Jets’ Rasmus Kupari To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Shoulder Injury
5:24 p.m.: Kupari has been moved to injured reserve and winger Axel Jonsson-Fjällby has been recalled from AHL Manitoba under emergency conditions, per a team release.
2:23 p.m.: Winnipeg Jets associate coach Scott Arniel told reporters Wednesday that forward Rasmus Kupari will miss four to six weeks with a “shoulder issue” (via Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Free Press).
It marks the continuation of a tough season for Kupari, who’s struggled in a depth role in his first season north of the border. Acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade last summer, Kupari left Tuesday’s win over the Devils after taking just two shifts due to an awkward collision with the boards. It left the Jets with just ten forwards for the remainder of the game after they opted to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen, although they were able to post six goals against New Jersey regardless.
Kupari, 23, was a first-round pick of the Kings in 2018 but has yet to make much of an NHL impact. He did play in a career-high 66 games with Los Angeles last year, recording three goals and 12 assists for 15 points while going 54.6% in the faceoff dot, but had underwhelming possession numbers against easy competition. Through 15 games with the Jets, Kupari has just one assist and a -3 rating while averaging 9:02 per game, although that number is brought down by Kupari’s short stint in Tuesday’s game.
The Jets have used Kupari as their fourth-line center between Morgan Barron and David Gustafsson for the majority of the season, although they’ve controlled just 42.4% of expected goals, by far the worst of any Jets line with at least 30 minutes together this season, per MoneyPuck. Barron is leading the pack with three goals and five points in 15 games, while Gustafsson has two markers and no helpers in 11 games.
Kupari has not been placed on injured reserve yet, although the Jets won’t need to. They have two open spots on the active roster and ample cap space for a recall from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. With just 11 healthy forwards on the active roster now, a recall will almost certainly come before Friday’s game against the Sabres.
It will be intriguing to see if they opt for a more veteran option such as center Dominic Toninato, who has 169 NHL games under his belt over the past six seasons, or if they opt to give a younger player a shot. If they opt for the latter, 2022 first-round pick Brad Lambert could get a nod after lighting up the minors with ten points in ten games this year.
Atlantic Notes: Husso, Klingberg, Timmins, Benson
Red Wings netminder Ville Husso has left the team, currently in Sweden for the 2023 NHL Global Series in Stockholm, to return home after the birth of his and his wife’s first child, per Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. The 28-year-old, currently in the second season of a three-year, $14.25MM contract, has started 10 of the Red Wings’ 15 games this season but has struggled lately, posting a sub-.900 SV% in each of his last three starts. On the season, he now has a 6-3-1 record with a .885 SV% and 3.61 GAA, conceding 5.7 goals above average. In his place, 30-year-old Alex Lyon is expected to make his Red Wings debut in one of the team’s two overseas contests, either Thursday against the Senators or Friday against the Maple Leafs. Detroit has carried Lyon as a third goalie on the active roster for the entire 2023-24 season, unwilling to expose him to waivers, but he hasn’t seen a minute of action in the crease after a strong showing in 15 games to close out last season with the Panthers.
A few more notes out of the Atlantic Division today:
- Maple Leafs right-shot defenseman John Klingberg is likely to miss that Friday tilt against the Red Wings, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters Wednesday (via Lance Hornby of The Toronto Sun). The 6-foot-3 Swede is still dealing with an undisclosed injury that sidelined him for November 10th’s shootout win over the Flames, although he returned to play 19:00 the following night against the Canucks, registering a +1 rating. The much-maligned 31-year-old from Gothenburg is cooling down after a decent start, posting no points in his last eight outings and is down to a -7 rating on the season. Klingberg did travel with the team to Sweden but has not practiced with the squad since arriving in his home country.
- Staying with Toronto, Keefe also told reporters that defenseman Conor Timmins is likely to return from a lower-body sustained in preseason play during the team’s trip to Sweden. He practiced with the team earlier this week and is now expected to enter the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Wild, although he hasn’t been ruled against the Red Wings if he gets closer to playing shape quicker than anticipated over the next two days. Timmins has been strong in limited action since joining the Leafs via trade from the Coyotes last season, posting 14 points in 25 games with the team post-trade despite averaging just 15:37 per contest. His role in the lineup became unclear after Toronto added Jake McCabe and Luke Schenn after last year’s trade deadline, though, making him a healthy scratch for most of the tail end of the season. After a strong showing in the early goings of the 2023 preseason, too, Timmins will look to begin the first season of his two-year, $2.2MM contract on a high note and be of value to the Leafs, especially while Timothy Liljegren remains sidelined with an ankle injury.
