Sabres Recall Matt Savoie, Place Brandon Biro On IR
The Buffalo Sabres have recalled top prospect Matthew Savoie to the NHL and placed recent call-up Brandon Biro on injured reserve. Savoie is coming up from the AHL, after a conditioning stint to help nurse an upper-body injury. The reason for Biro’s assignment to IR hasn’t yet been disclosed.
The news of Savoie’s recall is exciting for Sabres fans who missed the rookie punch that Zach Benson brought to the lineup. Benson is also on IR with a lower-body injury that’s holding him out week-to-week. Savoie and Benson were linemates on the Winnipeg Ice last season and would be slated to be teammates again on the Wenatchee Wild if neither of them can hang onto an NHL roster spot. Benson has two points, both assists, through his first six NHL games.
Savoie has performed well with the Rochester Americans, playing in his first professional hockey games on this conditioning stint. He’s totaled five points and six penalty minutes through his first six games, ranking 10th on the Rochester Americans in terms of points per game so far this season. That’s an encouraging sign for the 19-year-old centerman, who seems to be adjusting well to the pro scene. Savoie alternated line rushes with Victor Olofsson at the team’s Monday practice, suggesting that he may get a chance to replicate his AHL success at the top level, if the team opts to healthy scratch Olofsson again.
And while all attention will surround Savoie, Sabres fans shouldn’t forget about Biro, who has scored his first two NHL goals in the two games he was provided this season. Biro did record a team-low CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) in his two games, although his low sample size makes that metric slightly less concerning. Either way, his value as an NHL talent will likely be tested whenever he’s able to return from injured reserve.
Minnesota Wild Recall Nic Petan
The Minnesota Wild have recalled forward Nic Petan to the NHL roster. Petan has appeared in 10 AHL games so far this season, recording one goal and 12 points. That tally ranks him 15th in the league in scoring, and second in the league in assists.
Petan’s recall comes in the midst of an injury to Frédérick Gaudreau, who has been out with injury since the team’s October 24th game. He’s appeared in six games through the early season, going without a point and a -2. Gaudreau has cemented himself as a serious lineup piece for the Wild through the last two seasons, scoring 44 points in 76 games in his first year with the club and 38 points in 82 games last season. While that’s a step down in total scoring, Gaudreau did score a career-high 19 goals last year, a mark that ranked fifth on the team.
With Gaudreau out with injury, Petan’s recall gives Minnesota another aging centerman with plenty of professional experience. Petan has appeared in 164 career NHL games, most recently playing 10 games with the Wild last season. He scored three points last year, bringing his career point total up to 33. He’s also recorded 44 career penalty minutes.
While Petan hasn’t shown strong scoring at the NHL level, he flashed what he’s capable of in the AHL last year, netting 62 points in 53 games with the Iowa Wild. That was the most on the Iowa Wild – 11 points more than Marco Rossi, who ranked second.
Minnesota is currently tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for seventh in the league in scoring, with 40 goals through their first 11 games. They will look to Petan to help maintain that scoring, if he’s able to slot into the NHL lineup.
Jaroslav Halak Joins Carolina On Tryout Amid Injury Concerns
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that Jaroslav Halak has joined the team via a free-agent try-out in response to Frederik Andersen facing a medical issue. The team shared that Andersen is undergoing further evaluations but provided no further update.
Andersen has played in six games this season, setting a 4-1-0 record and a .894 save percentage. It’s a slow start for a goaltender who has been otherwise stellar in his time with the Hurricanes. Through a combined 92 games with the Hurricanes over the last three seasons, Andersen has recorded a .914 save percentage and a 60-26-4 record. That ties Andersen with Anton Khudobin for the second-highest save percentage in Hurricanes history, among goalies with 50 or more games with the club. Trevor Kidd leads the pack, with a .916 through his 72 games with Carolina. Andersen’s 92 games are also the 10th-most in Canes history.
In lieu of Andersen, Carolina will now turn to another veteran in Halak. The 38-year-old goaltender has continued to find his way into NHL lineups, most recently playing 25 games with the New York Rangers last season. He set a .903 save percentage in those games, contributing towards the career .915 save percentage that Halak has set in 581 career games.
