Senators Activate Colin White, Assign Him And Two Others To AHL
The Senators are starting to get a bit healthier up front which has forced them to make some roster moves. The team announced (via Twitter) that they’ve assigned centers Max McCormick and Filip Chlapik to Belleville of the AHL. This comes on the heels of Zack Smith returning from an upper-body injury on Friday while Kyle Turris, who has missed the last two games due to illness, is expected to be available for their next game on Monday night.
Chlapik, who was just recalled back on Wednesday, recorded an assist in his lone game with the big club but was a scratch on Friday night. As for McCormick, he was held off the scoresheet in his two contests.
The team also activated center Colin White off season-opening injury reserve and revealed (Twitter links) that he has also been sent to Belleville. However, he has not yet been given the green light to play this weekend but is likely to be in their lineup next week.
White was expected to push for a full-time spot in training camp after finishing last season in Ottawa but broke his wrist in the early going. Once he gets into game action, it will be interesting to see how long he stays down there as while the team is hopeful that he can be an impact player sooner than later, he only has six games of professional experience under his belt (including the playoffs) so from a development perspective, he would certainly benefit from an extended stint in the minors.
Senators Recall Filip Chlapik And Jack Rodewald
The Senators announced (via Twitter) a pair of recalls up front; they’ve summoned center Filip Chlapik and winger Jack Rodewald from their AHL affiliate in Belleville. It’s the first NHL recall for both players.
Chlapik was Ottawa’s second-round pick (48th overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and is in his first professional season. He was in the mix for a roster spot at the beginning of training camp with the injuries up front but instead, that spot went to Logan Brown, who was returned to Windsor of the OHL earlier today. The 20-year-old has three assists in seven games with Belleville.
As for Rodewald, it has been quite the week for him. The undrafted winger was off to a strong start in the minors with three goals and an assist through five games and landed his entry-level contract at the age of 23 just yesterday. That’s quite a jump for a player who has seen action at the ECHL level in each of the past two seasons.
With the roster moves, the Sens are back up to 13 healthy forwards (with Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith, and Clarke MacArthur all on injured reserve plus Colin White on season-opening injured reserve). As a result, at least one of Chlapik or Rodewald will make their NHL debut on Thursday night as Ottawa plays host to Philadelphia.
Logan Brown Sent Back To Junior
The Ottawa Senators have decided to send 19-year old Logan Brown back to the OHL, ending his first stint in the NHL early. Brown will have to stay with the Windsor Spitfires (or at least in the OHL) for the rest of the season except in emergency circumstances. By sending him back with only four games played, the Senators will not burn one of his entry-level contract years.
Brown was selected 11th-overall in the 2016 draft, but dealt with injury last year for the Spitfires. In 35 games he scored 40 points, but it was a little surprising when the Senators kept him around this fall. Perhaps the team looked at his 6’6″ frame and believed he could make an impact right away, but averaging eight minutes a night every few games was never the way to develop him properly.
He’ll return to a Windsor team coming off a Memorial Cup championship that could certainly use his help. Gabe Vilardi hasn’t suited up for them yet due to injury, while Mikhail Sergachev looks more and more like he’ll stay in the NHL all year. There is actually a real chance that Brown could be moved somewhere else in the OHL this season, like fellow first-round pick Logan Stanley was earlier this summer.
Latest On Kyle Turris Contract Talks
The Ottawa Senators are off to an interesting start this season, with only one regulation loss through nine games. That stretch has come with just four wins however, as the team has been defeated four additional times in overtime or the shootout. That trend isn’t likely to continue, and the Senators seem poised to take another run at the playoffs and perhaps even another Eastern Conference final. If they want to get there, they’ll likely need their top center to be in top form.
The question is then, who will be that top center? Kyle Turris is currently occupying that role, but is in the final year of his current contract. Last we heard the Senators had offered him a five-year, $30MM contract, but hadn’t been able to come to an agreement. Now, in Pierre Lebrun’s latest column for The Athletic, the venerable insider digs into where the two sides currently sit. Turris’ camp is apparently fixated on an eight-year deal, something the team is unwilling to offer at this point. LeBrun does write that both sides seem amiable towards an eventual contract, but then asks the question of what to do should a deal not be reached by the trade deadline.
