Avalanche Issue Injury Updates, Recall Riley Tufte And Caleb Jones
11/12: Riley Tufte has been re-assigned to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.
11/11: Colorado finds itself down a pair of forwards for tonight’s game against St. Louis as head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding that forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Cogliano are both out of the lineup. Lehkonen is expected to miss several weeks with an upper-body injury while Cogliano is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. In a corresponding move, the team announced (Twitter links) the recall of forward Riley Tufte and defenseman Caleb Jones from AHL Colorado.
Lehkonen suffered the injury after crashing head-first into the boards on Thursday against Seattle. That said, Bednar clarified that the upper-body issue that the 28-year-old has is not a head injury.
Last season, Lehkonen put up career highs across the board in his first full season with the Avs, notching 21 goals and 30 assists in 64 games while seeing his playing time surpass the 20-minute-a-night mark for the first time. His numbers are down a bit this year but he still has been an important part of their top six, picking up three goals and five helpers in a dozen contests while logging 18:30 per contest. There is no firm timeline for how long he will be out for.
As for Cogliano, the 36-year-old has been a regular on Colorado’s fourth line this season and is their second-most used forward on the penalty kill behind Logan O’Connor. He has three assists in 11 games so far after missing the season opener as he finished recovering from two fractured vertebrae in his neck that occurred during the playoffs last spring.
Jones, meanwhile, signed with Carolina during the offseason but after clearing waivers and being loaned to AHL Colorado, the Avs acquired his NHL rights last month. This will be his second recall of the season although he didn’t see any action during his first one. The 26-year-old has 213 career NHL appearances under his belt and has six assists in a dozen games with the Eagles so far this season.
The Avalanche had two open roster spots following Tufte’s paper demotion to the minors yesterday so no corresponding moves needed to be made to add him or Jones onto the active roster. Speculatively, Lehkonen will likely be heading for injured reserve at some point which would open up another spot on the roster.
Roman Čechmánek Passes Away at 52
Deník Sport has shared the passing of former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Roman Čechmánek. The goaltender was 52 years old and had previously played 212 games in the NHL, after being drafted in the sixth round – 171st overall – in the 2000 NHL Draft. That was 34 spots before Henrik Lundqvist heard his name called by the New York Rangers.
Čechmánek was, interestingly, 29 years old when he was drafted. He also had seven years of professional hockey in Czcehia under his belt, helping to set him up for an immediate role in the NHL. Čechmánek made his NHL debut on October 17th after his draft day and would go on to play a dazzling 59 games with Philadelphia through his inaugural season – the 14th-most of any goalie that season. And Čechmánek was efficient in the performances, tallying a 35-15-6 record and .921 save percentage. While he was too old to be considered a rookie, he would have recorded the second-highest save percentage of any Flyers goalie in the modern era, only outperformed by Doug Favell‘s .931 set in the 1967-68 season. Čechmánek would go on to finish second in Vezina voting that season – his first in the NHL – losing out to Dominik Hašek for the award.
But he stayed consistent, recording a .921 save percentage again through 46 games in his sophomore season. His record also stayed green, with the then-30-year-old goalie going 24-13-6. And despite two tremendous years to start his career, it was Čechmánek’s third season in the league that would go down as his career best. Through 58 games, the netminder recorded a .925 save percentage and 33-15-10 record. He won the William M. Jennings award, provided to the goalie(s) that allowed the fewest goals against, but ranked seventh in Vezina voting in a year where Martin Brodeur, Marty Turco, and Ed Belfour topped the list.
Čechmánek would play one more NHL season after that, moving to the Los Angeles Kings and continuing to find success. But his NHL career drew to a close after one year in L.A., with the goaltender returning to Czechia and appearing in various European pro leagues before retiring in 2007-08. Interestingly, he recorded a career-high .948 save percentage in the 2006-07 season in Czechia’s top league. While he had a short NHL career, he was always someone to watch when he played. We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our condolences to his family, friends and the Philadelphia/L.A. hockey community.
Flames’ Nikita Zadorov Requests Trade
8:38 p.m.: Three teams have documented interest in Zadorov’s services, per TSN’s Darren Dreger: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils. All three teams would need to ship out a contract with a similar cap hit to Zadorov’s $3.75MM to make a deal work.
