though he is a 35+ player. The restrictions on those contracts were changed in the 2020 CBA Memorandum of Understanding, but even before that his one-year deal would have been able to come off the cap if they assign him to the minor leagues.

It’s been years since Comeau was forced to play in the AHL though and it seems as though he and Grimaldi could potentially get claimed, if a team needs an experienced forward. Grimaldi has been a regular for the past three years in Nashville and even scored ten goals in 40 games last season. Kero doesn’t have quite as much experience, but did suit up 39 times for the Stars.

Notably, this is a change for Dallas, who have seemed unable to drag themselves out of the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The team has lost another two games in a row, sit at 4-6-2 on the year, and have a -12 goal differential. The organization has some young players that could potentially inject some energy into the lineup, but Comeau’s placement on waivers still comes as something of a surprise.

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