- Sabres rookie winger Zach Benson is likely to return from a lower-body injury on the team’s upcoming three-game road trip, head coach Don Granato told Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News on Wednesday. Benson, still just 18, hasn’t looked out of place so far in NHL action, posting two assists in six contests while averaging over 13 minutes per game. He’s missed ten out of the last 12 games with the injury, however, and will need to be activated from IR before he returns to play. The Sabres’ trip includes stops in Winnipeg on Friday, Chicago on Sunday, and Washington next Wednesday.
Rangers Not Interested In Signing Patrick Kane
The New York Rangers are not interested in bringing back free-agent winger Patrick Kane for a continued stint with the team, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported late Tuesday night. While Chris Johnston of TSN reported last week that the Rangers were one of four Eastern Conference teams interested in the three-time Stanley Cup champion, and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said the Rangers had interest in Kane last month, Brooks claims the Rangers “have never been in the mix” for the almost-35-year-old.
Salary cap considerations were always going to be a prohibiting factor in a potential Kane reunion in the Big Apple. Carrying a 20-man roster, plus factoring in the cap hits of the injured Filip Chytil and Adam Fox, the Rangers have less than $650K in projected cap space, which couldn’t even accommodate a league-minimum salary of $775K.
As Brooks points out, there’s also an extremely fair concern around Kane’s health post-hip-resurfacing surgery – a concern the Rangers witnessed first-hand last season after Kane’s post-deadline stint with the team was underwhelming. While whatever issue that was plaguing him has theoretically been fixed, no NHLer has returned to their previous level of effectiveness after undergoing the procedure.
There’s also something to be said about the long-awaited emergence of Alexis Lafrenière. New head coach Peter Laviolette has done what Rangers fans have clamored for since the team selected him first-overall in 2020 – move him to his off-wing in order to give him a role in the team’s top six. Playing on the right side of a line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, Lafrenière ranks third on the team in goals with seven and has 11 points in 14 contests while averaging 16:32 per game.
His emergence has certainly eliminated a potential need (and ice time) for Kane in the Rangers lineup, something GM Chris Drury likely recognizes. Lafrenière is already out-pacing Kane’s stint with the Rangers last season – in 19 games, the longtime Blackhawk had five goals and 12 points while averaging 17:29 per game.
Kane has reportedly begun the process of meeting with teams as he prepares to sign a contract, which will likely be done within a week. As of now, the Florida Panthers, who would have salary cap concerns of their own to sort out, appear the frontrunner for his services, according to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on Monday.
Tage Thompson Listed As Week-To-Week
Sabres head coach Don Granato announced to reporters Wednesday that center Tage Thompson is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, via Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report. Granato said Thompson, who left Tuesday’s loss to the Bruins on two different occasions with separate injuries, isn’t expected to miss more than two months.
The news is deeply concerning for the Sabres, who are now without their number-one center for the foreseeable future and already face an uphill climb to make the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thompson skated just six shifts against the Bruins, sustaining an apparent foot injury early after opposing defenseman Charlie McAvoy‘s skate made incidental contact with the top of his left skate boot, causing a cut. He would return later in the contest but left again after a McAvoy shot appeared to hit him in the left wrist area. The latter is the injury sidelining him long-term.
Thompson, 26, had an All-Star-caliber season for the Sabres last year. His 47 goals ranked sixth in the league, while his 94 points ranked 15th, all while posting a Corsi share of 53.6% at even strength and earning a handful of third- and fourth-place Hart Trophy votes. Most importantly, he stayed healthy – appearing in 78 out of 82 games as the Sabres missed the playoffs by just one point.
This year hasn’t been quite as smooth for Thompson, who has six goals and a -5 rating through 16 contests. After taking 295 shots on goal last season, Thompson has struggled to find the net at times, recording just four shots on goal in three games leading up to Tuesday.
With the Sabres again struggling defensively and sitting seventh in the Atlantic Division with a 7-8-1 record, the timing of Thompson’s absence is far from ideal. The team will need to make up ground quickly here after a slow start to keep their hopes of ending their NHL-record 12-year playoff drought. Missing Thompson will certainly complicate that, even if he wasn’t quite at the level we’ve seen him perform at the past two seasons.
