Five Key Stories: 1/15/24 – 1/21/24
With teams now past the midway point of the season, activity is starting to pick up across the NHL. Here’s a rundown of the biggest stories in what was a very busy week across the league.
One In, One On The Way Out? As expected, the Senators signed RFA center Shane Pinto to a one-year deal that checked in at the league minimum of $775K. The 23-year-old missed the first 41 games of the year after violating the league’s sports wagering rules, negating the two-year deal with an AAV in the $2MM range that was being negotiated. Pinto will once again be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights this summer. Meanwhile, the Sens are believed to be listening to interest in blueliner Jakob Chychrun. The 25-year-old was acquired last season from Arizona in the hopes he’d shore up their back end but Ottawa has struggled in all facets in the first half of the year. With one year left on his contract after this one with a $4.6MM price tag and the fact he’s on pace for his best season offensively, his trade value might be at its highest over the next few weeks if GM Steve Staios wants to make a big move.
Merzlikins Wants Out: After recently voicing his frustration over a lack of playing time but noting that he hadn’t asked for a trade, Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has confirmed that he has now indeed requested to be moved. The 29-year-old has bounced back from a tough showing last year, upping his save percentage from .876 to .905 but his game-to-game consistency has still been a concern, resulting in Daniil Tarasov getting an extended look as the starter. With three years left after this one on his deal with a $5.4MM AAV and with Spencer Martin now in Carolina after being claimed off waivers earlier in the week, it seems unlikely that Merzlikins will see his request granted in the near future.
Coaching Change: With the Islanders struggling, some had wondered about Lane Lambert’s future with the team. GM Lou Lamoriello indeed decided to make a change but who he hired caught many by surprise as Patrick Roy was named their new head coach. Lambert spent barely a year and a half behind New York’s bench with his team playing to a 61-46-20 record while the Isles lost in the first round of the playoffs last year and Lamoriello clearly felt that a change could help kickstart this team. He turns to Roy, who hasn’t been behind an NHL bench since the 2015-16 campaign, his third and final year with Colorado before he abruptly resigned the following offseason over a lack of say in personnel decisions. He’s unlikely to get much input in that regard as long as Lamoriello is in charge but the former Jack Adams Award winner certainly had some success with the Avs and will now get his second crack at running an NHL bench.
Extensions: A pair of centers in very different situations inked new deals with their current teams. First, the Blackhawks signed Jason Dickinson to a two-year, $8.5MM extension. Dickinson is in the middle of a breakout season offensively, notching 15 goals already; he had yet to crack double-digits over the past five years. He was a pending unrestricted free agent but will now continue to serve as a bridge veteran in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Capitals inked a key part of their future, agreeing to terms with Aliaksei Protas on a five-year, $16.875MM extension. The 6’6 23-year-old has just ten career NHL goals in 134 games but is a little under half a point per game this season. Clearly, Washington believes that he can get to another level offensively and be a strong middle-six piece for the foreseeable future.
Leaves Of Absence: Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin will be away from the team indefinitely as he has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The 28-year-old was in the midst of his best season offensively as he notched 22 goals and 20 assists in his first 40 games before stepping aside. There is no set timeframe for how long he might be out as Nichushkin will only return once he’s cleared by program administrators. Meanwhile, the Flames announced that winger Dillon Dube has been granted an indefinite leave of absence to attend to his mental health. Last season, the 25-year-old had a career year with 45 points but he has struggled this season with just seven points in 43 contests and will now take some time away from the organization.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Coyotes Recall Justin Kirkland On Emergency Basis
The Coyotes have made a move to add some more forward depth before their game on Monday against Pittsburgh, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Justin Kirkland from AHL Tucson on an emergency basis.
This is the fourth recall of the last month for the 27-year-old but his playing time over the first three was limited to just two appearances where he averaged just 7:14 per game. Kirkland has done well in limited action with the Roadrunners, however, collecting 16 points in 18 games; he’s nearly up to his AHL point total from last season already in 14 fewer appearances.
