Ryan Lindgren And Igor Shesterkin Expected To Play Saturday; Rangers Recall Connor Mackey
The Rangers are getting some good news for their lineup on Saturday as Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Journal News relays that Ryan Lindgren will return after suffering an upper-body injury against Columbus while Igor Shesterkin should also return after missing four games. Despite that, the team also announced (Twitter link) that they’ve brought up Connor Mackey from AHL Hartford.
With New York having a long layoff between games, the only time that Lindgren wound up missing was the third period of Sunday’s contest against Columbus. The 25-year-old has just a single assist through his first 13 games so far this season while averaging a little over a hit and block per game in 19:33 per night of action.
Meanwhile, Mackey is no stranger to the up-and-down shuffling; this is his fifth recall this month. Despite the promotions, the 27-year-old has yet to play for the Rangers this season but has gotten into nine games with the Wolf Pack where he has a goal and three assists. Mackey cleared waivers in training camp after spending last season in a depth role between Calgary and Arizona. His presence on New York’s roster is likely for insurance purposes in case Lindgren has a late setback and can’t play against New Jersey.
As for Shesterkin, the 27-year-old is off to another strong start to the season with a 2.36 GAA and a .913 SV% in his first eight appearances. The 2021-22 Vezina winner had been dealing with undisclosed soreness. Veteran Jonathan Quick did quite well in Shesterkin’s absence and is off to a great start of his own with a 1.98 GAA and a .928 SV% in his first six appearances but Shesterkin will almost certainly go back to getting the lion’s share of the workload having been cleared to return.
Connor Brown To Return Saturday And Reach His Bonus
With the Oilers looking to add to their roster over the summer with limited cap space, they had to get creative. Since Connor Brown missed most of last season with a torn ACL sustained in the fourth game of the year, he was eligible for a bonus-laden one-year contract. Accordingly, Edmonton inked him to a one-year deal worth only $775K as the base salary but also gave him a $3.225MM bonus that becomes payable when he reaches his tenth game of the season.
The 29-year-old got off to a slow start and was held off the scoresheet in Edmonton’s first nine games of the season despite averaging close to 15 minutes a night while spending a lot of time in the top six. However, Brown suffered a lower-body injury a little over two weeks ago, delaying him reaching that bonus.
That will change on Saturday as Brown confirmed today (video link) that he will be good to go against Tampa Bay, meaning he will play in his tenth game and reach that bonus.
Whatever amount, if any, Edmonton finishes under the $83.5MM salary cap will be applied to cover some of Brown’s bonus. The remainder will then roll over to their 2024-25 cap charges, meaning that the majority of the projected increase in the cap will be spent on paying for Brown’s deal this season.
Brown remained on the active roster for the Oilers during his injury so no corresponding roster move needs to be made. While Edmonton now has 13 healthy forwards on its roster, there isn’t any benefit to sending one down after the team went into LTIR following the injuries to Dylan Holloway and Mattias Janmark; they won’t be able to bank any extra cap space if they sent their spare forward back to AHL Bakersfield. In the meantime, they’ll hope that Brown can become the key two-way forward he was back with Ottawa where he had his best three seasons from 2019-20 through 2021-22.
Coyotes’ Barrett Hayton Likely To Miss Four To Six Weeks
5:39 p.m.: The Coyotes have confirmed Hayton’s status as week-to-week in a team announcement Friday evening. Jeník has indeed been recalled from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners in a corresponding transaction. Jeník, 23, was recalled twice by the team in late October but did not appear in a game, serving as a healthy scratch on both occasions.
11:42 a.m.: In unfortunate news for both player and team, after leaving last night’s game with an apparent upper-body injury, the outlook on Barrett Hayton‘s status does not appear to be positive. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Hayton will likely need surgery for his injury, and the Arizona Coyotes will be without the forward for the next four to six weeks.