Thompson hasn’t been placed on long-term injured reserve yet, but he’s likely eligible as missing ten days and 24 games seems realistic given Granato’s phraseology. Doing so would free up a spot on the 23-man roster, which the Sabres will need to do in the coming days to activate netminder Eric Comrie from IR, who’s nearing recovery from a lower-body injury and will travel with the team on their upcoming three-game road swing, per Granato (via Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News).
Luckily, Granato also expects winger Alex Tuch to return to the lineup from a short-term upper-body injury before Friday’s game against the Jets, meaning at least the Sabres won’t be down two pieces of their top line. In terms of a direct replacement for Thompson, look for Dylan Cozens to slide up to first-line duties alongside team goals and points leader Jeff Skinner. The 22-year-old, like Thompson, has been off to a mildly disappointing start, registering eight points through 14 contests after registering 31 goals and 68 points last year.
Blue Jackets Place Emil Bemström On Waivers
The Columbus Blue Jackets placed winger Emil Bemström on waivers Wednesday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Bemström, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the team in 2017 and has since become a familiar face in the Blue Jackets’ forward group, amassing 184 games over the last five seasons. Now in the second season of a two-year, $1.8MM contract, Bemström made the team out of camp after not doing so last year, playing in 12 games thus far with three goals, an assist and a -7 rating.
However, he has begun to fall out of favor with first-year head coach Pascal Vincent. Bemström has been scratched in three out of the last five games and posted a -2 rating in 13:29 of ice time in the Blue Jackets’ 5-3 loss to the Penguins on Tuesday.
Bemström’s linemates have changed frequently this season, although he’s spent the most time on the wing with Adam Fantilli and Alexandre Texier. In 26 minutes together across six games, it’s been one of the Blue Jackets’ worst forward lines defensively, allowing 4.68 expected goals against per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck.
There is no pending injured reserve activation that would force the opening of a roster spot. If the Blue Jackets decide to fill Bemström’s spot on the 23-man roster after he’s claimed or assigned to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, it will likely be in the form of a call-up. That could go to 2021 fifth-overall pick Kent Johnson, who’s done well in a brief stint with Cleveland. He’s posted five points in four games after getting sent down at the beginning of November.
That said, Bemström is a decent candidate for a claim, and there are likely to be a few teams considering it. He’s quite affordable, carrying a cap hit of $900K, and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. He posted a career-high 22 points in 55 games with the Blue Jackets last season – a 33-point pace – after starting the year with 31 points in 21 games with Cleveland.
Afternoon Notes: Mantha, Grzelcyk, Avalanche
NHL.com writer Tom Gulitti tweeted today that Washington Capitals forward Anthony Mantha suffered a ruptured ear drum when an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot bounced off a defender’s stick and hit Mantha in the ear. The injury happened November 8th in a game against the Florida Panthers and led to the 29-year-old being placed on the injured reserve.
Mantha reportedly lost hearing in that ear for six days and has only now started to get it back. He reported feeling dizziness initially, but according to Tarik El-Bashir, he should be well enough to play on Saturday when he is eligible to come off the IR.
Mantha has three goals and an assist in ten games this season with the Capitals and has been a healthy scratch at times as he hasn’t been able to find his game in Washington. He had two of his goals in the Panthers game when he suffered the injury but was knocked out of the game before he could complete the hat trick.
In other notes:
- Boston Globe writer Conor Ryan is reporting that Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told the media today that he expects defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to be cleared to return to the Bruins lineup by this Saturday. The 29-year-old has been out of the lineup since October 30th when he suffered an upper-body injury in an overtime win against the Florida Panthers. Grzelcyk played just 3:29 in that game and left during the third period of the win. The native of Charlestown, Massachusetts has dressed in nine games this season and has a single assist but has looked off his game when in the lineup. His average ice time is down, as are many of his defensive numbers which could lead one to speculate if he was dealing with a nagging injury prior to sitting out these past few weeks.
- The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they’ve essentially reversed yesterday’s roster moves. The Avalanche sent Sam Malinski and Caleb Jones to the Colorado Eagles yesterday and today decided to recall both players. No word yet on why Colorado opted to change course, but both players are back on the Avalanche’s NHL roster as of this morning. Jones has an assist in his one NHL game this year while Malinski is pointless in one game.
Lightning Send Philippe Myers To AHL
Fresh off re-calling Haydn Fleury from his conditioning assignment in the AHL the Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they’ve re-assigned defenseman Philippe Myers to their AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch. Myers had been on the Lightning’s NHL roster since November 9th and only made his regular season debut with the team last night against the St. Louis Blues. The 26-year-old played 15:32 in last night’s game registering two shots on goal.