Arizona currently has just 12 forwards on its active roster and one of those – Nick Schmaltz – has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. Head coach Andre Tourigny told reporters today including Remy Mastey of The Hockey News that he doesn’t expect that Schmaltz will be available to play against the Penguins. The Coyotes have dressed seven blueliners since then but with Kirkland’s presence on the roster, they’ll now have the option to go with the typical twelve-forward alignment.
Pacific Notes: Arvidsson, Fagemo, Duclair, Karlsson, Lyubushkin
The Kings have been without a key winger all season as Viktor Arvidsson works his way back from a back injury sustained during training camp. It appears they’ll be without the 30-year-old for a while yet as Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times notes that while Arvidsson has started skating on his own, he’s still two or three weeks away from rejoining the team for practice; it would obviously be longer than that before he’d be good to return. Arvidsson, who had one of his best years last season with 26 goals and 59 points, is currently on LTIR, giving Los Angeles ample room to carry a full-sized roster. They’ll have to get cap-compliant when the time comes to activate him which could come not long before the March 8th trade deadline.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- Still with Los Angeles, they have returned winger Samuel Fagemo to AHL Ontario, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old has been up and down a couple of times now this week, getting into one game with the Kings during that time. Since being claimed back off waivers in November, Fagemo has been quite productive with the Reign, notching 20 goals in just 24 games.
- Pending unrestricted free agent winger Anthony Duclair has not yet had any discussions about a contract extension with the Sharks, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 28-year-old has eight goals and eight assists in 41 games so far but has also been scratched as of late. Duclair, who represents himself, said that he expects to sit down at some point with GM Mike Grier to discuss a new deal. He’s currently making $3MM and with a 31-goal season under his belt on this contract back in 2021-22, he’s likely going to be looking for at least a small raise on that contract.
- After being recalled late Friday, Canucks forward Linus Karlsson has been returned to AHL Abbotsford, per a team announcement (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has played in four games with Vancouver over his four recalls and is still looking for his first NHL point. Karlsson has been productive in the minors though, collecting 25 points in 27 games so far.
- The Ducks announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin was scratched for their game tonight against the Rangers due to an upper-body injury. The 29-year-old has been a regular on Anaheim’s third pairing all season long, logging over 17 minutes a night in 45 games. While the pending UFA only has four assists, he also has contributed 117 blocked shots and 71 hits and is likely to attract some interest from playoff-bound squads looking to toughen up the back end of their defense corps in the coming weeks.
Ducks Receiving Strong Interest In Adam Henrique
Now less than two months before the trade deadline, teams are starting to get a sense of what might be out there on the trade front. Early indications are that it’ll likely to be a relatively thin center trade market on the trade front. Between that and his strong track record, the Ducks are receiving a lot of trade interest in middleman Adam Henrique, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link).
The 33-year-old has been a consistent second-line center for the past decade, reaching the 20-goal mark six times, the most recent of which was last season. He’s on pace to come close to that this year with 12 goals and 14 assists in 44 games; his 26 points rank fourth on Anaheim.
Of course, Henrique is also known for his two-way play as he has been a dependable matchup center and penalty killer for most of his career, a trend that has continued this season. He’s averaging nearly three minutes a night shorthanded and is over the 50% mark at the faceoff dot for the sixth straight year.
With an ability to play up and down the lineup, it comes as little surprise that the interest in Henrique has been strong. He’d slot in nicely on the third line on several contenders and could fit on the second line on a team that’s a bit more balanced while also giving a big boost on the penalty killing side. Players with the ability to do that are often coveted for the stretch run.
However, it must be noted that Henrique is on the pricey side from a salary cap perspective as his cap hit checks in at $5.825MM, an amount that matches his salary this season. While Anaheim can hold back half of that to help facilitate a trade, that would only pay down the pro-rated cap charge to $2.9125MM, an amount that would be difficult for some cap-strapped teams to take on. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Ducks get asked to take a player back to help offset the rest of the cost or to try to get a third team involved to hold back another chunk of Henrique’s contract. Either way, expect his name to be in the rumor mill for the foreseeable future as he’s a strong bet to be moved by the March 8th deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Reaves, Rafferty, Lightning
Maple Leafs winger Ryan Reaves has been on injured reserve for more than a month now with a knee injury. However, he told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox that he has been ready to return for a couple of weeks and he has simply been scratched for that time. The 37-year-old is in the first season of a three-year, $4.05MM contract signed back in July and things haven’t gone as planned with the veteran struggling when he was in the lineup to the point of being healthy scratched at times before the injury. Reaves noted that he’ll need to “stay patient to get in the lineup — or stay patient for whatever else is going to come” but clearly, his comments suggest that patience is starting to wear a little thin if he has indeed been ready to come back for the last two weeks.