Turris would certainly fetch an impressive package on the block, as there are usually several teams looking for help down the middle. Last year, on a similarly expiring contract, Martin Hanzal (along with the currently unsigned Ryan White and a fourth-round pick) netted the Arizona Coyotes a first, second and conditional round draft pick—the latter became a fourth-round pick after the Wild were eliminated early from the playoffs. Certainly Turris, whose offensive game far outpaces Hanzal’s could secure even more.
If they did move him though, the team hardly has an internal option for replacement. Derick Brassard and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are perfectly suited to their current roles, and would be hard-pressed to take on the extra responsibility involved with moving up a slot. Logan Brown, though impressing in his short stint is still just 19 and would need to burn both a year of his entry-level deal (10 games) and crawl a year closer to free agency (40 games) if he’s around at the deadline. For a team looking to compete this season, weakening yourself down the middle is hardly an option.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: Koekkoek, Schroeder, Farnham
When the Vancouver Canucks announced that Troy Stecher would be absent from their blueline for at least a month, questions started popping up over who the Canucks would promote to a starting role. While Alex Biega is set to get the first crack at his spot, he’s shown before that he doesn’t bring anything close to the type of game that Stecher was known for. Patrick Wiercioch is also up with the team, but similarly doesn’t represent much upside for the Canucks.
Cue the speculation, and an interesting name out of News 1130’s Rick Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal reports that an agent asked him “if [he has] heard the Canucks are talking to Tampa Bay about Slater Koekkoek.” While it’s not clear if that means they have in fact had any conversations, the possibility is interesting. With Mikhail Sergachev confirmed as staying with the team past the nine-game threshold, there isn’t a ton of ice time for Koekkoek. He’s clearly the odd man out in Tampa’s rotation, but would require waivers to be sent to the minor leagues.
- Jordan Schroeder has indeed been sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, even with the injury to Lukas Sedlak. Schroeder cleared waivers earlier today, and will head to Cleveland to continue his season. The Blue Jackets, now down to 13 forwards, are currently carrying an extra roster spot. Whether that’s filled with another forward, or an eighth defenseman is still to be decided.
- The Ottawa Senators have signed Jack Rodewald to a two-year entry-level contract. Rodewald had been playing with their AHL affiliate Belleville this season on a minor-league deal, but could now be called up to the NHL should his play warrant it. The undrafted forward scored 85 points in his final year of junior for the Moose Jaw Warriors, and has four points in his first five games this season in the AHL.
- Bobby Farnham has signed a professional tryout with the Springfield Thunderbirds according to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal. Farnham had appeared in New York Rangers’ training camp on a tryout earlier this summer, but failed to make the team. The undrafted forward has 67 NHL games under his belt, but is know more for his rough play than his scoring ability. He has just 10 career points, all with New Jersey in 2015-16.
Ottawa Senators Recall Max McCormick
- Max McCormick has been recalled by the Ottawa Senators, presumably to help fill in for Bobby Ryan who broke his finger again in Saturday night’s victory over the Maple Leafs. Ryan will be out a month, giving some of the younger players in the Senators system a chance to show what they can do. McCormick, 25, has just 27 games of NHL experience but provides both some scoring touch and a willingness to drop his gloves. The energy forward scored 21 goals last season in the AHL in just 66 games.
5 Key Stories: 10/16/17 – 10/22/17
It wasn’t as busy during the beginning of the week, but the end certainly had its fair share of big news. Injuries to key players dominated the week’s notes.
- Red Wings finally come to terms with Andreas Athanasiou, trade Riley Sheahan and Ryan Sproul – The Andreas Athanasiou-Red Wings stalemate came to an end after a phone conference with Wings brass thawed the tension. In order to make room, general manager Ken Holland dealt Riley Sheahan to Pittsburgh and flipped defenseman Ryan Sproul to the Rangers.
