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Islanders Sign Cam Thiesing To Entry-Level Deal

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The Islanders have signed undrafted free agent center Cam Thiesing to a two-year entry-level contract beginning next season, per a team announcement. The Tennessee native will likely finish 2023-24 on a tryout with AHL Bridgeport.

Thiesing, 23 next week, was initially eligible for selection in the 2019 draft but was on few scouting departments’ radars after recording 39 points in 54 games with the Chippewa Steel of the NAHL, the second-tier junior league in the U.S. system. He played two more seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL, one level up, but wasn’t given draft selection as an overage player there, either.

After wrapping up his junior career in 2021, Thiesing joined Ohio State University for a three-year run. Thiesing actually had decreasing production throughout his seasons at the school. He started with a strong freshman campaign, posting 25 points and a team-leading +21 rating for the Buckeyes in 2021-22, but dropped to 20 points last season and even further to nine goals and 16 points in 31 games this year on a team that finished last in the Big 10 conference.

Unfortunately, Thiesing’s season ended prematurely due to injury. He missed the Buckeyes’ final two games and their four Big Ten tournament games, including a major quarterfinal upset over Wisconsin. Overall, he finished his time at Ohio State with 32 goals, 29 assists, 61 points, 166 PIMs, and a +11 rating over 108 games.

The physical 6-foot, 183-lb right-shot center now joins an Isles prospect pool flush with similarly skilled talent, so he doesn’t move the needle much. Late-developing junior production and failure to advance his offensive game at the collegiate level aren’t promising signs for an NHL future, but his checking game and decent shot do give him an outside shot at cracking a team’s fourth line at some point. Thiesing will be an RFA when his contract expires in 2026.

Islanders Activate Bortuzzo Off LTIR

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  • The Islanders have activated defenseman Robert Bortuzzo off LTIR, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). The 34-year-old was acquired from St. Louis back in December but then suffered a lower-body injury in early January, one that has kept him out for the last ten weeks.  Bortuzzo has been limited to third-pairing duty in his 15 appearances so far this season as he’s averaging just 13:40 per night while chipping in with 20 hits and 21 blocked shots.  Bortuzzo is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Robert Bortuzzo To Return Next Week

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  • Sticking in the Tri-State Area, Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello issued a handful of injury updates during his media availability Tuesday morning (via Arthur Staple of The Athletic). Depth blue-liner Robert Bortuzzo, who remains on LTIR with a lower-body injury, should return within a week. He put up a -3 rating in 11 games for the Isles after a mid-season trade from St. Louis before exiting the lineup in early January, now missing over two months with the ailment. He’ll give them a more experienced option to slot into the lineup as they stay in the race for a playoff spot and look to add some help before Friday’s deadline. Lamoriello added that veteran enforcer Matt Martin, who left Saturday’s win over the Bruins early, is cleared to play tonight against the Blues. The 34-year-old has three points and 31 PIMs in 38 games in what could be his final season with the team.

Islanders To Place Scott Mayfield On LTIR, Out 4-6 Weeks

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11:02 a.m.: The Islanders made Mayfield’s LTIR placement official in an announcement, activating winger Hudson Fasching off LTIR in a corresponding transaction. Fasching could suit up tonight against the Blues for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury at the end of January.

10:30 a.m.: The Islanders will move defenseman Scott Mayfield to long-term injured reserve, GM Lou Lamoriello said Tuesday (via Arthur Staple of The Athletic). Mayfield, who has already missed four games with a lower-body injury, will miss an additional four to six weeks.

The 31-year-old was previously listed as day-to-day. He has not played since Feb. 22 against the Blues and has been dealing with the lingering effects of an ankle injury he sustained in the first game of the season, as he confirmed to Ethan Sears of the New York Post last month.

A six-week recovery timeline from today puts him back in the lineup for Game 82 of the regular season, a potential but unlikely playoff-berth-deciding matchup against the Penguins. Given the chronic nature of the Missouri native’s injury, he could be done for the regular season, allowing the Isles to use his $3.5MM cap hit by next Friday’s trade deadline to make a playoff push. Sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference and six points out of a playoff spot, they won’t be aggressive buyers, but Lamoriello said Tuesday that he’s open to adding if the acquisition cost makes sense.