7:35 a.m.: ESPN’s Kevin Weekes is reporting that Calgary Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov has requested a trade to another team. TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun also tweeted about the situation, adding that Zadorov’s agent Dan Milstein is hoping for a quick resolution. The news of the request came out after the Flames 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, a game in which Zadorov had a goal and a huge hit in the third period.
Calgary has had a disastrous start to the season at 4-7-2 and is feeling like a team that will see a lot of changes in the next 12 months. Zadorov is a pending unrestricted free agent, as are his teammates Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, and Oliver Kylington.
For his part, Zadorov has had a good start to the season with a goal and four assists in 12 games. The 6-foot-6 rearguard has been able to help the Flames drive play while averaging two hits a game. The 28-year-old is averaging over 18 minutes of ice time a game this year which is right in line with his career average. Any team that acquires the native of Moscow, Russia would be getting a big hulking defenseman who can provide physicality, block shots, kill penalties and chip in a bit offensively.
On the topic of acquiring teams, NHL Insider Chris Johnston is reporting that Zadorov would welcome a trade to Toronto. The Maple Leafs could certainly use the skillset that Zadorov would bring, however, he is in the final year of a two-year $7.5MM contract that carries a cap hit of $3.75MM. This would require the Flames to retain half of Zadorov’s cap hit and for Toronto to find a way to maneuver other money off their books. In fact, given that over half of the NHL is within a million dollars of the salary cap ceiling, the Flames will likely have to take some salary back to facilitate a move.
The Flames will be engaging with as many teams as possible in the coming days, so it’s hard to speculate where Zadorov could end up. Calgary could be in for a lot of trade talks in the coming weeks with Zadorov being the first domino to fall for the Flames.
Coyotes’ Jack McBain Out Week-To-Week
Update November 13th, 10:57am: McBain has been placed on Injured Reserve today as per CapFriendly.
November 11th: Arizona Coyotes forward Jack McBain is now listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury, the team said Saturday evening.
McBain sustained the injury late in Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, likely suffering something related to his left leg after crashing into the boards. The 23-year-old is off to a solid start with four goals and three assists in 13 games this season, including a two-goal, four-point showing against the Chicago Blackhawks on October 30.
A third-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2018, the Coyotes acquired McBain’s signing rights in a March 2022 trade after he posted 33 points in 24 games during his senior season at Boston College and representing Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He played in all 82 games during his rookie season last year, finishing 12th on the team in scoring with 26 points while averaging nearly 14 minutes per game.
After hitting restricted free agency last summer and filing for salary arbitration, the Coyotes and McBain settled on a two-year, $3.2MM contract just before his scheduled hearing. He will again be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when the deal expires in 2025.
McBain has seen his ice time decreased somewhat this season to around the 12-minute mark, given the team’s increased forward depth. However, he’s still been a solid contributor in the team’s bottom six, and he’s out-produced many of the Coyotes’ third- and fourth-line regulars, including summer UFA signings Alexander Kerfoot and Jason Zucker.
The Coyotes have not moved McBain to IR or LTIR, but they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction if they wish to recall a forward from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners to replace him, as their 23-player roster is full.
Metropolitan Notes: Ponomarev, Miller, Pelech, Mackey
In a peculiar move, the Carolina Hurricanes reassigned forward prospect Vasily Ponomarev from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves on Saturday, per a team announcement.
The Wolves had been the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate since the 2020-21 season, but the independently-owned squad opted to sever their ties with the Hurricanes this summer and act as the AHL’s only non-NHL-affiliated team in 2023-24 (and for the foreseeable future). It was not an amicable split between the two teams, and Wolves GM Wendell Young inferred over the summer that the team would not accept any Hurricanes prospects on loan once the season started. That practice has broken with Ponomarev here, though, who becomes just the second NHL-affiliated player on the Wolves roster, joining New Jersey Devils-contracted netminder Keith Kinkaid. The remainder of the Wolves roster is filled out by players on AHL contracts.
Ponomarev is a rather intriguing prospect, too. A second-round pick of the ‘Canes in 2020, Ponomarev was quite solid with the Wolves last season in his first North American pro season, leading the team with 24 goals in 64 games and second with 46 points. Recently returning from a season-opening injury, Ponomarev had no points in two contests with Tucson.
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division tonight:
- The New Jersey Devils are hopeful that defenseman Colin Miller can join the team on their upcoming road trip, head coach Lindy Ruff said today. Miller sustained an undisclosed injury in practice that has kept him out of the last ten games, although he’s still yet to make his Devils debut after sitting as a healthy scratch for the team’s first three contests. The 31-year-old, currently on injured reserve, joined New Jersey via trade this summer from the Dallas Stars, with whom he registered 21 points and a +23 rating in 79 games last season.