Although centering the top forward line for the Coyotes, Hayton has had an incredibly unlucky start to the 2023-24 season. His scoring has picked up as of late, scoring two goals in his last five games. However, over 16 games to start the year, Hayton only has two goals and two assists overall.
Averaging over 18 and a half minutes of ice time per game, Hayton is only shooting at a 5.9% success rate, all while maintaining an above-average CF% of 55.1% and a decent xGF of 9.1 while on the ice. Now, if his on-ice production wasn’t bad enough, Hayton is set to miss at least the next month with his injury.
Nevertheless, if there is any positive for Arizona through this injury, it’s that this might create an opportunity for Logan Cooley on the team’s first line. Averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time per night, Cooley is already showing off his playmaking abilities with 10 assists on the year already, with eight of those coming on the Coyotes’ powerplay.
In the meantime, Morgan indicates that Arizona will be recalling Jan Jenik from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. In the AHL this year, Jenik has scored two goals and three assists in nine games for the Roadrunners.
Sabres Activate Eric Comrie, Zach Benson; Move Tage Thompson To IR
The Buffalo Sabres have made multiple transactions ahead of tonight’s tilt against the Winnipeg Jets, namely activating netminder Eric Comrie and winger Zach Benson, who will both return to the lineup tonight after semi-lengthy absences, Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550 relays. To make room on the 23-man roster, injured forward Tage Thompson was moved to IR and winger Lukáš Rousek was reassigned to the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
Comrie, 28, will make his first appearance since sustaining a lower-body injury in an October 27 game against the Devils. After an eight-game absence, the veteran backup returns and the Sabres will continue to carry three goalies when all are healthy. Rookie Devon Levi will serve as Comrie’s backup against the Jets tonight, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who’s started the majority of the Sabres’ 16 contests this season, will serve as a healthy scratch.
In the second season of a two-year, $3.6MM deal signed in free agency in 2022, Comrie looks much improved in a small sample. In three appearances, all starts, Comrie’s .914 SV% and 2.45 GAA both lead the team. He will continue to stay in the regular rotation for starts so as to not overload Luukkonen and to continue to let the 22-year-old Levi adjust to the pro game.
Benson, 18, returns after missing seven straight games (and nine out of the last 12) with a lower-body injury. The winger seems well-acclimated to the NHL game thus far, doing well in terms of zone entries and showing a willingness to cut to the slot to make plays. After two assists in six games, though, the Sabres are approaching a decision on whether to burn the first season of his entry-level contract or return him to the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild. As covered earlier today, the Sabres aren’t yet sure what they’ll decide regarding the future of the 2023 13th overall pick.
Thompson has already been listed as week-to-week with a presumptive wrist injury sustained Tuesday against the Bruins, and he will miss far more than the seven minimum days required for an IR stay. With Comrie and Benson ready to return, the Sabres no longer had room to keep the injured center on the active roster. The 26-year-old had six goals and 12 points in 16 contests this season.
Rousek returns to Rochester after failing to make much of an impact on his recall, going without a point in five contests and posting a -2 rating. The 24-year-old averaged 11:14 but registered just one shot on goal and four total shot attempts. Sabres head coach Don Granato was likely looking for much more out of Rousek, who had started the season strong with two goals and six points in eight games for Rochester. The 2019 sixth-round pick now returns to the team he led in scoring last season with 56 points in 70 games.
Capitals Loan Hardy Häman Aktell To AHL; Activate Two Off IR
The Capitals assigned rookie defenseman Hardy Häman Aktell to the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Friday, per a team release.
Häman Aktell, 25, didn’t make the Capitals’ opening night roster this season after signing a one-year, $870K entry-level contract in free agency. However, the former Predators prospect earned a recall just a handful of days into the year after notching a goal in two games with AHL Hershey and has remained on the roster since. The Swedish two-way puck mover had a strong preseason but earned only a limited look at the NHL level during his call-up, notching an assist and a -2 rating in six contests while averaging 10:38 per game.
