Nick Ritchie Signs In Finland
Earlier this month, Brett Ritchie decided to head overseas after failing to secure an NHL contract, signing with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. Now, his brother has also decided to cross the pond as Karpat of the SM-liiga in Finland announced that they’ve inked Nick Ritchie to a one-year contract.
The 27-year-old was the tenth overall selection back in 2014 but while he showed flashes of some upside, he wasn’t able to lock down a regular spot in the top six. Over the past few seasons, he has bounced around in depth roles, playing for four teams in the last three years.
Last season, Ritchie spent time with both Arizona and Calgary, notably being traded for his brother at the trade deadline. Between the two teams, he collected 13 goals and 13 assists in 74 games along with 218 hits. Despite that, he failed to secure a guaranteed contract over the summer and eventually settled for a PTO with St. Louis. He didn’t fare particularly well with them, picking up an assist and 17 penalty minutes in three preseason contests, leading to his release.
Now that a contract elsewhere in North America has failed to materialize, Ritchie heads overseas. A strong showing over the final few months with Karpat could very well get him back on the NHL radar for next season on a minimum-salary contract. However, if Ritchie struggles, this could be the beginning of an extended stint overseas which is hardly the outcome many expected after being such a high draft pick a decade ago.
Nico Hischier Activated Off IR, On The Ice For Warmups
The home crowd at Saturday night’s New Jersey Devils game was greeted with the surprise return of captain Nico Hischier, who has taken the ice for warmups. No announcement of Hischier’s return was made, although The Athletic’s James Nichols pointed out that he was noted as off of injured reserve on the NHL’s official website earlier today. The website also showed that forward Tomas Nosek was placed on injured reserve.
With no official announcement, it’s unclear if Hischier’s participation in warmups is a test for if he’s ready, or an official indication that he’s in the lineup. If he does play, he’ll be returning against the Buffalo Sabres. Hischier was hurt the last time that New Jersey faced Buffalo, taking a check to the head from Connor Clifton that earned Clifton a two-game suspension.
Hischier has faced a slew of injuries this season, only managing to appear in seven games this season. He’s scored two goals in those matchups, also tallying four penalty minutes and a -2. He’ll look to overcome his injury bug and right his season with a return to the lineup. The 24-year-old captain scored 80 points in 81 games last year.
Nosek’s appearance on injured reserve doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as he’s missed the team’s last two games. He’ll miss his third on Saturday, as he fights his way back from an upper-body injury. Nosek has no points, four hits, and three blocked shots in six games this season. Nosek is in his first season with the Devils, after spending the last two years with the Boston Bruins, who he totaled 141 games and 35 points with.
Injury Notes: Walman, Theodore, Martinez, Mahura
Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde shared an update on defenseman Jake Walman‘s injury, calling him day-to-day and questionable for the team’s Saturday night game. If Walman doesn’t play on Saturday, he’s likely to return when the team plays on Wednesday.
Walman has continued to perform well with the Detroit Red Wings, scoring eight points in 18 games this season – his second full year with the club. Walman has become the go-to partner for top defenseman Moritz Seider, with Walman spending 87 percent of his even-strength ice time next to the former Calder Trophy winner. They’ve accounted for an admirable 49.59 xGF% (expected goals-for percentage) and 49.8 CF% (Corsi-for percentage) when they’re on the ice togehter, speaking to their ability to control possession and scoring chances. Seider takes a small hit to both of those statistics when he plays with any other partner. Getting Walman back into the lineup helps a Red Wings lineup that hasn’t been too impacted by injuries get back to normal.
Other injury updates from around the league:
- The Vegas Golden Knights will be without both Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez on Friday night. Theodore is battling an upper-body injury, while Martinez has a lower-body injury. Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy added that he’s unsure how long Martinez will be out of action, dubbing him day-to-day.
- The Florida Panthers are planning on keeping defenseman Josh Mahura on injured reserve for at least another week. The team placed Mahura on IR on November 17th, after he left a matchup against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury. Mahura has appeared in 16 games this season, scoring five assists and recording a -2.
Coyotes Notes: Trade Rumors, Dumba, Dermott
Arizona Coyotes insider Craig Morgan recently shared that the team is actively looking to trade away prospects and draft picks for lineup upgrades. Morgan says this trade interest is inspired by the success of Sean Durzi, who the Coyotes acquired from Los Angeles this summer. Durzi has 12 points in his first 19 games in Arizona while averaging a monster 23-and-a-half minutes a night, three minutes more than any other Coyotes skater. The Yotes only traded away a 2024 Second Round pick for the 25-year-old defenseman and, after a modest 8-9-2 start to the season, are hoping that lineup upgrades like Durzi could kick them into gear sooner than expected.
