- Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins remains in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). With Joonas Korpisalo returning just before the holiday break, Columbus didn’t need to recall a goalie but as Merzlikins has missed a full week now, the team could move him to IR in the short-term to open up a roster spot. Meanwhile, Hedger adds in a separate tweet that winger Patrik Laine has also been placed in COVID protocol. Head coach Brad Larsen wasn’t sure when Laine first was placed there and for the time being, he’s listed as questionable for their game against the Islanders on Thursday. Laine has nine goals and seven assists in 20 games this season.
- Islanders wingers Kyle Palmieri and Cal Clutterbuck are skating on their own as they continue to work their way back from upper-body injuries sustained back on the 16th, notes Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). Palmieri has been somewhat quiet offensively this season with just nine points in 21 games while Clutterbuck has five points and 98 hits in 26 contests. Both players are listed as day-to-day.
Islanders Rumors
Casey Cizikas Out Day-To-Day
Injuries are beginning to pile up for the New York Islanders. After moving Kyle Palmieri and Semyon Varlamov to injured reserve earlier today, the team announced that forward Casey Cizikas is also out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Unlike the other two, he’s yet to land on injured reserve.
That could be a good sign for the Islanders and Cizikas, but they do not need to put him on injured reserve with 18 healthy skaters still ready to go on the active roster. In Cizikas’ absence, 2021 second-round pick Aatu Räty is expected to make his NHL debut tonight, centering the fourth line. In the second season of a six-year, $15MM contract, Cizikas has just seven points in 34 games.
- Chicago Blackhawks goalie Alex Stalock is returning to the lineup tonight after missing nearly two months with a concussion sustained in a November 1 game against the New York Islanders. He’s statistically been Chicago’s best netminder this season with a .914 save percentage in seven appearances, and despite missing so much time, still has the most wins of any Blackhawks goalie with three.
New York Islanders Recall Aatu Raty
The New York Islanders have been busy ahead of their game against the Florida Panthers tonight, making four different transactions. Kyle Palmieri and Semyon Varlamov have been moved to injured reserve, while Aatu Raty and Parker Wotherspoon will come up from the AHL to take their roster spots.
Raty, 20, will certainly draw most of the attention, as he comes up for the first time this season and potentially makes his NHL debut. The young forward was once considered a potential top-five pick in the 2021 draft but ended up falling all the way to the middle of the second round after some disappointing performances in Finnish professional hockey. Since being selected 52nd, though, he has turned things around and is now one of the Islanders’ top prospects.
His first post-draft season was outstanding, as Raty was moved from Karpat (where he had struggled) to Jukurit and instantly started to find success. With 40 points in 41 games, spectators finally saw what had made him such an interesting prospect growing up. At the end of the yer, he joined the Bridgeport Islanders and fit right in, recording four points in six AHL playoff games.
This year, after an excellent training camp that nearly landed him an NHL spot right away, things have been a little slower for the young Finn. He has 12 points in 23 games for Bridgeport but hasn’t quite been the dominant presence that some hoped for. Still, he has earned a call-up as the team deals with several injuries upfront.
Unfortunately, he’s coming into a tough situation. The Islanders have lost seven of their last ten and now sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division. A win over the Florida Panthers today would be a huge boost before breaking for a few days, and perhaps Raty can give them some energy should he debut this evening.
Cal Clutterbuck Placed On Injured Reserve
The New York Islanders have made several transactions today, starting with Cal Clutterbuck being placed on injured reserve. His stint is retroactive to December 16, meaning he could come off in just a few days if healthy enough to return. Hudson Fasching, Simon Holmstrom, and Cory Schnieder have all been recalled from the AHL, the latter under emergency conditions.
Clutterbuck has been listed as day-to-day recently, suggesting he will be back rather soon. The veteran forward has five points in 26 games this season while playing just over 12 minutes a night.
Now 35, the bruising fourth-liner has played the same role for nearly a decade in New York and is still signed through next season at a $1.75MM cap hit.
With Kyle Palmieri and Semyon Varlamov also still dealing with minor injuries, the others will come up for the back-to-back that starts tomorrow against the New York Rangers. The Islanders will play those two games and then break for Christmas, before resuming play on the 27th, hopefully with several injured players back in the lineup.
Fasching, 27, has two goals in six appearances for the Islanders this season, while the 21-year-old Holmstrom has two points in 12 games.
Nikita Soshnikov Signs In KHL
We have probably seen the last of Nikita Soshnikov. After his contract was terminated by the New York Islanders, the minor league forward officially signed with HC Traktor in the KHL. The new deal will continue through the 2023-24 season, meaning he would be 31 by the time a return to North America was possible.
Like so many other undrafted Russian forwards, Soshnikov showed NHL-level talent but found it difficult to carve out a regular role in the league. After putting up a 32-point season for Moscow Oblast Atlant in 2014-15, he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs and quickly rose the depth chart.