Washington opted to sign Häman Aktell in free agency after he won two Swedish Hockey League championships in the last three seasons with Växjö Lakers HC, finishing second on the team in points with 36 in 51 games last year. As he does not require waivers, he was a logical choice to take off the 23-man roster, with both Anthony Mantha and Trevor van Riemsdyk being activated from IR ahead of tomorrow’s game versus the Blue Jackets, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press.
Mantha, 29, had missed the past three games after taking a puck to the ear on November 8 against the Panthers and is projected to play a fourth-line role with Nic Dowd and Beck Malenstyn. Signed to a $5.7MM cap hit on an expiring deal, Mantha’s had another rough go of things to start 2023-24, recording just four points in ten games and seeing his ice time dip below 13 minutes per game. The 6-foot-5, 234-pound winger has played just 128 games with the Capitals since they acquired him via trade from the Red Wings three seasons ago, recording 62 points.
Meanwhile, van Riemsdyk is also returning to the 23-man roster after missing the past four contests with a lower-body injury sustained on November 4 against the Blue Jackets. The 32-year-old signed a three-year, $9MM extension to remain in D.C. last March and has one assist and a -1 rating through ten games, averaging 17:35 per contest. The nine-year veteran will form the right side of the team’s third pairing tomorrow with 2018 first-round pick Alexander Alexeyev on his left flank.
Kings Sign Koehn Ziemmer To Entry-Level Contract
The Kings signed forward prospect Koehn Ziemmer to a three-year, entry-level contract on Friday, per a team release. According to the Kings, the deal carries an AAV of $875K.
Los Angeles selected Ziemmer, 18, with the 78th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft earlier this year. Ziemmer was a widely polarizing prospect after a monster year with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, with some expecting him to get a look in the late first round while others projected him to fall as late as the fourth or fifth round.
Elite Prospects tabbed Ziemmer 40th in their final 2023 draft rankings, praising his speed, skill and physicality. The Mayerthorpe, Alberta-born winger has NHL size at 6 feet and 210 pounds and finished ninth in WHL scoring last season with 41 goals and 89 points in 68 contests. He struggled defensively, though, leading some to question to what degree he’d be a liability at the NHL level.
Nonetheless, Ziemmer remains one of the higher-ceiling prospects in the team’s system. He’s off to a decent start with the Cougars this year, potting seven goals and 24 points through 16 games. Ziemmer remains linemates with center Riley Heidt, who the Wild selected one round earlier after posting a similar stat line to Ziemmer in Prince George last season. Some public scouting sites, such as Dobber Prospects, are confident in Ziemmer’s ability to translate into a top-six winger for the Kings, giving him an NHL certainty score of 8.5/10 and putting his peak at 80 points in a season and listing him as their best wing prospect behind Arthur Kaliyev, who’s already solidified an everyday NHL role and has seven points through 13 games this season.
Ziemmer will remain on assignment to WHL Prince George for the rest of the season. Given his December 2004 birthday, his entry-level contract is only eligible to slide for one season, and he will be eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Ontario Reign in 2024-25.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Tobias Bjornfot To AHL
Nov. 17: The Kings returned Moverare to AHL Ontario after serving as a healthy scratch for last night’s game against the Panthers, per a team announcement.
Nov. 16: Before their matchup against the Florida Panthers this evening, the Los Angeles Kings announced they have sent down defenseman Tobias Bjornfot to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, on a conditioning loan. In the same announcement, the team has also recalled Jacob Moverare to replace Bjornfot on the roster.
Since it is a conditioning loan, Bjornfot will still count against the 23-man roster for the Kings and will still be paid his NHL salary over the next 14 days unless he is recalled sooner.
Since the 2021-22 season, where he played 70 games, Bjornfot has seen himself move further down the depth chart on Los Angeles’ blue line. After that season, Bjornfot has only played 11 games at the NHL level during the regular season, scoring one assist over the last two years.