More from the Atlantic:
- Before their game against Tampa Bay, the Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from AHL Grand Rapids. It’s the second recall of the month for the 28-year-old although he didn’t see any NHL action in his first stint and barring injuries, it’s unlikely he’ll suit up much if at all this time around. Rafferty is in his first season with Detroit’s farm team after signing a two-year, two-way contract back in July. In 35 games so far with the Griffins, he has 15 points.
- The only injured Lightning player who could return before the All-Star break is defenseman Erik Cernak, relays Eduardo A. Encina of The Athletic (Twitter link). Cernak has missed a little more than a week with an upper-body injury but it appears he has a chance to come back in their final three games. Meanwhile, Encina adds that winger Tanner Jeannot remains listed as week-to-week while blueliners Mikhail Sergachev and Haydn Fleury – both currently on LTIR – could return after the break.
Injury Notes: Hamonic, Svechnikov, Wild
Ottawa Senators defenseman Travis Hamonic sustained an upper-body injury in today’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, and did not return to the game. Hamonic played in a little over five minutes before the injury forced him out of the action. The 33-year-old veteran has played in 40 games this season for the Senators and registered five points, averaging 14:59 time-on-ice per game.
Should Hamonic miss any time, the Senators would need to fill in for him on their third pairing. Should Hamonic miss any time, the Senators could plug their seventh defenseman, Erik Brännström, into the lineup in Hamonic’s place. Brännström is a quicker, transition-oriented defenseman which means his skillset differs quite drastically compared to Hamonic, a stay-at-home blueliner, so if he does re-enter the lineup in a Hamonic absence the Senators’ pairings could end up a little shuffled.
Some other injury updates from across the NHL:
- Yesterday, we covered how Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov missed practice due to health reasons. Today, the Hurricanes announced that Svechnikov will miss tonight’s game due to due to an upper-body injury. Svechnikov has battled injuries over the last two years but has been brilliant, as expected, when healthy. He’s scored 30 points in 29 games this season.
- The Athletic’s Joe Smith relayed word from Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes related to injuries to numerous Wild players. Hynes offered no update on the status of either Marc-Andre Fleury or Frederick Gaudreau, though he did not rule out Fleury potentially playing later in the week. He also added that Vinni Lettieri is skating back in St. Paul. Lettieri has not played yet in 2024 but has skated in 19 games with the Wild this season, his most since his 2021-22 season with the Anaheim Ducks.
Snapshots: Tippett, Wolf, Barkov
Philadelphia Flyers forward Owen Tippett has suffered a lower-body injury and will be out on a day-to-day basis, the team announced today. The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz adds that Tippett was “walking around fine after the game and the hope is it’s just a mild ankle sprain.” There was some fear that Tippett might miss more time, but that appears to not be the case. The Flyers will nonetheless be without Tippett on a short-term basis, though.
Tippett, who will turn 25 in February, is in the midst of his second full season with the Flyers. It took the 2017 10th overall pick some time to get going at the NHL level, but he’s now up to 18 goals and 30 points in just 46 games on the season. After scoring a career-high 27 goals last year, Tippett is now on pace to score 32 goals, which would be a career-best. With Tippett out, the Flyers will lean on players such as Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee, and Cam Atkinson more heavily to provide goal-scoring.
Some other news from across the NHL:
- The Calgary Flames have reassigned netminder Dustin Wolf to their AHL affiliate the Calgary Wranglers. With starting goalie Jacob Markström set to return after an absence of just over a week, Wolf’s reassignment to the Wranglers will allow him to get some game action, the kind that is unavailable to him when the Flames have a fully healthy crease.
