Libor Hájek Signs In Czechia
The AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and defenseman Libor Hájek have mutually agreed to terminate the AHL deal that was signed in October. Hájek signed a contract with HC Dynamo Pardubice that will run until 2028, according to an announcement from the Czech club.
These two moves appear to bring to an end Hájek’s time playing high-level hockey in North America. The 25-year-old moved from Czechia’s HC Kometa Brno to the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades in 2015-16, and ended up selected 37th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in that year’s draft.
While he was still in junior, Hájek was moved to the New York Rangers as a key part of the blockbuster Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller trade.
Hájek’s professional debut came in the Rangers organization with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Although some scouts were optimistic about how Hájek’s offensive game would develop, the growth he showed in his later WHL seasons never translated to the professional level.
He scored just five points in 58 AHL games as a rookie, and he never scored double-digit points in any season in his professional career. Hájek still grew in terms of role and importance in New York thanks to his size, physicality, and defensive acumen. He ultimately played in over 100 games for the Rangers, mostly occupying a sixth or seventh-defenseman role. He was non-tendered by the Rangers this past offseason, and there was some belief that he might be able to fill in a similar role with another organization to the one he filled in New York.
That never came to be, though, and Hájek settled on an AHL deal with the Penguins. Now, after 11 games in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, Hájek has elected to forgo the chance at returning to the NHL on a short-term basis (and the instability that comes with that pursuit) in favor of significantly increased stability around the familiar surroundings of his home country.
He joins one of Czechia’s top teams in Pardubice, a club that reached the Champions Hockey League quarterfinals and has reached the Czech postseason in three consecutive years. He has a real chance of earning some hardware this year, as Pardubice currently sits first in the Czech standings with a 20-3-4 record.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Penguins Notes: Rakell, Ruhwedel, Acciari
The voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Josh Getzoff tweeted today that Penguins winger Rickard Rakell is back at the team’s practice today in a regular practice jersey. Rakell is eligible to come off the LTIR tomorrow and has been skating for about a week. Rakell has been out of the lineup with an upper-body injury since November 19th.
Rakell has struggled this season with just four assists in 17 games. It’s difficult to believe that he hasn’t scored yet given that he’s played with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby for the bulk of his shifts. Rakell hasn’t played poorly, he continues to drive play when he is on the ice, but he’s been unable to finish when he’s had chances, and he has continued to get chances this year with 38 shots on goal.
His return will be something to keep an eye on as he has played primarily with Malkin and Reilly Smith but has historically played better with Crosby and Jake Guentzel who are flanked now by fourth-liner Drew O’Connor.
If Rakell can get going, it would be a big boost for the Penguins who have struggled to score goals in recent weeks.
In other Penguins notes:
- Getzoff also tweeted that Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel is back in regular practice jersey as well. Ruhwedel is week-to-week right now with a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup since November 19th. No word on a return date yet for the 33-year-old, but when he does re-join the lineup, it will create a further logjam for the Penguins’ bottom defensive pairing. Ruhwedel has a single assist in 15 games this season and has struggled at times defensively which is uncharacteristic given that he typically plays a safe and simple brand of defense.
- Getzoff also offered an update on forward Noel Acciari stating that the 32-year-old was back at Penguins practice today in a white no-contact jersey. Acciari was put on the injured reserve about a week ago and is eligible to play if he can. His first season for Pittsburgh has been a rollercoaster thus far as early on he was part of a fourth line alongside Jeff Carter and Matt Nieto that just couldn’t get anything going offensively. None of the three players registered a point in the Penguins’ first ten games, however, once the line was broken up Nieto and Acciari seemed to play better. Acciari still doesn’t contribute much offensively but has settled in nicely on the Penguins penalty kill.
Sabres Appear Unlikely To Send Benson To World Juniors
Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News is reporting that it seems likely that the Buffalo Sabres will hold on to 18-year-old Zach Benson rather than sending him overseas to play for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Nothing concrete has been decided yet, but as Lysowski writes, the Sabres will likely need the 2023 13th overall pick to fill in for the injured Jeff Skinner.
Hockey Canada is hoping to finalize their roster by the end of this week and purposely left a roster spot vacant because they were hoping to see if an NHL player could be made eligible at some point this week. With Skinner out, the Sabres have lost a top-line left winger and will have to try to fill that void by committee, and Benson could be a big part of that.
Benson has dressed in 20 games thus far this season posting three goals and five assists. While his offensive numbers don’t jump off the page at first glance, his analytics are quite good and he’s done a very good job of driving play at 5 on 5.
The Sabres are dealing with a bunch of injury issues at the moment and likely won’t be able to spare a forward when they are already missing Skinner, Jordan Greenway, Jack Quinn, and Zemgus Girgensons.
TSN’s Darren Dreger also weighed in on the situation and echoed what Lysowski had said. Dreger believes that Benson is not expected to be loaned to Team Canada.
