Avalanche Recall Riley Tufte
The Colorado Avalanche recalled left wing Riley Tufte from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles Thursday, a team announcement states.
Tufte, 25, could draw into the lineup if Fredrik Olofsson, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, cannot play in tonight’s game against the Seattle Kraken. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound winger is now on his third recall to the Avs’ roster this season after clearing waivers at the end of training camp.
Signed to a one-year, two-way deal carrying a minimum salary guarantee of $425K shortly after free agency opened last summer, Tufte has made one appearance with the Avalanche in 2023-24, coming on November 1 against the St. Louis Blues. He was held off the scoresheet but did register four shots on goal, leading the team despite skating just 11:28.
However, it has been a banner start to the year in the minors for the 2016 first-round pick of the Dallas Stars. Drafted as a power winger, Tufte had never been able to find his full scoring potential in the Lone Star State, putting up solid (but never impressive) point totals with the AHL’s Texas Stars.
However, that’s changed this season. Tufte leads the Eagles in scoring with nine goals and 12 points in nine games, recording a +5 rating.
Tufte projects to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when the season ends. He can stay on the NHL roster for 22 more days (or nine games played) until he needs waivers to return to the Eagles again.
Penguins Recall Joel Blomqvist, Move John Ludvig To IR
The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Joel Blomqvist from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, per the NHL media site. In a corresponding transaction, defenseman John Ludvig has been moved to injured reserve as he continues recovering from a concussion sustained on October 24.
Blomqvist’s recall means starter Tristan Jarry is likely unavailable for Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings after sustaining an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks. Jarry, 28, left the game after being hit in the face by a Ryan Strome shot after his mask was dislodged.
Much like the New York Rangers, the Penguins are now down to their third- and fourth-string netminders. Alex Nedeljkovic remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained last month, meaning 32-year-old Magnus Hellberg is in line for his first start as a Penguin against the Kings. Hellberg has made two appearances in relief since Nedeljkovic exited the lineup, stopping 26 of 28 shots faced.
Blomqvist, the team’s top goalie prospect, will serve as Hellberg’s backup until Jarry, who is listed as day-to-day, is ready to return. Tonight will be the 21-year-old’s first time dressing for an NHL regular-season game.
A 2020 second-round pick, Blomqvist has been one of the top netminders in the AHL this season with a .920 SV%, 1.91 GAA and a 4-2-0 record through seven games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He is in the first season of a three-year, $2.775MM entry-level contract signed with the team last April and carries a cap hit of $886,667.
Ludvig’s roster move is purely to create space on the 23-man roster to recall Blomqvist. He sustained the concussion after skating just 5:29 in his NHL debut on the 24th against the Dallas Stars. The 23-year-old, initially a Florida Panthers draft pick, was claimed on waivers by the Penguins at the beginning of the season.
Minor Transactions: 11/09/23
It’s a busy night on the NHL schedule with 11 games, including an Original Six matchup featuring two teams off to surprising starts in the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings. Overseas, however, there’s some news to focus on, mainly in Switzerland, where a pair of teams have made high-profile moves early Thursday. We’re keeping track of all of today’s notable minor transactions right here:
- Longtime AHL sniper Martin Frk‘s stint with Swiss National League club SC Bern is over after just 11 games despite signing a two-year deal this summer. However, he won’t need to travel very far to find his next opportunity – he’s staying in the NL with SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers on a contract for the remainder of 2023-24, according to a team release. The team has been hit with injuries to their import players, including former NHL forward Brett Connolly, who will miss the rest of the season after undergoing hip surgery. That opened up a spot for a non-Swiss-born player, so the Czech goal-scorer will enter the lineup. Frk, 30, had three goals and four assists for seven points with Bern until his tenure with the team ended today.
- With Frk off the roster, SC Bern has exercised the option of another import player with NHL experience – Finnish winger Joona Luoto, who will remain in Bern through the end of the season after signing a tryout contract in September. Luoto, 26, is currently sidelined with an undisclosed injury but is expected to return to the team in December. He’s off to a strong start this year, recording seven goals and four assists for 11 points in 17 games, leading the team in goals. He made seven NHL appearances with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, failing to register on the scoresheet.