Arizona certainly has the pieces to build around. Durzi has provided a strong boost of scoring to the blue-line, alongside J.J. Moser, who has 10 points in 19 games. The duo backs up a forward group that’s leveled out, after a top-heavy start to the year. Arizona currently has nine players with 10 or more points this season, led by Clayton Keller‘s 18 points in 19 games. Matias Maccelli has continued to rack up the assists and Logan Cooley is settling into the NHL well. With the right upgrades, there’s reason to be excited about what’s going on in Mullett Arena.
Other Coyotes notes:
- Matt Dumba will miss the team’s Saturday night game against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. When Dumba suffered the injury, or the exact specification of what it is, hasn’t been reveled yet. He will be replaced by 22-year-old Vladislav Kolyachonok. Kolyachonok has three points, six penalty minutes, and a +5 in 11 AHL games this season.
- Head coach Andre Tourigny shared that Travis Dermott is, “getting close” to a return from his upper-body injury. Tourigny said that Dermott will not be available for Friday, but could return soon. He has been out of action since November 8th, when he was announced out for an indefinite period of time.
Colorado Assigns Riley Tufte To AHL
While Avalanche winger Riley Tufte has been productive on his latest recall, it wasn’t enough to keep him up with the big club for long as Colorado has assigned him to the minors, per a team announcement (Twitter link).
The 25-year-old became a Group Six unrestricted free agent in the summer and quickly inked a one-year deal with Colorado on the opening day of free agency. Since then, he has frequently been shuffled back and forth between the Avs and Eagles; this demotion is already his sixth of the season.
Along the way, Tufte has played in five contests with the big club and picked up a point in each of his last two. Those are his only two points of the season while he’s averaging a little over 11 minutes a night at the top level. In the minors, however, Tufte has been quite productive, notching nine goals and eight assists in just a dozen games. That should have him in line to be recalled again before too long.
At this point, it’s unclear who will be taking Tufte’s spot in the lineup tonight against Calgary. Logan O’Connor has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but remains on the active roster, suggesting his absence is a short-term one so it’s possible that he is cleared to play. Otherwise, Tomas Tatar would come back in after being a healthy scratch last night; the 32-year-old is still looking for his first goal of the season.
Flyers Activate Rasmus Ristolainen
Saturday: Ristolainen has officially been taken off LTIR, the team announced.
Wednesday: The Flyers could soon activate defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen off LTIR, Dylan H. Robillard of Olde City Sports Network reports. However, despite returning to practice in full-contact gear yesterday, the right-shot Finn will not enter the lineup tonight versus the Islanders.
Ristolainen, 29, had missed the entire 2023-24 season up to this point with an undisclosed injury. The Flyers didn’t list him as out until October 9 – just one day before the regular season started – making him a rather unexpected absence in the lineup to kick off the campaign.
Now in the second season of a five-year, $25.5MM extension signed with the Flyers in March of 2022, the much-maligned 2013 top-ten pick had one of his best seasons in recent memory in 2022-23. Some reduced usage proved positive for his defensive impacts, skating under 20 minutes per game for the first time since his rookie season. He also notched three goals and 20 points in 74 contests.
While they may not be numbers worthy of his cap hit, Ristolainen remains an NHL-caliber player and should provide competition among the Flyers’ veterans on the backend – namely Marc Staal, who is gearing up to return from a similarly lengthy injury-related absence.
However, Ristolainen’s early-season absence has allowed other players to flourish. Nick Seeler and Yegor Zamula have the best plus-minus ratings on the team with a +10 and +11 mark despite both playing under 17 minutes a game. Their success on the defensive side of the puck, along with Travis Sanheim‘s and Sean Walker‘s standout play to begin the season, leaves Flyers head coach John Tortorella with some tough decisions on how to utilize Ristolainen moving forward.
With an open spot on the 23-man roster and ample cap space, the Flyers do not need to make a corresponding move to take Ristolainen off LTIR.
Seattle Kraken Assign Chris Driedger To AHL
Saturday: The Kraken announced that Driedger has been sent back to the Firebirds, suggesting that Grubauer will be able to suit up for Seattle’s next game against Chicago on Tuesday.
Tuesday: The Seattle Kraken have announced that they’ve recalled veteran goaltender Chris Driedger from their AHL affiliate the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The 29-year-old is likely to serve as the backup to Joey Daccord as starter Philipp Grubauer is dealing with an undisclosed injury and is likely to miss tomorrow night’s game. No word on whether Grubauer will be out longer term.