But despite ample experience, it’s been a while since Halak served as a starter, with the last season that he played in over half of his team’s games coming in 2017-18 with the New York Islanders. Halak was unsurprisingly stout in the Islanders net that season, setting a .908 save percentage and 20-26-6 record through 54 games. Halak hasn’t recorded a save percentage below .900 since the lockout year of 2012-13, when he tallied a .899 through 16 games with the St. Louis Blues. He is a reliable, veteran goaltender that should add some consistency to a Carolina goaltending room that’s now without its starter.
New York Rangers Recall Connor Mackey
The New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey to the NHL. Mackey has played in seven games with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, to start the season. He’s recorded two points, 17 penalty minutes, and a +8 through those seven games.
Mackey’s recall comes in the wake of Adam Fox‘s move to injured reserve. Fox is expected to miss two to four weeks with a lower-body injury after an awkward collision with Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. His absence is a huge blow to a Rangers defense that doesn’t have much of a sting beyond their Norris Trophy-winning defenseman. To add insult to injury, the Rangers’ Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin is also currently out with injury.
The capable hands of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba will step into the team’s top pair in Fox’s absence but there’s reason to be less confident in the four roster spots behind them. Ryan Lindgren has appeared in 10 games for New York this season, scoring a sole assist and recording a -2 while averaging just shy of 20 minutes each game. Zachary Jones has also found his way into the NHL lineup, playing in two games so far this year but failing to score a point and recording a -3.
Mackey’s recall gives New York more options to patch the holes on their back-end. He has appeared in 39 career NHL games, most recently playing 20 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season. He’s scored 11 points and recorded 70 penalty minutes in those 39 games, including four points and 39 penalty minutes last season. Mackey is an undrafted defender, originally signed by the Calgary Flames following three strong years with Minnesota State-Mankato.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Nick Robertson
The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled top prospect Nicholas Robertson to the NHL lineup. This recall comes after Robertson’s red-hot start to the AHL season, where he’s scored 11 points in only nine games, good for a Top 20 spot in the league’s scoring.
Toronto is granted the roster spot to make this move thanks to the slew of injuries to their defense. They currently have four defensemen facing injuries, including Jake McCabe, who is the only one of the four to not be on injured reserve. Instead, he and fellow defenseman Maxime Lajoie have operated as the team’s two scratches. With so much roster attention needing to go to the defense, Toronto hasn’t been carrying an extra forward.
Robertson will seemingly step into that spot, although his hot start to the season could earn him a crack at the lineup. Robertson has played in 31 NHL games over the last three seasons, scoring three goals and seven points. Five of those points came in the 15 games he received last season; the most he’s played in a single NHL season. But injuries have proven detrimental to the 22-year-old winger, who missed most of the 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury. Now healthy once again, Robertson is looking to make up for lost time in his development curve and prove to the Leafs organization that he’s still the prospect that everyone was excited about following the 2019 NHL Draft.
Toronto is in need of some kind of spark. The team has 36 goals-for on the season, neatly ranking them 16th in the league. Nearly all of their scoring has come from the usual suspects, with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander being the only players to score over-10 points through the team’s first 11 games. Other than the star-studded quartet, four members of the Leafs’ bottom-six have fewer than two points – and two players have zero points – so far. Depth scoring has proven invaluable to recent Stanley Cup champions and will be a virtue that Toronto hopes Robertson can provide.
Five Key Stories: 10/30/23 – 11/5/23
As the calendar turned to November, there was plenty of news of note across the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.
Senators Out A First-Round Pick And A GM: Back at the 2022 trade deadline, a move that would have sent Evgenii Dadonov from Vegas to Anaheim was vetoed after the fact when it was revealed the Ducks were on his no-trade list. The Golden Knights weren’t aware of that fact, resulting in them asking the league to look into it. That investigation is now complete and they came down hard on Ottawa, who had dealt the winger to Vegas the previous offseason. It was determined that they withheld the no-trade details during the trade call and as punishment, they will be required to forfeit a first-round pick in 2024, 2025, or 2026. It’s their choice as to which year they opt to forfeit and it must be their own selection, not one they acquired from another team (such as the one they received from Detroit in the Alex DeBrincat trade).