Bjornfot played most of last year with the Reign, scoring five goals and seven assists in 50 games. Although he has a tremendous physical edge to his game, with the likes of Vladislav Gavrikov and Michael Anderson on the Kings’ blue line, there is not much upward mobility for Bjornfot for the time being.
Moverare was a fourth-round selection of Los Angeles in the 2016 NHL Draft, playing 21 games for the Kings over the last three seasons. So far this year, Moverare has played 12 games for the Reign, tallying three assists in total.
Sharks Assign Daniil Gushchin To AHL, Nico Sturm Takes Leave Of Absence
Sharks winger Daniil Gushchin is headed back to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, per Max Miller of The Hockey News. Miller says this is not a permanent return to the minors for the promising youngster but rather a paper move to get him playing time with the Barracuda over the weekend. The Sharks do not return to action until Monday against the Canucks, by which time he’ll likely be back on the NHL roster.
The Sharks also announced that center Nico Sturm has taken a leave of absence to attend to a family matter and will miss the team’s next two games, meaning he’ll be away from the team for at least a week. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports the league granted a Sharks request for Sturm to occupy non-roster status while he’s away from the team, meaning he will not use a spot on the 23-man roster until he’s returned.
Gushchin has played in the Sharks’ last two games after a recall on Monday, recording an assist and an even plus-minus rating while playing top-six minutes. The 21-year-old hasn’t looked out of place and is off to an impressive start in 2023-24, racking up four goals and 13 points through 11 contests with the Barracuda.
It’s a promising trajectory for the 2020 third-round pick, who’s putting up quite good numbers at a young age and appears well on his way to an eventual top-nine role in the Bay Area. The 5-foot-10, 181-pound winger makes up for his lack of size with dogged effort and good puckhandling skills, as evidenced by his 45 points in 67 games during his rookie season with the Barracuda last year. That was good enough for second on the team, as were his 22 goals.
The Sharks have won three out of their last six outings, none more impressive than their 5-1 victory over the Blues last night. With confidence building in the room, the team likely feels less of a need to shelter their young players from blowout losses and could be more willing to give players like Gushchin some more runway at the NHL level.
Like many other Sharks, Sturm is off to a disappointing start this season, recording just two assists in 17 games while averaging nearly 15 minutes per contest. The 28-year-old German pivot is in the second season of a three-year, $6MM deal signed with the Sharks in free agency in 2022. He posted a career-high 14 goals and 26 points in 74 games last season and has been a decent defensive presence in the bottom six since gaining a full-time NHL role in 2020 with the Wild.
With a roster spot open for a recall in Sturm’s absence, someone like 21-year-old Thomas Bordeleau or 24-year-old Jacob Peterson could get a look with the Sharks early next week. They’ve played six games each this season but remain assigned to the Barracuda, where they’ve each put up solid offensive numbers.
Panthers Activate Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour; Place Josh Mahura On IR
The Panthers have activated defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour off LTIR ahead of tonight’s game against the Ducks, Colby Guy of Florida Hockey Now relays.
Additionally, defenseman Josh Mahura left last night’s game against the Kings with a lower-body injury after six shifts and did not return. Now, the NHL’s media site shows that Mahura has been placed on IR and will be out of the lineup for at least seven days, as David Dwork of Local 10 Miami and The Hockey News relays.
Forward Jonah Gadjovich is also available to play for the Panthers after his conditioning loan with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers ended today, George Richards of Florida Hockey Now says. The moves result in the Panthers having a cap-compliant 23-man roster with less than $100K in cap space (CapFriendly later listed this figure as less than $500K).