- Former Florida Panthers forward prospect Henry Bowlby is on his way overseas, signing a contract with Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League for the remainder of 2023-24. In doing so, Bowlby terminates the one-year AHL deal he had signed this season with the Colorado Eagles after scoring one goal and three points in seven games. The 26-year-old hasn’t shown the ability to produce much more than an average middle-six AHL forward since turning pro in 2020 and will now try his hand in the European ranks of pro hockey.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
East Notes: Laine, Jarry, Zub
Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine has skated over the past couple of days as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, notes Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). The 25-year-old got off to a quiet start to his year with a goal and an assist in his first four games while also making the adjustment to playing down the middle on a regular basis. Head coach Pascal Vincent noted that Laine responded well after today’s skate which could be a sign that he could be back sooner than later. When that happens, Hedger notes that the team hasn’t decided if they will move Adam Fantilli back to the wing or if they’ll leave him in his natural center role and put Laine back in his natural wing position.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- It appears as if the Penguins will avoid being without their starting goalie for long. Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays that Tristan Jarry is currently listed as day-to-day after leaving yesterday’s game early against Anaheim. As of yet, it’s worth noting that Pittsburgh hasn’t brought up one of their other AHL goaltenders, a sign that Jarry could be available to at least dress as the backup against Los Angeles. The 28-year-old has a 2.51 GAA and a .907 SV% in nine starts so far this season.
- Earlier today, Senators head coach D.J. Smith expressed optimism that defenseman Artem Zub would be back tonight against Toronto, he wound up being scratched for the seventh straight game, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). It’s the seventh straight game he has missed with a concussion. With Ottawa also missing Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom at the moment, getting Zub back will be a critical addition but they’ll have to wait a little longer for that to happen.
Kraken Recall Shane Wright And Ryan Winterton
Seattle has added some reinforcements to its roster in advance of their game tomorrow against Colorado. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forwards Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton from AHL Coachella Valley.
Wright was the fourth overall selection back in 2022 but wasn’t deemed to be ready for full-time action in the NHL. Since he wasn’t eligible to play in the minors on a full-time basis, Seattle gave him spot duty in the NHL (eight games where he had a goal and an assist) plus a one-time conditioning assignment in the minors until the World Juniors. After that event, he was sent back to major junior where he had 37 points in 20 games. Once his Kingston team was eliminated, he became eligible to play in the minors and played in all 24 postseason contests with the Firebirds, notching nine points.
Following training camp, Seattle successfully received a waiver for Wright to play in Coachella Valley this season over returning for what would have been his final season in junior. He’s off to a nice start in the minors this season, picking up six points in his first seven games, putting him tied for fourth on the team in scoring.
As Wright doesn’t turn 20 until early January, the nine-game threshold for junior-aged players still comes into play. Wright can play up to nine times for Seattle this season without officially burning the first year of his entry-level contract. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if this winds up being a shorter-term recall, one that lets them evaluate where he’s at before returning him to the Firebirds where he’d receive more playing time. Should he play in ten or more games, the next threshold to watch for would be 40 games on the NHL roster at which point he’d receive a year of service time towards free agent eligibility.
As for Winterton, the 20-year-old was a third-round pick by the Kraken in 2021 and he certainly has outperformed that draft slot. While injuries limited him to just 34 regular season games with OHL London last year, he was quite impactful during the Knights’ playoff run. During that time, he picked up 13 goals and 16 assists in 21 games to lead the league in playoff scoring.
Winterton is now in his first professional campaign and is off to a good start as well, collecting three goals and two helpers in his first seven games. Unlike Wright, the nine-game threshold doesn’t matter for Winterton.
Seattle had two vacant roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to add Wright and Winterton to the active roster. One of them seems likely to replace Jordan Eberle; Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times reports that the winger suffered a cut from a skate blade to the upper part of his leg in practice today. He underwent tests to determine the severity of the injury although GM Ron Francis feels the worst-case scenario was avoided.
Pacific Notes: Sharks, Benning, Golden Knights, Hamblin
While the Sharks snapped their season-long losing streak at 11 games yesterday with a win over the Flyers, clearly, there’s a lot of work to be done still. However, don’t expect any reinforcements coming from the minors. Speaking with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, GM Mike Grier indicated that while they’ve thought about bringing up some of their better prospects from the minors (including defensemen Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin plus forward Daniil Gushchin), they’d like to see things get more stabilized first over putting those youngsters into a less than ideal situation from a development perspective. Getting captain Logan Couture back would help on that front but with him suffering a recent setback in his recovery lately, there’s no timeline for when he’ll be able to join the lineup.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- Still with the Sharks, Pashelka reports in a separate piece that blueliner Matt Benning has resumed skating as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury. The 29-year-old is coming off a career year offensively but, like many San Jose players, is off to a rough start this year with just a single point in his first eight appearances while averaging 18:29 per night. Benning is on injured reserve but has already been on there for more than a week, meaning they’ll be able to activate him as soon as he’s cleared to return.
- Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal relays (Twitter link) that Vegas center Chandler Stephenson will miss at least the next two games with an upper-body injury. The 29-year-old is off to a strong start in his contract year with 10 points in his first 12 games, good for fifth on the Golden Knights in scoring. Jonas Rondbjerg was recalled yesterday for the fifth time in less than a month and is expected to take Stephenson’s spot in the lineup. Meanwhile, Gotz adds that blueliner Zach Whitecloud is with Vegas on the road and could potentially be back as soon as Friday. The 26-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury and is currently on LTIR but is eligible to be activated as he has missed both 10 games and 24 days.
- PuckPedia notes (Twitter link) that the Oilers have converted forward James Hamblin’s emergency exception recall into a regular one. When they sent Jack Campbell and down and recalled Calvin Pickard earlier today, Edmonton had enough cap space to fit Hamblin into its cap structure, meaning they were no longer eligible for the cap exemption he was recalled with. The 24-year-old logged nearly 11 minutes in his season debut back on Monday.
West Notes: Spurgeon, Dermott, MacDonald
The Minnesota Wild will remain without captain Jared Spurgeon in the lineup for at least the next two games, GM Bill Guerin told the media today (via Joe Smith of The Athletic). At the earliest, Spurgeon could make his season debut on Sunday against the Dallas Stars, which Guerin dubbed a “possibility.”
Spurgeon has been sidelined for all 12 games this season due to an upper-body injury sustained during training camp, a figure that will stretch to at least 14 before he joins the team for game action. His absence has been a back-breaker for a team that’s played uncharacteristically poor defensively so far, allowing 49 goals through 12 games – the most in the Central Division and second-most in the Western Conference, behind only the lowly San Jose Sharks. On the bright side, Spurgeon’s absence has meant an opportunity for 21-year-old rookie Brock Faber, who’s assumed top-pairing duties without a second thought and has registered five points and a +7 rating in nearly 24 minutes per game of ice time.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference tonight:
- The Arizona Coyotes are set to be without the services of defenseman Travis Dermott for an undisclosed amount of time, per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. Dermott sustained an undisclosed injury in Tuesday’s shootout win over the Seattle Kraken, spurring the recall of Michael Kesselring from AHL Tucson earlier today. Dermott, 26, is in his first season as a Coyote and already missed a pair of contests earlier this year due to illness. He’s notched one assist through ten games and posted positive defensive metrics relative to his partner, Matt Dumba, who’s profiled analytically as the Coyotes’ worst defender so far this season.
- San Jose Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald was placed on injured reserve earlier today in a corresponding transaction to the acquisition of Calen Addison from the Minnesota Wild, and head coach David Quinn confirmed today that he’ll miss the minimum one week required to be on IR but not necessarily much more. Injuries have limited MacDonald to just two appearances this season, but he did log a two-point effort in the team’s 10-2 blowout at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins recently. In fact, MacDonald has only suited up in the Sharks’ back-to-back 10-goal concessions, recording a -5 rating and averaging just north of 12 minutes per game.
NHL Upholds Charlie McAvoy’s Suspension
Nov. 8: After the appeal process, Bettman has decided to uphold McAvoy’s four-game suspension, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports.
Nov. 2: Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted that Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy is planning to appeal the four-game suspension he received for his illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. McAvoy had a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Tuesday shortly before he received news of the suspension.
Much like the Calgary Flames’ Rasmus Andersson suspension appeal, Gary Bettman would hear a McAvoy appeal because the suspension is for less than six games. In the case of Andersson, Bettman rejected the appeal and kept the suspension at four games.
McAvoy had just scored the game-tying goal mere moments before the hit occurred in the third period of Monday night’s game against Florida. McAvoy hit Ekman-Larsson with a blindside check in which the initial impact was the head of the Panthers defenseman. McAvoy was assessed a five-minute match penalty and was kicked out of the game. Ekman-Larsson was hurt on the play and stayed on the ice but did remain in the game.