Myers was with Syracuse for the first month of the season and dressed in nine games for the Crunch. He registered two assists and was +7. This is the third consecutive year that Myers has seen significant time in the minors having played a total of 77 AHL games combined over the past three seasons. Despite so much time in the AHL, Myers has continued to collect NHL salaries the past three seasons including this one where he is making $1.4MM. Myers came over to the Lightning back in July 2022 in the trade that sent defenseman Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators.
Myers demotion could be a signal that defenseman Erik Cernak is ready to return from a reported concussion. Cernak didn’t play in last night’s game against the Blues but is considered day-to-day currently. If Cernak is able to return to the Lightning lineup he would represent a significant upgrade over Myers on Tampa Bay’s back end. While Cernak is not an offensive juggernaut as evidenced by his three assists in 15 games, he does offer a physical presence having dished out 33 hits already this year.
The Lightning need all of the help they can get at this point as they’ve started the season well below expectations with a 6-6-4 record. While on the surface, it would appear as though they have underwhelmed, but when injuries are factored into the equation the team has done well to weather the storm thus far.
Edmonton Oilers Make Several Roster Moves
The Edmonton Oilers have announced several roster moves: defenseman Philip Broberg as well as forwards Raphael Lavoie and Adam Erne have been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, while forwards Mattias Janmark and Dylan Holloway have been placed on long-term injured reserve. Janmark’s LTIR placement is retroactive to October 26th.
Janmark, 30, has not played since that date and is currently dealing with a shoulder injury. He still has not yet returned to skating, so his LTIR placement reflects the long-term nature of his absence. A veteran bottom-six forward, Janmark scored 10 goals and 25 points last season but has been held off the scoresheet through seven games this year.
Holloway has been hit with some really poor luck, as just shortly after playing what some in the Edmonton media referred to as his “best game as an Edmonton Oiler” Saturday against the Seattle Kraken he has landed on LTIR.
Holloway went hard into the boards against the New York Islanders Monday night, leaving the game before its conclusion.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that Holloway’s absence would be “longer-term,” an unfortunate reality that Holloway’s placement on LTIR reflects.
A fast and energetic forward, Holloway’s offensive production in the NHL hasn’t quite matched what he posted at the University of Wisconsin or what the Oilers likely expected when they drafted him 14th overall in 2020. This season was viewed as a crucial one for Holloway’s offensive development, and now with this injury, he has been hit with a potentially significant setback.
As for the recalls, bringing Broberg back into the fold affords Knoblauch more options on defense as he, before these moves, had just six defensemen on his roster. With Broberg now available, he could opt to shift Vincent Desharnais out of the everyday lineup, something that might be necessary as the hulking six-foot-seven rearguard has struggled this season.
Broberg, who is just a few short months older than Holloway, is in many ways in a similar situation. He’s also a player the Oilers spent a premium pick on who has yet to truly figure out how to make an impact in the NHL. Perhaps with the games afforded to him by this recall, Broberg will be able to make strides in establishing himself as a regular at the game’s highest level.
Erne, 28, is a veteran bottom-six forward who has been recalled to bolster the depth Knoblauch has at his disposal on offense. While he has not scored in six NHL games this season, he does bring nearly 400 games of NHL experience to the table. Lavoie, 23, is notably less experienced but has had a genuine AHL breakout over the last two seasons, putting together an impressive run of offensive production.
He’s gotten a chance in the Oilers’ top-nine already this season, but now with two new voices behind the Oilers bench it’s unsurprising that he’s gotten another shot to impress.
These recalls fill out the Oilers roster to a degree the team may not have been able to do without Janmark’s $1MM cap hit on LTIR. Now Knoblauch has additional players at his disposal on the NHL roster who can hopefully help the Oilers dig themselves out of the colossal early-season hole they dug themselves into.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Calgary Flames Reportedly “Open For Business” Regarding Potential Trades
To public knowledge, Calgary Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov is the only member of the team to request a trade. With the Flames 26th in the NHL with a 5-8-2 record, though, the club could very well end up trading quite a few more veterans this season than just Zadorov.