Suppose Mayfield is done for the regular season. In that case, the injury ends a challenging first year of the seven-year, $24.5MM deal with trade protection he signed to stay on Long Island after briefly reaching unrestricted free agency on July 1. His five assists in 41 games are disappointing. However, his decline in usage from 21:02 last season to 18:46 this year is downright concerning this early in the contract, especially considering his career-worst possession metrics (40.0 Corsi-for percentage at even strength, -8.7 expected rating).

His absence could influence the Isles to focus on blue-line insurance over the next 72 hours. Their top four, Noah Dobson, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, and Alexander Romanov, are passable for a playoff-bound team, especially considering Dobson’s resurgence, but a pair of fringe NHLers, Sebastian Aho and Mike Reilly, make up their bottom pairing with no better internal options. 23-year-old Samuel Bolduc remains on the roster after completing a recent conditioning stint in AHL Bridgeport. However, his possession metrics are among the worst on the team and trail Aho and Reilly’s decent even-strength play by a wide margin.

Assuming Mayfield’s LTIR placement is retroactive to his last appearance, he would be eligible to return on March 17 against the Rangers. However, his recovery timeline dictates he won’t play again until April at the earliest. He remains under contract with the Isles until 2030.

Islanders Recall Samuel Bolduc From Conditioning Loan

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The Islanders have reinstated defenseman Samuel Bolduc after assigning him to AHL Bridgeport on a conditioning loan late last month, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports. Bolduc remained on the active roster and counted against the cap while on his conditioning stint, so no corresponding transaction is necessary.

Bolduc, 23, scored a goal and earned a +2 rating in five games for Bridgeport over the past week and a half. It was his first minor-league action in 11 months after cracking the NHL roster out of training camp for the first time this season. The 2019 second-round pick has not played for the Isles since Jan. 27 and was a healthy scratch in seven straight before his assignment to Bridgeport. He’s averaged just 12:56 per game this season, the lowest among active Islanders defenders, and has three points and a -5 rating in 33 games. He’s struggled to control possession in his limited minutes, too, logging a 43.4 CF% at even strength.

Reece Newkirk Re-Assigned To ECHL

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  • The Islanders have re-assigned forward Reece Newkirk from AHL Bridgeport to ECHL Worcester, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old was brought up last month but played only once, bringing his games played total in the AHL to 13 on the season where he has a goal and two assists.  A pending restricted free agent this summer, Newkirk appears to be trending toward non-tender territory in June.

Afternoon Notes: Tanev, Islanders, Granato, Keefe

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The newest Dallas Stars defenseman, Chris Tanev, isn’t expected to slot into Dallas’ lineup immediately, per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Francis added that Tanev will stay in Calgary for a few days while he secures a visa. The Stars acquired Tanev from the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, sending two draft picks and defensive prospect Artem Grushnikov back to the Flames. Dallas also sent a fourth-round pick to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the Devils retaining 50 percent of Tanev’s cap hit.

Tanev, 34, was arguably the top name on the trade market, with a long list of teams interested in adding his defensive prowess. He only has 14 points in 56 games this season, but he led active Flames defensemen in both CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) and xGF% (expected goals-for percentage), speaking to his ability to control possession and scoring opportunities. Tanev has been in the league since the 2010-11 season, when he debuted with the Vancouver Canucks, who signed him as an undrafted free agent ahead of the season. He’s played in the NHL every season since, totaling 185 points and 773 games in the league. Dallas will mark the third team of Tanev’s career, after 10 years in Vancouver and four in Calgary.

Other notes from around the league:

  • New York Islanders defenseman Robert Bortuzzo is still not skating, shares Ethan Sears of the New York Post. Bortuzzo rehabbing a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on the team’s long-term injured reserve. He hasn’t played since January 2nd, forcing the Islanders to once again test their defensive depth. Sears also shared that the Islanders are expected to recall Hudson Fasching from his AHL conditioning stint, though he won’t be immediately activated off of LTIR. Fasching has one goal in three AHL games this season.
  • The NHL has fined both Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato and Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe for unprofessional conduct directed at officials. Each coach was docked $25K. Keefe received a game misconduct for arguing with the refs about a Mitch Marner tripping call, continuing to question the refs even after Toronto had killed off the penalty. Granato received a bench penalty for arguing a Zach Benson tripping penalty, with the opposing Florida Panthers scoring the game-winning goal on the resulting five-on-three power-play. These fines follow a precedent set by the league that aims to reduce abuse of officials.