Red Wings Assign Zach Aston-Reese To AHL
The Detroit Red Wings announced this morning that they’ve assigned forward Zach Aston-Reese to their American Hockey League affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins. Aston-Reese was recalled earlier in the week along with two others to help the Red Wings deal with a multitude of injuries to members of their forward group.
The 29-year-old did see action during his recall as he dressed for Detroit’s 6-3 loss on Monday night at the hands of the Dallas Stars. Aston-Reese played just 6:21 in that game on 11 shifts and was held scoreless while dishing out two hits.
The Staten Island, New York native has been one of the most polarizing forwards in recent memory as his defensive analytics and impacts are among the best in the NHL, while his offensive abilities are very limited. Aston-Reese has never topped 17 points in an NHL season, and his 10 goals last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs were a career-high. This year with the Griffins in the AHL, Aston-Reese has dressed in 20 games, registering four goals and three assists.
For the second consecutive year, Aston-Reese was a fall signing as he inked his one-year, two-way deal with Detroit back on October 8th. Aston-Reese is currently making $775K in the NHL while being paid $300K during his time in the AHL.
Despite being sent down, Aston-Reese will likely remain one of the Red Wings best options should they need to make a recall later in the season.
Patrik Laine Sidelined For Six Weeks
The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that forward Patrik Laine suffered a clavicle fracture in last night’s 6-5 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The fracture happened in the second period when Laine fell to the ice and crashed into the boards to the left of the Maple Leafs net. He skated off the ice holding his left shoulder and exited the game.
This year has been one to forget for the 25-year-old as he has just six goals and three assists in 18 games thus far this season and is a -10. Laine hasn’t been as dynamic in Columbus as he was during his time with the Winnipeg Jets, but he has been close to a point-a-game player the last two seasons.
Despite putting up good numbers before this year, this is not the first time Laine has missed significant time. Laine was out of the lineup for nine games earlier this season after he suffered an upper-body injury. He also missed an additional three games this month due to an illness. Last season, Laine missed 24 games due to a variety of injuries as well as an additional two games when he had COVID-19.
Moreover, Laine was a healthy scratch about a month ago in what he called, “the most embarrassing thing to happen to me.”
Gene Carr Passes Away At 72
The Los Angeles Kings have shared that former top NHL prospect Gene Carr has passed away at the age of 72. Carr was drafted fourth overall in the 1971 NHL Draft and went on to appear in 465 career NHL games. He appeared with five different franchises throughout his eight-year career, including five seasons with the Kings and three years with the New York Rangers.
Carr was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in 1971, the same draft that saw Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne go first and second overall; also boasting Hall of Fame talent with 20th-overall choice Larry Robinson. Carr appeared in the 15th-most NHL games of the draft class, making his debut with the Blues in the 1971-72 season. He was traded to the Rangers after only 14 games and five points with the Blues, though, as part of a seven-player swap between the two teams. Carr finished his rookie season with 60 games and 16 points in New York and would appear in one more modest season with the Rangers before being traded to the Kings for a first-round draft pick.
The move to L.A. kicked off the strongest years of Carr’s career. He scored 17 points in his first 21 games with the franchise in 1974 and would go on to become iconic for his long, blonde hair and charming personality, making him a recognizable face of the early Kings franchise. But despite spending the heat of his career in Los Angeles, Carr’s career year came in 1977-78, when he appeared in five games and scored two goals with L.A. before being moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he recorded 17 goals and 54 points in 70 games, bringing his total on the season to 19 goals and 56 points, both career-highs. It would be Carr’s only season in Pittsburgh and he would go on to retire at the age of 27 after one season with the Atlanta Flames.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Zach Parise
When veteran free agent winger Zach Parise wasn’t signed before training camp, the belief was that if he came back for a 19th NHL season, it’d be with the Islanders based on comments from both him and GM Lou Lamoriello. However, in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported that some playoff-bound teams, including those with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations, are showing interest in Parise as well.
The 39-year-old played the last two seasons for the Islanders and proved to be a pretty good bargain for New York in 2022-23. While playing on a deal that carried a base cap hit of the league minimum (plus another $750K in undisclosed bonuses), he contributed 21 goals along with 13 assists despite primarily playing on the third line along with Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
In his prime, Parise was a consistent 30-goal scorer, reaching that plateau in six of his first ten NHL campaigns. While he hasn’t gotten there since then, he has chipped in four more years of at least 20 goals, the last of which came last season. That makes him an intriguing bottom-six addition for several teams.
Considering Parise took a minimum-salary deal with incentives last season, it stands to reason that he’d be willing to do so again. As long as he signs a one-year contract, he’s eligible to do so; at his age, a two-year agreement seems highly unlikely.
Structuring a contract that way would allow pretty much any contending team to be able to afford him. Even if they’re capped out, the bonuses could be rolled over and count against their 2024-25 cap sheet while a signing team would need to remove someone from their roster to add Parise; that player would make the minimum salary or more.
Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted in his latest 32 Thoughts column that Parise has been skating pretty hard lately at his home in Minnesota, presumably ramping up to sign an NHL contract. But instead of it being all but a certainty that it would be with the Islanders, it appears the veteran will have several other options to consider when the time comes to put pen to paper on a contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Kuznetsov, Suter, Boudreau, Richards, Clarke
Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov was a late scratch for tonight’s game against Philadelphia with the team announcing (Twitter link) that it was due to illness. It has not been a good year for the 31-year-old who has been limited to just five goals and six assists in 22 games while even being a healthy scratch earlier this month. Kuznetsov has one more year left after this one with a $7.8MM AAV and if Washington looks to shake things up, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his name land in the rumor mill again after a trade request came to light over the summer.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Prior to their game tonight versus Florida, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated center Pius Suter from injured reserve. The 27-year-old has missed the last month due to a lower-body injury. Suter was off to a slow start to his first season with Vancouver as he has been limited to four goals in his first 15 games. Having sent back Linus Karlsson recently, they didn’t need to make another move to open up a spot for Suter’s activation.
- It’s possible that we could see Bruce Boudreau back behind a bench in the near future. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports (Twitter link) that the veteran bench boss is in the mix to coach Canada’s entry into the upcoming Spengler Cup, which gets underway on December 26th. The 68-year-old is currently an advisor for OHL Niagara.
- The Blues have added long-time NHL center Brad Richards as a power play consultant, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relays in his latest 32 Thoughts column. Richards put up 377 points with the man advantage during his 15-year NHL career, putting him in a tie for 76th in NHL history in that department. Louis enters play tonight with a power play success rate of just 8.4%, putting them 31st league-wide ahead of only Washington.
- With Vladislav Gavrikov now out for a little while, some wondered if this could be the opportunity for top prospect Brandt Clarke to be recalled from AHL Ontario. However, Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider notes that promoting him would give them four right-shot defenders and the Kings don’t want to put one of them in a spot of playing on their off-side. Clarke is off to a very strong start with the Reign, putting up 25 points in his first 24 career AHL appearances.
Pacific Notes: Spence, Hoffman, Markstrom, Golden Knights
Kings defenseman Jordan Spence has changed agents and is now represented by Quartexx, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link). The 22-year-old is in his first full season at the NHL level, appearing in all but one of 26 games for Los Angeles so far. A prominent point producer in the minors with 87 points in 102 games with AHL Ontario, Spence has had a bit of a harder go hitting the scoreboard in the NHL although he does have nine assists while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night. Spence is set to become a restricted free agent for the first time this summer and will be owed a qualifying offer worth a little over $813K.
More from the Pacific Division:
- Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests Sharks winger Mike Hoffman could be a name to keep an eye on when it comes to the trade front. After getting off to a slow start, the 34-year-old is up to eight goals in 28 games, just one off the team lead. A pending UFA with a $4.5MM cap hit, the asking price for Hoffman likely won’t be very high but he could be a useful addition to a team looking to add a bit of firepower to their bottom six.
- Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom practiced on Wednesday with their AHL affiliate, relays Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The 33-year-old has been out for the last week and a half with a finger injury but Gilbertson pointed out that Markstrom didn’t seem to be limited at all which suggests the netminder could be nearing a return. Calgary has a full roster at the moment although that can easily be addressed by returning top prospect Dustin Wolf back to the Wranglers.
- Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill is expected to accompany the team on their road trip next week, notes Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last week and a half with a lower-body injury after getting off to a stellar start; he leads the NHL in GAA (1.87) and SV% (.935) over his first 14 starts. Meanwhile, Webster adds that defenseman Kaedan Korczak will miss some time due to a lower-body injury of his own. Korczak has a goal and six assists in 15 games with Vegas so far this season.
Los Angeles Kings Recall Tobias Björnfot
The Los Angeles Kings have recalled defenseman Tobias Björnfot from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. This news comes just a day after Kings top-four defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was lost to a lower-body injury on a week-to-week basis.
The Kings gave a look at how their Gavrikov-less defense would look in yesterday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets, with Jacob Moverare and Andreas Englund occupying the two left-side slots behind first-pairing defenseman Mikey Anderson. With this recall, Björnfot slots in as the club’s seventh defenseman, another left-shot blueliner for head coach Todd McLellan to choose from as he constructs his lineups.
A 2019 first-round pick, Björnfot’s role within the Kings’ overall defensive depth chart has declined over the past two years. After seemingly establishing himself in the NHL in 2021-22 by playing in 70 games for the Kings, Björnfot spent most of 2022-23 in the AHL. He played just 10 NHL games last season, and this year has played in just one NHL game.
A defense-first blueliner, Björnfot is aa relatively safe option for the Kings in their seventh-defenseman role. The team has lost back-to-back games, though, so with Gavrikov out on an extended basis one wonders if the Kings might look more seriously at acquiring outside help to strengthen their blueline.
If Moverare, Englund, and Björnfot are unable to fill the significant void left by Gavrikov, who plays nearly 20 minutes per night and is a regular penalty killer, it’s possible the Kings could look for the right trade fit to bolster their defense.