According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the Flames are “open for business” regarding potential trades. LeBrun writes that Calgary is “ready to shift gears” into more of a rebuild or re-tool direction, and that word has spread during the GM meetings in Toronto that “the Flames are willing to listen on most of their pending unrestricted free agents.” (subscription link)
The Flames have quite a few pending UFA’s of note, players who would likely be among the best players available during the 2024 trade deadline season. They’re players who are strong enough and valuable enough to potentially shift the balance of power in any division they are dealt to, meaning they could command the type of high prices in terms of asset cost that the Flames would likely be hoping would fuel a quick turnaround for the club.
Likely to be the top player on any list of players available from Calgary is pending UFA center Elias Lindholm.
The 28-year-old Swedish pivot has played like a true first-line center at times with the Flames, including a stellar 2021-22 campaign that saw him score 42 goals, 82 points, and finish second place in Selke Trophy voting.
Lindholm’s production has declined since Johnny Gaudreau‘s departure, just as the Flames have declined as a team.
But if placed in a situation where he has strong chemistry with his wingers, just as he did centering Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, it’s possible Lindholm could quickly find himself back in the conversation as one of the best two-way centers in hockey.
Centers with that kind of ability, pivots who could credibly call themselves first-line centers recently in their careers, are very rarely made available. When the St. Louis Blues traded Ryan O’Reilly last season, O’Reilly’s production was on a far steeper, more lasting decline and O’Reilly was further removed from his last point-per-game season. Yet O’Reilly, alongside bottom-sixer Noel Acciari, still netted the Maple Leafs’ first, second, and third-round picks alongside prospect Mikhail Abramov.
Although it’s obviously no guarantee, Lindholm’s overall profile merits at the very least a comparable trade package to what the Blues received for O’Reilly, though it’s fair to argue that Calgary deserves a little bit more.
Beyond just Lindholm, the Flames have even more pending UFA’s who are likely to attract attention on the trade market, especially on defense where just Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar are under long-term team control.
If a contending team is seeking a left-shot defenseman with two-way ability, there may not be a better player available than Noah Hanifin. The 26-year-old has averaged over 21 minutes per night in Calgary, and two years ago set a career-high with 48 points. He’s established himself as a legitimate top-pairing defenseman, if maybe not a true number-one blueliner.
Those players are extremely valuable and rarely made available, which would mean Hanifin draws a bidding war between defense-needy teams. As a result, it’s hard to see a scenario where Hanifin is traded and a first-round pick, at the very least, does not head to Calgary as part of the return. (Unless the Flames do not target draft picks, which appears unlikely but is of course a possibility)
If a contending team is looking for a right-shot blueliner with an exceptional track record of shutdown defensive play, veteran Chris Tanev is a pending UFA and fits the bill there. The 33-year-old has led the Flames in short-handed ice time per game in each season since he arrived, and is widely respected as one of the game’s premier defensive defensemen.
His offense appears to have dried up compared to the career-best season he posted in 2021-22, but that’s not a major issue. He’s of interest to teams due to his stellar defensive track record, and it’s that track record that could net the Flames a solid return package should he be dealt before the 2024 trade deadline.
Although the Flames’ struggles this season paint a picture of a club with little going right, a pivot to more of a re-tool type of team direction could change things quickly. The Flames happen to have a collection of valuable players on expiring contracts, something that for a team looking to contend in the immediate term would represent a major issue.
But for a team looking to infuse its veteran core with quality young talent, those pending UFAs represent a significant opportunity to leverage on the trade market. According to LeBrun’s report, that appears to be the route the Flames prefer to go down, meaning it could be an extremely interesting few months for Flames fans, despite the on-ice issues.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minor Transactions: 11/15/23
There’s a lot of activity around the world of professional hockey today, both in terms of player movement and in terms of games on schedule. The Champions Hockey League continues today with two Round of 16 contests, including a contest between the reigning German and Swiss champions. Over in Finland, Liiga resumes today, with Devils prospect Lenni Hämeenaho‘s Ässät Pori up against JYP.
On the player movement front, there has been quite a bit of activity recently as the European break for international hockey has concluded. As always, we’ll keep track of notable moves here.
- Former superstar Premier League goalkeeper Petr Čech will now have the chance to play at the highest level of professional hockey in the United Kingdom. The reigning EIHL champion Belfast Giants, who also competed in the Champions Hockey League this season, have signed Čech on loan as a temporary solution to the injury issues the club is currently wrestling with. Although it is likely that Čech’s celebrity influenced this signing far more than his on-ice ability, he is at least a somewhat capable hockey goalie. This season, he’s playing for the Oxford City Stars in a lower level of British hockey, and has posted a .900 save percentage in six games.