- Florida Panthers team reporter Jameson Olive reports that captain Aleksander Barkov will not travel with the team to Nashville as he recovers from a lower-body injury. Head coach Paul Maurice has said that he is hopeful Barkov will be able to play on Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes. While the Panthers have a strong team regardless, they’re certainly an improved group when Barkov is healthy. The former Selke and Lady Byng Trophy winner has played exceptional two-way hockey this season and has scored 46 points in 40 games.
Florida Panthers Recall Mackie Samoskevich
The Florida Panthers have once again recalled Mackie Samoskevich, according to Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards. Unlike some prior recalls, Samoskevich actually has a clear path to playing some NHL games in this recall, as the team’s incumbent fourth-line right winger William Lockwood is currently serving a three-game suspension.
The Panthers reassigned Rasmus Asplund back to the AHL yesterday, and have now brought up Samoskevich to take his place on the active roster. With Lockwood suspended, Samoskevich could play on the Panthers’ third or fourth line at the right wing positon.
Samoskevich, 21, is the 2021 24th overall pick who is currently playing his rookie season as a full-time pro player. Samoskevich spent the last two seasons at the University of Michigan, scoring 43 points in 39 games in his final run there.
So far this season Samoskevich has been a quality AHLer, scoring 11 goals and 26 points in 32 games. He’s still waiting on his first NHL point, and now with this recall he could very well earn it before likely heading back to AHL Charlotte.
Columbus Blue Jackets Activate Nick Blankenburg, Recall David Jiříček
The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that defenseman Nick Blankenburg has been activated off of injured reserve and assigned to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, and defenseman David Jiříček has been recalled from the Monsters.
The 25-year-old Blankenburg has been out since December 19th due to injury. The former captain of the Michigan Wolverines was actually playing in the NHL when he was last healthy, skating in his sixth consecutive game with the club. Before that point Blankenburg was in Cleveland, which is where he’ll now return to. Blankenburg has played in 18 games for the Monsters, the first 18 games of his AHL career, and has gotten off to a nice start there with 11 points.
Jiříček now returns to the Blue Jackets’ roster after a two-game stay in Cleveland. The 20-year-old 2022 sixth-overall pick receives this recall fresh off of a three-point game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a contest win which he played a role in all three of the Monsters’ goals. The six-foot-four blueliner has played in 36 NHL games already this season and registered nine points. He proved himself as an AHLer in his rookie campaign in North America, scoring 38 points in 55 games.
Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Red Wings, Engvall
The Chicago Blackhawks saw a string of players progress in their injury recovery, with Nick Foligno (fractured finger) and Ryan Donato (illness) fully returning to the team’s practice on Sunday, while Connor Bedard (jaw), Samuel Savoie (leg), and Tyler Johnson (undisclosed) were all on the ice for varying times before the team skate started. Connor Murphy was not able to take part in the team’s skate, though, continuing to miss time with a lower-body injury.
Donato has missed the Hawks’ last two games with an illness, while Foligno has sat out of seven games thanks to a placement on injured reserve earlier in the month. Both players are trending towards a return, finally bringing some form of relief to a Chicago lineup that’s currently experiencing injuries to 10 different players. Foligno went down on the same night that star rookie Bedard was injured. Both players falling out of the lineup effectively fractured Chicago’s top six, with the team going 3-4-0 – including one overtime and one shootout win – and scoring just 13 goals since the pair got hurt. That averages out to 1.85 goals-per-game – a mark that’s significantly held up by the two four-goal outings Chicago has had since Bedard’s injury.
Other notes from around the league:
- Ville Husso (lower-body) is continuing to progress in the Detroit Red Wings practices, while the team continues to be without Patrick Kane (lower-body) and Ben Chiarot (upper-body). Husso was placed on injured reserve in mid-December, missing Detroit’s last 14 games. James Reimer has slotted into the lineup as a result, backing up de facto starter Alex Lyon. Lyon has managed a .922 save percentage across 16 games, while Reimer has recorded an .893 save percentage in 13 appearances.
- Pierre Engvall has returned to the New York Islanders practice in a non-contact jersey after missing the team’s last two games with an upper-body injury. Engvall has managed 14 points in the 41 games he has appeared in, though he’s only scored one point since December 9th. Engvall is in his first full season with the Islanders, joining the team through trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.