The Long Beach, New York native was suspended once before back in 2019 when he was involved in a hit to the head of then Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson during the Bruins run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
McAvoy is sitting out the first game of his suspension tonight as the Bruins battle the Toronto Maple Leafs. If McAvoy’s suspension is upheld by Bettman then the 25-year-old won’t be eligible to return to the lineup until November 11th against the Montreal Canadiens.
Avalanche Reassign Ondrej Pavel
Nov. 8: After skating just 6:59 in yesterday’s win over the Devils, Pavel has been returned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, a team release states.
Nov. 6: The Colorado Avalanche have recalled 6’2″, 205 lbs forward Ondrej Pavel to the NHL. Pavel has appeared in 10 games with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, going without a point and recording six penalty minutes and a +5.
This season is Pavel’s first full year of professional hockey, after joining the Eagles for two regular season games and four playoff games following the conclusion of Minnesota State-Mankato’s season. He netted two points, both assists, through those six games, bringing his career totals to two points through 16 games when combined with his performances this year. That’s fairly low-scoring for the young prospect, although Pavel has never been known for goals and assists. Through three years and 94 games with Mankato, he recorded 41 points.
Colorado signed the undrafted Pavel to a two-year, two-way contract after Mankato’s season ended last year. Colorado was barely able to afford his call-up, which brings with it an $870K cap hit. Interestingly, the team has five other forwards with their AHL affiliate that make the same as, or less than, Pavel. This includes Riley Tufte, who was a recent call-up, and former First Round pick Oskar Olausson. Both players have received one game with the Avalanche – Olausson’s coming last year and Tufte’s coming this year – and neither recorded a point. Tufte represents the only high-end scorer on the Colorado Eagles roster, with 12 points through eight AHL games so far.
Whether it’s simply looking for fresh faces or a targeted outreach, it’s clear that Colorado sees something special in Pavel. It will be notable to see how the Avalanche deploy the large-framed forward, who has yet to find consistent offense through his professional career.
Wild Acquire Zach Bogosian From Lightning
The Minnesota Wild have acquired defenseman Zach Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, per a team release.
This is the team’s second trade involving a defenseman today after dealing the much younger Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for a 2026 fifth-round pick and depth forward Adam Raška. Overall, the Wild have spent an additional $25K against the cap, acquired a slightly higher-value draft pick, and taken on a low-ceiling prospect for swapping Addison for Bogosian on the NHL roster.
Bogosian, 33, is in the final season of a three-year deal signed with the Lightning in 2021 and costs $850K against the cap, although he’s set to earn $1.05MM in actual salary this season. The veteran shutdown defender and 2008 third-overall pick has a modified no-trade clause affording him a 21-team no-trade list, per CapFriendly, meaning the Wild were among Bogosian’s top ten desired destinations for a trade.
This is a nice change of scenery for Bogosian, who won the Stanley Cup with Tampa in 2020. He unexpectedly hit the waiver wire during preseason (and cleared) to offer the Lightning some salary cap flexibility, although he was recalled back to the NHL after the team’s opening night game against the Nashville Predators. Bogosian has played in four out of 13 games for the Lightning this season, averaging a career-low 11:57 per game and failing to get on the scoresheet.
The deal marks somewhat of a homecoming, as Bogosian lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area during the offseason, and his older brother, Aaron, works in the Wild’s front office, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. It’s undeniably a downgrade for the Wild, though, who take on a veteran with dwindling advanced metrics and subpar traditional defensive metrics over the past two seasons while losing out on a promising puck-moving blueliner.
On Tampa’s end, the deal should mean more opportunity for 25-year-old Nicklaus Perbix. He’s been a healthy scratch twice this season and has gotten off to a disappointing start, recording three assists in 11 games while posting some of the worst even-strength possession numbers on the team with a Corsi share of just 41.1%. Tampa will now rely on him to recapture his rookie season form that saw him post 20 points in 69 games while playing solid defensive hockey last season.
The Lightning also have Haydn Fleury and Philippe Myers stashed in the minors on the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch available for recall. Between them, they have nearly 400 games of NHL experience.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Bogosian was coming to the Wild, while Michael Russo of The Athletic was the first to report the return.