Ekblad and Montour were unavailable for the beginning of the season after undergoing off-season shoulder surgeries to address injuries sustained in the Panthers’ run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. They are now eligible to play in tonight’s contest and are expected to make their season debuts in top-four roles. Ekblad is expected to suit up alongside Gustav Forsling, who’s logged a +11 rating and is averaging nearly 24 minutes per game. Montour, meanwhile, will comprise the second pairing with offseason addition Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who seems to have new life breathed into his game and leads Panthers defensemen with ten points in 16 games.
To make room for Ekblad and Montour in the lineup, Latvian defender Uvis Balinskis will be a healthy scratch, in addition to Mahura landing on IR. Balinskis, an undrafted free agent in his first NHL season, has appeared in 14 of 16 games for the Panthers this season, notching two points and a +2 rating while averaging 13:58 per game. The team now has eight defensemen on the active roster, with Mike Reilly still hanging around the team as an oft-scratch. Offseason signings Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola, who have both averaged over 19 minutes per game this season in the absence of Ekblad and Montour, will form a shutdown third pairing with the Panthers’ defense now at near total health.
The return of the Panthers’ top two defensemen provides a boon to a team that’s treaded well in their absence, sitting second in the Atlantic Division with a 10-5-1 record. Their success is largely due to the remarkable play of their first line, comprised of captain Aleksander Barkov with Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart on his flank. Reinhart leads all Panthers in scoring and sits near the top of the league leaderboard with 13 goals and 24 points, while Rodrigues has fit in nicely with three goals and 13 points in 16 games after signing a four-year, $12MM deal in free agency last summer.
Montour is entering the final season of a three-year contract carrying a $3.5MM cap hit, one that proved to be an immense bargain last season. The 29-year-old right-shot D had one of the most notable breakout campaigns of any player in the league, recording a career-high 16 goals, 57 assists and 73 points in 80 games and finished 12th in Norris Trophy voting. Ekblad remains under contract through 2024-25 and logged over 23 minutes per night for a third consecutive season in 2022-23.
It’s a tough break for Mahura, who has seen limited ice time this season and now faces an uphill battle for a roster spot when he returns from injury. The 25-year-old had five assists and a -2 rating, playing in all 16 games, but had failed to see more than 15 minutes of ice in any single game this year. A 2016 third-round pick of the Ducks, Mahura is signed to a one-year, $925K deal and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season.
Anaheim Ducks Recall Tristan Luneau From Loan
Now that the conditioning loan requirements have been satisfied by defenseman Tristan Luneau, the Anaheim Ducks have announced he has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Over the loan assignment, Luneau got into six games with San Diego, tallying two assists over that time.
No corresponding move is necessary, considering Luneau stayed on the Ducks’ 23-man roster while on the conditioning loan. The 2022 second-round pick has made the transition to pro hockey earlier than some expected, remaining on the Ducks’ NHL roster as he is not yet eligible for full-time assignment to the Gulls due to his January 2024 birthday. If the Ducks decide not to keep him on the NHL roster full-time, a likely eventual scenario considering he’s played just two games for them this season, they’ll need to return him to the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques at the junior level per the terms of the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.
Luneau, 19, last played for the Ducks on October 21 against the Coyotes. After sitting as a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, he made back-to-back appearances against the Stars and Coyotes, recording a -1 rating, one shot on goal, and a poor 38.9% Corsi share at even strength while averaging 15:29 per game.
The Ducks will assumedly look to get Luneau into some games in the next few weeks. He can make seven more appearances before the first year of his entry-level contract goes into effect, and considering his limited role so far, it’s unlikely they keep him past that point.
That’s also because the Ducks have a pair of young defensemen, Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov, who have solidified roster spots in the early going. LaCombe is logging over 20 minutes per game and earning top-pairing duties alongside Cam Fowler in the absence of Jamie Drysdale due to a lower-body injury, while Mintyukov leads all Ducks defensemen with ten points through 16 games. Thus, competition for a roster spot has become fierce on the Anaheim blueline. While Luneau certainly has a long NHL future ahead of him, there’s no longer a clear path to consistent playing time on the Ducks roster.