New owner Michael Andlauer decided that this was the final straw for GM Pierre Dorion. While initially termed as a firing, Dorion officially resigned his position. He was at the helm in Ottawa since 2016 and helped bring in top young talents like Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, and Brady Tkachuk to the fold but more recently, he’ll be remembered for creating an unworkable cap situation that limited them from re-signing Shane Pinto before his gambling suspension. Steve Staios, who just joined the organization a little over a month ago, will serve as interim GM.
Four For McAvoy: Boston’s back end took a big short-term hit as defenseman Charlie McAvoy received a four-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson that saw him receive a match penalty at the time. The 25-year-old had gotten off to a strong start to his year with eight points in nine games but that’s on hold for now. With Ekman-Larsson returning to Florida’s lineup quickly, McAvoy has appealed the ban, a move that doesn’t typically happen too often (although Rasmus Andersson went that route last month with no success). Since it’s under six games, the appeal will be heard by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
Backstrom Takes A Leave: Long-time Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom underwent hip resurfacing surgery back in June 2022 but returned to the lineup earlier than expected. He made it through training camp and the first few weeks of this season but has decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from the team while he determines his next steps. The 35-year-old has spent the entirety of his 17-year NHL career with Washington and sits second to Alex Ovechkin for the most points in franchise history; it remains to be seen if he’ll return to add to his 1,033 career points. Backstrom is signed through next season with a $9.2MM AAV so retirement won’t be on the table but he has already been placed on injured reserve and will likely be shifted to LTIR at some point.
Talks On Hold: Not long ago, it looked like the Flames were making progress on extension talks with prominent pending unrestricted free agents Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm. However, with the team off to a rough start this season, sitting just 3-7-1, those discussions are now on hold. If GM Craig Conroy determines that the team isn’t as close to winning as he originally hoped, it’s possible that he turns around and becomes a seller at which point locking up his two key UFAs could work against him. For now, it appears it will be a wait-and-see approach to see if Calgary can turn things around but they’ll need to show some progress sooner than later.
Hanging Them Up: Veteran center Paul Stastny has decided to call it a career, announcing his retirement at the age of 37. The 2005 second-round pick played in 17 seasons at the top level with five different teams including eight years with Colorado who originally drafted him. In his prime, Stastny was a quality two-way middleman who was above average at the faceoff dot throughout his career. He hangs up his skates with 293 goals and 529 assists in 1,145 career regular season games; his 822 points rank him in 20th place among U.S.-born players in NHL history.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Oilers Recall James Hamblin On Emergency Basis
When Connor Brown wasn’t able to play on Saturday, the Oilers were forced to play short a player. In doing so, they created a short-term cap-exempt emergency recall. The team announced that the recall has been used on James Hamblin who has been promoted from AHL Bakersfield.
The 24-year-old made his NHL debut last season with Edmonton, getting into ten games with the big club. He was held without a point but recorded a dozen shots on goal while averaging just under nine minutes per game. He spent most of last season in the minors where he had 10 goals and 18 assists in 52 games with the Condors. This season, Hamblin is off to a good start with two goals and three helpers in six contests, helping him earn this promotion.
Hamblin is in the final season of a two-year, entry-level contract which carries a cap hit of $807.5K. The AAV being that low permitted him to be the recall; teams are limited to bringing up a player making no more than $100K above the league minimum salary ($775K this year) when using a cap-exempt promotion. Once Brown or Mattias Janmark return from their respective injuries, Hamblin will need to be returned to Bakersfield.
Ducks Activate Alex Killorn, Assign Robert Hagg To AHL
The Ducks are welcoming back a key forward tonight as they announced that they have activated winger Alex Killorn from injured reserve. To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Robert Hagg was returned to AHL San Diego.
Killorn landed the richest deal for a forward in free agency last summer with Anaheim inking the 34-year-old to a four-year, $25MM agreement. He was coming off a career year with Tampa Bay, one that saw him record 27 goals and 37 assists in 82 games while adding five points in six playoff contests against Toronto.