That year, he scored 18 goals for the Toronto Marlies but also had five points in 11 games with the rebuilding Maple Leafs. The next season, as the club turned to an extremely young lineup, he played in 56 NHL games but was only able to record nine points.
It still seemed like he would stick, but that season ended up being more than half of his career appearances. A few more games for Toronto, an unsuccessful stint in St. Louis, and Soshnikov was back to the KHL, where he once again showed he could score at a high level.
This season he tried the NHL again, convinced by Lou Lamoriello for a second time, and ended up in just three games with the Islanders. For his career, Soshnikov scored 16 points in 90 games.
Nikita Soshnikov Placed On Unconditional Waivers
Soshnikov, who had just returned to North America after a three year stint in the KHL, had made the New York Islanders roster out of training camp, however he had seen rather limited playing time before being placed on waivers and sent down in mid-November, getting into just three games on the Island. Like Sedlak and Zhuravlyov, perhaps an opportunity closer to home is on the table for Soshnikov, though nothing’s confirmed for the latter two.
Czarnik is no stranger to the waiver wire himself, claimed twice last season, once by the Seattle Kraken from the Islanders, then again by the Islanders from the Kraken. The forward signed with the Detroit Red Wings this season, placed on waivers just prior to the start of the regular season, and now finds himself on the wire for the fourth time in roughly 10 months. Known as a solid depth option wherever he goes, the 30-year-old Czarnik has three points in 11 NHL games this season to go with an impressive 14 points in 12 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit’s AHL affiliate.
Islanders Recall Cory Schneider On Emergency Basis
Semyon Varlamov left Saturday’s game with an injury and it appears it will keep him out for at least one game as the Islanders announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goaltender Cory Schneider from Bridgeport of the AHL.
The 36-year-old has had a good first couple of months in the minors this season, posting a 2.50 GAA along with a .921 SV% in 15 games with his save percentage ranking tied for seventh in the league. Schneider, a veteran of 410 NHL appearances over 13 seasons, has seen just one game at the top level in the last three years since joining the Islanders with that appearance coming last season. It’s unlikely he’ll see any action on this recall barring injury as the net will be Ilya Sorokin’s for the time being.
It’s notable that this recall actually puts the Isles over the 23-player roster limit. However, there is a Goaltender Exemption provision in the CBA that does allow teams to bring up a goalie that doesn’t count against the limit. It can only be used twice in a season and for a maximum of 48 hours. That’s enough to get through Monday’s game against Colorado but they’ll have to determine after that point if Varlamov is good to return. If so, Schneider will be sent down and if not, Varlamov will need to be moved to injured reserve to keep Schneider on the roster.
No Updates Available On Clutterbuck, Palmieri, Varlamov
- After a tough loss at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes, the New York Islanders were able to follow it up with a big win over the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights yesterday evening, however the team did have a rough go of it this weekend, apparently losing three key pieces in the efforts. It was already reported that forwards Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Palmieri had been injured Friday in Arizona, which forced the pair out of last night’s game in Vegas, and as Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes, there’s still no update on whether either player’s injury could be a longer-term issue. Compounding the injury concerns, mid-way through the third period in Vegas, goaltender Semyon Varlamov abruptly exited the game during a TV timeout and was replaced by Ilya Sorokin, who finished out the remainder of the victory. As Gross adds, no further update on the goaltender was made available either by head coach Lane Lambert.
Kyle Palmieri, Cal Clutterbuck Day-To-Day; Will Not Play Saturday
- The New York Islanders will be down a pair of forwards when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights this evening. Wingers Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Palmieri will both miss the game with undisclosed injuries, the team announced. Fortunately, it seems the team avoided anything too major, as both are listed as day-to-day, however they’ve both dealt with their own injuries throughout this season, Palmieri only returning from a three week absence last night. It’s unclear how Clutterbuck injured himself, though he did leave last night’s game and didn’t return. Palmieri on the other hand left the game in concussion protocol after taking a big hit from Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Ritchie, but did return to action later on.
New York Islanders Activate Kyle Palmieri
Yesterday, as part of our coverage of Adam Pelech’s placement on injured reserve, we covered how the New York Islanders were nearing a return date for Kyle Palmieri, who was out with an upper-body injury.
Today, that return date has been finalized, with Palmieri being activated from injured reserve this afternoon. Palmieri, 31, has played in 20 games so far this season, scoring six goals and nine points. He scored 15 goals and 33 points last year, playing on a $5MM cap hit that runs until the summer of 2025.
Palmieri is a veteran of over 700 career NHL games, and his return to full health is a positive development for the Islanders as they look to make their return to the playoffs. Not only does Palmieri chip in an important amount of secondary scoring, but his gritty, hard-working style is also very highly regarded on Long Island by both fans and coach Lane Lambert.
While he may be a few too many years removed from his 30-goal, 50-point days to be relied on for that kind of production anymore, he’s still an experienced forward with an exceptional resume and a wealth of experience.