- Staying in the Tri-State area, New York Islanders shutdown star Adam Pelech is missing a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury tonight against the Capitals, head coach Lane Lambert said this morning. The 29-year-old has just one assist through ten games this year and has yet again posted positive relative possession numbers, although his 20:22 average time on ice is the lowest in five years. Left-shot defender Samuel Bolduc, who’s struggled mightily this season with a -4 rating in nine games despite playing under ten minutes per game, remains in the lineup.
- The New York Rangers have brought defenseman Connor Mackey back up to the active roster, per a team announcement. Mackey, who is serving as the team’s extra defender while Adam Fox is sidelined with a lower-body injury, has been recalled and returned to AHL Hartford four times in the past week as the team keeps him on the roster as little as possible to extend his waiver-exempt clock. Mackey, who signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Rangers last summer, passed through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of the season but can only remain on the NHL roster for 30 days until he needs to clear them again to return to Hartford. He has not yet played in an NHL game for New York this season after skating in 30 last season for the Flames and Coyotes.
Predators Activate Cody Glass From IR
The Nashville Predators activated center Cody Glass from injured reserve on Saturday, a team statement relays.
Glass will be eligible to return to the lineup Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. The 24-year-old was a full participant in practice earlier in the day and is listed as a game-time decision, per Nick Kieser of Nashville Hockey Now.
The 2017 sixth-overall pick missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury sustained in the first period of an October 19 game against the New York Rangers after failing to record a point in his first five outings. At the time, head coach Andrew Brunette said the team only expected Glass to miss seven to ten days.
Nashville acquired Glass in the summer of 2021 in a three-team trade with the Philadelphia Flyers and Vegas Golden Knights that revolved around defenseman Ryan Ellis. The youngster finally held on to a full-time NHL role last season, notching 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games, along with solid possession numbers, avoiding an AHL assignment for the first time in his pro career.
If Glass can get back to (or improve) on last season’s production, it will be a sizable boost to a depth offense that’s lacked much punch this season. He may never hit the offensive potential he hinted at when he registered over 1.8 points per game in his age-19 season with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. However, he did show the ability to serve as a capable middle-six center last season and is likely slated for third-line minutes behind Ryan O’Reilly and Thomas Novak for the remainder of the season.
Panthers Loan Rasmus Asplund To AHL
The Florida Panthers loaned forward Rasmus Asplund to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on Saturday, a post from the team on Twitter/X relays.
This ends a nine-day stint on the NHL roster for Asplund, whom the Panthers recalled from Charlotte on November 2. However, the 25-year-old did not enter the lineup, sitting as a healthy scratch for five games while traveling with the team.
Returning him to Charlotte could indicate that at least one injured reserve activation is imminent. Both center Sam Bennett and defenseman Brandon Montour are nearing returns from their respective injuries, and the Panthers were carrying 22 players on the active roster. That means one player needs to be moved elsewhere to make room for Bennett and Montour while staying under the 23-player limit.
The Swedish-born 2016 second-round pick signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Panthers in July after seeing his NHL ice time decrease dramatically last season. Just two seasons ago, Asplund was viewed as one of the better defensive wingers in the league, posting 27 points in 80 games with the Sabres in 2021-22 and earning a handful of third- and fourth-place Selke Trophy votes.
Asplund slipped down the Sabres’ depth chart last season, though, recording just two goals and eight points in 27 games before the Predators acquired him at the trade deadline for a 2025 seventh-round pick. He appeared in 19 games down the stretch for the Predators, failing to record a single point and posting a -6 rating while averaging just over ten minutes per game.
That fateful stint with the Predators significantly harmed his stock on the free agent market after being non-tendered, forcing him to settle for a two-way deal with a minimum guaranteed salary of $450K. He did not make the Panthers’ roster out of camp and cleared waivers back in October, meaning he can be recalled to the Panthers for up to 21 more days before he needs waivers to return to Charlotte again.
In seven games with the Checkers this season, Asplund has two goals, three assists and a -1 rating. He will be a restricted free agent next summer.