Driedger spent all last season in the AHL and to this point has yet to dress in an NHL game since the 2021-22 season. He was just okay in the AHL last season but has put up solid numbers with the Firebirds this season going 6-4 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.20 goals-against average.
Driedger was drafted by the Kraken in the 2021 NHL expansion draft and signed to a three-year $10.5MM contract despite having just 38 games of NHL experience at the time. The gamble did not pay off for Seattle as Driedger struggled in his first season with the club going 9-14-1 with a .899 save percentage and a 2.96 goals-against average.
Driedger’s struggles prompted the Kraken to shop the Winnipeg, Manitoba native this past summer, but they were unable to find any takers for his $3.5MM cap hit. It appeared possible that the Kraken would buy out Driedger, but they ended up hanging onto to him to play out the final season of his three-year deal.
A journeyman goaltender, Driedger did see some success at the NHL level from 2019-2021 as a member of the Florida Panthers. During that time Driedger went 21-8-4 while sporting 2.07 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. If Driedger does get a chance to play and can show that he belongs in the NHL it could open up the possibility that he gets moved as a few teams are looking at goaltending options in what is currently a very overpriced goalie market.
Islanders Recall Grant Hutton
While the Islanders added some defensive depth today when they claimed Mike Reilly off waivers from Florida, more reinforcements appear to be needed for their game tonight against Philadelphia as Newsday’s Andrew Gross relays (Twitter link) that Grant Hutton has been added to New York’s roster.
The 28-year-old last saw NHL action during the 2021-22 season when he got into 16 games at the top level. He didn’t dominate but held his own while averaging a little over 14 minutes of playing time, resulting in the Isles giving him a three-year deal that summer with two of those seasons being a one-way salary.
However, since then, Hutton has cleared waivers twice and has played exclusively with AHL Bridgeport until now. Last season, the blueliner had ten points in 39 games and is on a similar points pace this year with five points – all assists – in his first 16 appearances.
With Reilly only being claimed off waivers earlier this afternoon, there’s no guarantee that he will be available against the Flyers. Meanwhile, Sebastian Aho’s availability is also in question after leaving yesterday’s game early with an injury so Hutton will be available to suit up if those two aren’t able to play.
New York had a vacant roster spot following the placement of Matt Martin on injured reserve earlier today while the cap space was created earlier in the day when Adam Pelech was placed on LTIR. Accordingly, no further roster moves were necessary to add Hutton to the active roster.
Devils Sign Samuel Laberge
Samuel Laberge started this season on a minor league deal, but the Devils have seen something that they like as they announced that they have signed the forward to a one-year entry-level contract. The contract will pay him $775K in the NHL and $90K in the minors.
The 26-year-old has been somewhat of a journeyman thus far in his career. Undrafted out of the QMJHL, Laberge spent two seasons in the minors for Dallas before playing for a year in the LNAH, an independent league in Quebec to be closer to his father who had just been diagnosed with cancer. From there, he played on an ECHL deal in Minnesota before inking a minor-league agreement with New Jersey’s farm team back in 2021. This is his third season in their system.
Laberge has played in eight games with AHL Utica this season, recording a goal and two assists along with a team-high 16 penalty minutes. For his career, he has 54 points in 201 AHL appearances. Despite this contract, Laberge won’t get the opportunity to play in the NHL right away as the Devils immediately assigned him back to the Comets. However, having this deal in place puts him in a position to be recalled when injuries strike later in the season.
Jets Recall Declan Chisholm From Conditioning Stint
It has been an interesting start to the season for Jets blueliner Declan Chisholm as he has yet to see any action with Winnipeg. Last week, the team sent him to AHL Manitoba to get some playing time and today, they announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled him from that loan which was capped at a maximum of two weeks.
Last season, the 23-year-old was quite productive with the Moose, notching 43 points in 59 games after recording 30 in 53 appearances the year before but didn’t see any NHL action. Unsurprisingly, Chisholm was productive in this six-game AHL stint, collecting five assists.
However, despite making Winnipeg’s roster out of training camp, Chisholm is still waiting to play his first game of the season with the big club and has just two career NHL appearances to his name. It’s clear that internally, the team doesn’t think he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed and would like to avoid a repeat of last year when they waived a player in a similar situation in Johnathan Kovacevic who has since gone on to become a regular with Montreal.
His best path to playing time in Winnipeg is an injury but the Jets remain healthy on the back end, meaning that Chisholm is set to reprise his role of being eighth on the depth chart. With Ville Heinola showing that he’s ready for an NHL look when he returns from his ankle injury next month, it appears that Chisholm will continue to be stuck in a numbers game for a while yet.