2. Bobby Ryan shelved for one month with a broken finger – As one commenter wrote, the snake bitten Ryan broke his right index finger during the Senators’ 6-3 win over rival Toronto. This yet another finger injury for the forward, who fought through a number of injuries last season.
3. Brian Boyle is cleared for full practice: Expected to be a critical piece for the Devils this season, Boyle was out due to a form of bone cancer, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Though there is no timetable for his return, this is another large step for Boyle in his battle back to the ice.
4. A number of goalies suffer injuries: Tuukka Rask, Roberto Luongo, and Malcolm Subban were some of the netminders hit by injury this week. Both Subban and Marc-Andre Fleury sit on Vegas’ LTIR after it was reported that Subban would miss four weeks. Rask was diagnosed with a concussion and because of the nature of concussions, it’s unclear just how long Rask will be out. Luongo injured his right hand during the Panthers’ 4-3 loss last night.
5. Jeff Carter Out Indefinitely: The Kings lost one of their best players to a cut on his left leg, speculated to be a six-to-eight week recovery time.
Harpur Reassigned To Belleville
- The Ottawa Senators announced that they have reassigned defenseman Ben Harpur to Belleville of the AHL. The 22-year-old was called up early in the season to help with the team’s defensive depth only to get injured in his first game with Ottawa. He was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, and now that he is healthy again, will return to his AHL team.
Ottawa’s Ryan Out For At Least A Month After Breaking Finger
Despite a big 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators suffered just as bad of a disappointment Saturday when team leader Bobby Ryan broke his right index finger in the third period of the game, trying to block a Ron Hainsey shot and will likely miss a month, according to Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun.
Ryan, the former second-overall pick in the 2005 draft (the pick after Sidney Crosby), had a down year after struggling with injuries last year and even found himself a healthy scratch during the season, only put up 13 goals and 25 points in 62 games. Ryan has had a long history of finger injuries in his career. In fact, he broke his finger last year in November. However, this year, the 30-year-old center has started the season strong. Despite not getting on the scoreboard so far this year, Ryan has put up six assists in eight games.
“I feel for him, I really do, because this man has made some giant leaps personally, on and off the ice and the way he has presented himself this year and all the efforts he has put in,” said Senators coach Guy Boucher. “I find it sad right now. We’ve got to push with our team and find ways to stick together, just like last year when we had a lot of adversity.”
Ryan is the team’s highest paid players at $7.25MM AAV after signing a seven-year, $50.8MM deal back in 2014, a deal which he has had trouble living up to. He is still locked in with Ottawa until 2021-22.
Warren writes that the Senators will recall a player from Belleville of the AHL.
Detroit Sends Sproul To Rangers For Puempel
The Detroit Red Wings have completed a second trade in as many minutes as the team has traded defenseman Ryan Sproul to the New York Rangers for wing Matt Puempel, tweets CapFriendly.
The move comes minutes after the Red Wings traded center Riley Sheahan and a 2018 fifth-round pick to Pittsburgh for winger Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round pick. The Red Wings are likely ensuring they have a backup center in their system in Puempel after trading away Sheahan.
Sproul has spent the entire 2017-18 season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, putting up one goal and three assists in five games. He was not able to make the NHL roster and was sent down. The 24-year-old former second round pick in 2011, is an offensive defenseman, but has had trouble breaking into the Red Wings lineup. He played 27 games with Detroit last year, putting up seven points, but has spent most of his career in Grand Rapids.
Puempel, also has spent the entire year in the AHL. He has scored one goal and three assists for the Hartford Wolfpack. The 24-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators last November after scoring no points in 13 games for Ottawa. However, in 27 games for the Rangers, he put up six goals and three assists and didn’t spend any time in the AHL last year.
Both Sproul and Puempel have already been sent to their new respective AHL teams as Sproul has been assigned to Hartford, while Puempel will join Grand Rapids.