While the Ducks aren’t expected to be contending in the short term, GM Pat Verbeek clearly prioritized adding some veterans to what was (and still is) a pretty young roster and was hoping that Killorn would line up in a prominent role to start the season. Instead, he suffered a fractured finger during the preseason, one that kept him out of the lineup for nearly five weeks.
As for Hagg, he was recalled just yesterday so his time with the big club was certainly short-lived. He was brought up to serve as an extra defender with Tristan Luneau on a conditioning assignment but as Luneau remains part of Anaheim’s active roster while with San Diego, the Ducks needed Hagg’s roster spot to activate Killorn in advance of tonight’s game against Vegas. He has played in three games for the Gulls so far this season.
Nino Niederreiter Hoping To Sign An Extension With Jets
Getting players to sign extensions in Winnipeg has been a hit-or-miss proposition for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. In recent months, clearly, Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted no part of that but he got Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck to sign on the dotted line. When those two did so, it took care of their two more prominent pending unrestricted free agents.
One notable among the list still needing a new deal is Nino Niederreiter. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reports that the winger’s camp has made it known to Cheveldayoff that he’d like to stick around and that his agent Andre Rufener will be in town this week to discuss a possible new contract for his client.
The 31-year-old didn’t have a particularly strong market in his last trip through unrestricted free agency in the 2022 offseason. It took more than a week for him to land a two-year, $8MM contract with Nashville, a move that represented a $1.25MM cut in pay despite putting up a 24-goal showing with Carolina the year before.
Niederreiter’s stay with the Predators was fairly short-lived as he was moved to Winnipeg in the days leading up to the trade deadline back in February for a second-round pick. He finished up the season relatively well with 13 points in 22 games while adding four more in their five-game first-round exit at the hands of Vegas.
Now, with a full training camp with the Jets under his belt, Niederreiter is off to a strong start to his 2023-24 season, notching five goals and four assists in his first 11 games, good for a share of the team lead in points. With that in mind, it’s not surprising to see him want to extend his stay as the fit with Winnipeg appears to be a good one.
Speculatively, for Niederreiter to justify signing an extension this early in the season, it might take a bit more than his current price tag to get him to put pen to paper on a new deal. On top of that, it stands to reason that a contract longer than two years will likely be required. But if Winnipeg likes the way that he’s fitting in, an early extension would make a lot of sense on their end as well. If one happens, it’ll be a pretty good longer-term outcome for a trade deadline pickup that largely went under the radar last season.
Andrew Mangiapane Receives One-Game Suspension
6:00 PM: The verdict is in and Mangiapane has been assessed a one-game suspension. In the video, it’s noted that the league accepted Mangiapane’s contention that he wasn’t intending to drive McCann’s head into the ice and acknowledged that the Flames forward didn’t use his full extension of arms or body weight. However, he was deemed to have full body control, resulting in the decision to suspend him. This is the first suspension of his career and he will forfeit just over $30K in salary.
12:05 PM: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has announced that Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane will have a hearing today for cross-checking forward Jared McCann in last night’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
The incident in question occurred at a chaotic moment during yesterday’s 6-3 Flames victory, wherein Mangiapane and other Flames players were making a push in the offensive zone, trying to get a goal past a scrambling Seattle netminder.
Mangiapane fired a backhander towards an open net that was promptly blocked by McCann, who as part of his block slid towards Mangiapane. The puck appeared to stay with McCann after the block, and, in his search for the puck under McCann, Mangiapane delivered a cross-check to the head/neck area of McCann.
McCann immediately recoiled, a whistle was blown, and Mangiapane was assessed a match penalty with a standard 15 penalty minutes added to his record. Now, Mangiapane is facing supplemental discipline by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and could end up missing games for the Flames.
Any Mangiapane suspension would be a major blow to the Flames, who count on the 27-year-old as one of their more consistent scorers. Mangiapane currently ranks second on the Flames with seven points in 11 games, and losing him for any amount of time would make it even more difficult for the team to climb out of the 3-7-1 hole it has found itself in to start the season.