Senators Notes: Brannstrom, GM Search, Defensive Depth, Hamara
The Senators will welcome back another blueliner tonight as head coach D.J. Smith confirmed to TSN 1200 (Twitter link) that Erik Brannstrom will play against Calgary. The 24-year-old sustained a concussion on a hard hit from Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck two weeks ago and was stretchered off the ice, resulting in him missing the last five games. Brannstrom was off to a slow start offensively as he had been held off the scoresheet in his first seven appearances but with the team dressing three rookies earlier in the week, getting him and Artem Zub (who returned last game) back certainly will give them a boost.
More from Ottawa:
- The team has not yet started reaching out to other teams for permission to interview potential GM candidates, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. At this point, President of Hockey Operations and interim GM Steve Staios has an idea of who they’d like to reach out to but clearly, this is not a vacancy that is going to be filled in the immediate future. Teams are sometimes hesitant about granting permission to speak to another club in-season so it’s possible that Staios could hold both titles for a little while.
- Prior to losing his GM role, Pierre Dorion had been exploring the trade market for defensive depth, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Ottawa’s preference this season was to keep their young blueliners in AHL Belleville where they could play heavy minutes but, again, their recent rash of injuries saw them dressing three rookies with the big club earlier this week. For the time being, Thomas Chabot’s LTIR placement has given them some extra flexibility on the cap so it wouldn’t be shocking if Staios picked up where Dorion left off on that front.
- Prospects Tomas Hamara is on the move as OHL Brantford announced that they’ve acquired the defenseman from Kitchener in exchange for a pair of draft picks. The 19-year-old was a third-round pick back in 2022 (87th overall) out of Tappara’s system in Finland. This season, Hamara has three assists in 18 games. His new team is owned by new Sens owner Michael Andlauer.
Capitals Place Martin Fehervary On IR, Recall Dylan McIlrath
Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary left last night’s game with a lower-body injury last night and it appears the injury will keep him out for a little while. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti relays (Twitter link) that Washington has placed the blueliner on injured reserve. In a corresponding move, blueliner Dylan McIlrath was recalled from AHL Hershey.
Speaking with reporters postgame on Friday (video link), head coach Spencer Carbery didn’t provide any specifics about Fehervary’s injury, only saying that it was not ideal. That’s certainly a fair assessment as the 24-year-old went into last night’s contest averaging over 19 minutes a game while holding down a spot in their top four.
So far this season, Fehervary has a pair of assists in a dozen appearances along with 20 hits and 29 blocked shots. He also takes a regular turn on Washington’s second penalty killing unit so his absence will be hard to fill internally. Alexander Alexeyev was the reserve blueliner on Friday so it stands to reason that he’ll get the first chance to do so while Lucas Johansen and Hardy Haman Aktell will each have to cover more minutes as well.
As for McIlrath, the 31-year-old is in his third season in Washington’s system. He got into six games with the Caps last year, his first taste of NHL action since the 2019-20 campaign when he was with Detroit. McIlrath is best known for his physicality but he does have three assists in 11 games so far with the Bears this season, along with 23 penalty minutes. Last year in the minors, he had 13 helpers in 60 contests plus 102 minutes in the box.
Sabres Assign Matthew Savoie To WHL
Matthew Savoie‘s time with the Sabres has come to an end quickly. The team announced today that they have assigned the forward back major junior, sending him to WHL Wenatchee.
Savoie suffered an upper-body injury during Buffalo’s prospect tournament, one that kept him out through the start of the season. Once he was cleared to return last month, he was eligible to be sent to AHL Rochester for a conditioning assignment even though age-wise, he isn’t eligible to play there on regular assignment; a request from the Sabres to give him an exemption was denied.
The 19-year-old fared well with the Americans on that assignment, picking up two goals and three assists in six games, prompting Buffalo to recall him to their active roster. He made his NHL debut last night with Alex Tuch out of the lineup but played just 3:55, a sign that his stay in the NHL might be short-lived.
Savoie now returns to junior, a level he dominated last season with 38 goals and 57 assists in just 62 games with Winnipeg; that organization moved to Wenatchee for this year. He will be ineligible to be recalled to Buffalo barring emergency circumstances for the remainder of his junior season; once his campaign there comes to an end, Savoie would be eligible to play for Rochester if the Americans are still playing at that time.
Savoie is in the first season of his entry-level deal which carries a $918K AAV. That contract will now slide for a second and final time at the end of the year, meaning he should come into training camp in 2024 with three years still left on that deal at a slightly lower cap charge.