Scott Mayfield Out Day-To-Day, Kyle MacLean Recalled

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Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News is reporting that New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield is out with a lower-body injury. In a follow-up report, Ethan Sears of the New York Post reports that Mayfield will not travel with the team to their upcoming games against the Dallas Stars or Detroit Red Wings.

Slipping further and further back in the standings, New York’s schedule won’t get any easier as their next three games come against teams currently holding a playoff position. Without Mayfield, the Islanders will have to re-shuffle their defensive core, and may even break apart the solid duo of Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov. Signed to a seven-year, $24.5MM contract this past offseason, Mayfield has left a lot to be desired, with his CorsiFor% and On-Ice Save Percentage in all situations falling below his career averages.

To fill in the spot on the active roster left by Mayfield, the Islanders did recall forward Kyle MacLean but had to maneuver him in a specific way to stay compliant with the salary cap (X Link). As an infrequent member of the team’s bottom six this season, MacLean has suited up in a total of seven games for New York, managing one goal and 14 hits in total.

[SOURCE LINK]

Metropolitan Notes: Seeler, Walker, Konecny, Mayfield

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The Flyers have a pair of fairly valuable defenders on expiring deals in Nick Seeler and Sean Walker. Despite being in a playoff position and ahead of schedule in their rebuild, the Flyers will likely ship at least one of them out to capitalize on their trade value ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. It’s trending toward Walker being the odd man out, as they’ve yet to formally engage in extension discussions with Walker’s agents, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Saturday.

Pagnotta notes that the Flyers have talked to Seeler’s representation about an extension. The two defenders have formed one of the unlikeliest value pairings in the league this year, logging over 500 minutes together with a sparkling 56.5 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck. The 30-year-old, who’s found his way back into a full-time NHL role after going without a contract for the entire 2020-21 campaign, carries a $775K cap hit and will earn a multi-million dollar raise on his next deal, whether it’s with Philly or somewhere else.

Walker being the likelier one to move makes sense with the state of the trade market, however. He’s considerably more expensive with a $2.65MM cap hit, but he’s also a coveted right-shot defender with significantly more offensive upside than the shutdown-only Seeler. As such, he’ll fetch more value in return. Pagnotta says the Bruins may have interest if it becomes clear he’ll hit the trade market, where he would serve as a third-pairing anchor behind Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Flyers winger Travis Konecny is absent from Saturday’s game against the Rangers, and he’ll miss Sunday’s tilt against the Penguins as well, per Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period. Konecny is listed as day-to-day with a minor upper-body injury sustained during practice this week. The 26-year-old is not expected to miss significant time. In his eighth NHL season, Konecny leads Philadelphia in scoring with 27 goals and 54 points in 57 games.
  • Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is not in the lineup against the Lightning today, per the team. Mayfield did not appear to miss a shift in the Isles’ last game, a 4-0 loss to the Blues on Thursday. In the first season of a seven-year, $24.5MM contract, Mayfield has missed 16 total games to leg and upper-body injuries. He’s also struggled to produce, going without a goal in 41 games while recording five assists and a -7 rating. Reserve defender Sebastian Aho re-entered the Isles’ lineup in a third-pairing role today after serving as a healthy scratch for six of their past seven games.

Islanders Assign Samuel Bolduc And Hudson Fasching To AHL

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The New York Islanders have assigned defenseman Samuel Bolduc and forward Hudson Fasching to the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL on conditioning assignments.

For Bolduc, the assignment comes after a stretch of seven straight games in which he has served as a healthy scratch for the Islanders. The native of Laval, Quebec hasn’t played since January 27th against the Florida Panthers and hasn’t been overly effective when he has been in the lineup, posting just a goal and two assists in 33 games. The move likely means that Bolduc will get plenty of playing time in Bridgeport over the next couple of weeks.

Fasching was given a conditioning assignment just two days after he was placed on the long-term injured reserve. The Islanders placed Fasching on the LTIR retroactive to January 25th which means he won’t return to the NHL lineup until February 29th at the earliest. Fasching skated with the team late last week for a few days before becoming ill.

The 28-year-old has three goals and five assists in 35 games this season and was hoping to establish himself as an everyday NHLer this year after posting career highs last season for games, goals, and assists. His offensive numbers have dipped a little bit this season, however many of his underlying numbers have fallen dramatically.

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