- Veteran defenseman Teemu Suhonen has led both of Finland’s top two divisions of pro hockey in scoring by a defenseman at times in his career, but he has slowed down in recent years. After signing a short-term deal with Liiga’s Vaasan Sport, Suhonen’s exceptional start to the season has now earned him a full-year deal. Suhonen has played in nine games for Sport, and has chipped in three goals and 10 points. He’s playing a significant role for the club that often sees him skate in over 20 minutes per night, and at 34 this contract will allow him to continue to re-establish himself as a top offensive blueliner in the Finnish Liiga.
- Adam Samuelsson, the son of 1080-game NHL veteran Ulf Samuelsson, has signed with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. The 23-year-old isn’t quite the player his father was, but he does have some impressive experience on his resume. A U.S. National Team Development Program product, Samuelsson won a Silver Medal at the IIHF World Under-18’s in 2018 and would go on to make his pro debut playing third-division hockey in Sweden. Samuelsson made his ECHL debut last season and split the campaign between the Newfoundland Growlers and Tulsa Oilers, scoring a combined four points and 63 PIM’s. A hulking six-foot-six rearguard, Samuelsson will bring even more size and physicality to a Mariners blueline that doesn’t have a single player below six feet tall.
- Rookie ECHLer Nick Nardella has been traded from the Idaho Steelheads to the Wichita Thunder in exchange for future considerations. Nardella, 24, is a five-foot-ten winger who had a decent start to his professional career last season, scoring three goals in three games for the Iowa Heartlanders. That earned him a shot with the Steelheads, but he struggled to make an impact and the team has now dealt him after just three games. Seeing as the Thunder are just 4-7-1, perhaps they believe the addition of Nardella can help jump-start a sputtering offensive attack.
- Another ECHL rookie, former Michigan State Spartans forward Adam Goodsir, has been traded from the Worcester Railers to the Iowa Heartlanders in exchange for future considerations. The 25-year-old has scored three points in eight games this season for the Railers, and he earned his spot with the team after a decent showing in a late-season cameo at the conclusion of his collegiate career. The Heartlanders currently rank second-to-last in their division for goals scored, so this reinforcement could help them climb in the standings should he hit the ground running.
- Matthew Barnaby Jr, the son of 834-game NHL veteran Matthew Barnaby, has signed with Finnish second-tier club RoKi. The Buffalo, NY native, 25, has made the decision to not return to the ECHL and instead try his luck in Europe. Barnaby spent last season with the Orlando Solar Bears, scoring 12 points in 42 games in a bottom-six role. Barnaby worked his way into the ECHL from the SPHL and will now seek to do the same in Finland, putting some good games on tape to potentially earn a contract later on in a higher-level European league.
- Former college hockey star Ian Scheid, once a top defenseman for Minnesota State Mankato, has reached an agreement on a mutual contract termination with his club, HC Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga. Scheid, 28, signed a two-way, AHL/ECHL deal at the end of his collegiate career and split 2020-21 between the AHL’s Colorado Eagles and ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. He used that campaign s a launching pad to land him a deal with the DEL’s Straubing Tigers, a club he would spend two seasons with. After helping Straubing to the German playoffs for two consecutive seasons, Scheid signed with Slovan but struggled to make an offensive impact. He’ll now look for a new team after scoring just four points in 15 games in the Slovak capital.
- Johnny Walker has made the decision to end his time with the EIHL’s Dundee Stars after eight games played. The 27-year-old Arizona native, once a point-per-game scorer in the NCAA with the Arizona State Sun Devils, has left Dundee according to an official team announcement. Walker scored two points in eight games to go along with 12 penalty minutes, and one wonders if a return to the ECHL is in the cards since he spent 2022-23 with the Utah Grizzlies. Walker made more of an impact last season with Utah, scoring 12 goals and 18 points in 33 games to go along with 171 penalty minutes.
- After spending 17 games with Liiga side HPK Hameenlinna to start the season, defenseman Elias Ulander has transferred to Västerviks IK of the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan. A veteran of 116 Liiga contests, has had quite the hockey journey in recent years, seeing time with clubs in Liiga, Mestis, Denmark, and Slovakia. He returned to Liiga for this season after a solid 2022-23 in Slovakia that saw him help HK Spisska Nova Ves to a respectable playoff run, but his time with HPK was not the most impressive. After losing six of his last seven games with HPK, Ulander appears to have decided that playing in HockeyAllsvenskan is likely more suited to his talents at this current stage of his playing career.
This page may be updated throughout the day.