Carolina Hurricanes Expected To Loan Pyotr Kochetkov To Syracuse Crunch
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes has reported on X that the Carolina Hurricanes will loan netminder Pyotr Kochetkov to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, the top affiliate of the Hurricanes’ Eastern Conference rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The move comes in the wake of two significant events: the injury to Lightning superstar goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, as well as the move by the Hurricanes’ prior AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, to move forward as an independent AHL franchise.
The Wolves’ move has left the Hurricanes without an AHL affiliate of their own, and the result has been significant to the developmental pathways for Hurricanes prospects. A few prospects, some of whom are notably AHL-caliber players (such as Anttoni Honka and Noel Gunler) will be playing in the ECHL for 2023-24, while others such as Jamieson Rees have latched on with AHL clubs.
It has also complicated things for Hurricanes goaltending, as the team had previously been able to count on an AHL affiliate to provide starter-level opportunity for their organization’s third goalie.
Placing Kochetkov in Syracuse will allow Kochetkov to see regular game action, something he was unlikely to receive as a third goalie behind Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.
Making $2MM against the cap through 2026-27, the Hurricanes likely believe that the 24-year-old Kochetkov will be a long-term face in Carolina, so getting him the chance to continue his development in the AHL is an important step.
The Crunch are one of the AHL’s few remaining independently-owned franchises, and they have always prioritized a healthy balance between development and playing winning hockey.
As other AHL teams have jumped head-first into prioritizing development above all else, the Crunch have continuously attempted to field a contending roster, and the addition of Kochetkov will help them dramatically for the early part of the season.
The injury of Vasilevskiy may have a ripple effect on goaltending depth for the Lightning organization, as one of the goalies expected to see time with the Crunch, Matt Tomkins, is now in Tampa with the Lightning.
Getting Kochetkov will not only make it so the Crunch won’t have to rely on offseason signing Evan Fitzpatrick to start games, (he has just 13 AHL games on his resume) it will also land them one of the most talented goalies in the AHL, even if just for a limited time.
While it’s certainly not a common sight to see an NHL team loan a notable player to a rival team, this move is not without precedent. The St. Louis Blues once loaned netminder Jordan Binnington to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, just one year before Binnington defeated the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
Although it’s far from an ideal situation for the Hurricanes and Kochetkov, this move does have its benefits for all parties involved and it’ll be interesting to see how the Crunch split starts between Kochetkov and Hugo Alnefelt, a valued Tampa Bay prospect.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Matt Murray Undergoes Successful Surgery
Sportsnet is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Matt Murray has undergone successful bilateral hip surgery and is expected to miss between six and eight months. This likely means he will miss the entire 2023-24 NHL season. Murray was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in July 2022 along with a third-round pick in exchange for a seventh-round pick and future considerations. It was essentially a salary cap dump at the time by the Ottawa Senators, who retained over $1.5MM of Murray’s $6.25MM cap hit.
The former two-time Stanley Cup champion has fallen on hard times in recent years as his health has kept him out of the lineup for extended periods of time in each of the past five seasons. Murray hasn’t played more than 30 games in a season since the 2019-20 season when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. When he has been available to play, he hasn’t been able to match the levels of play that made him a Stanley Cup champion in 2016 and 2017. Murray hasn’t posted a goals-against average below 3.00 since 2019-20 and has seen his save percentage hover around .900 since 2018-19.
Murray has has struggles with his health for a long time now and one must wonder if he will be able to overcome his latest setback and get back into an NHL lineup. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native has never been able to capture the magic that he put on display early in his career and has seen his stock tumble to the point of being a cap dump last summer.
Murray appeared to be on the cusp of superstardom in 2017 when the Penguins elected to keep him over franchise icon Marc-Andre Fleury who was taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. The Penguins had signed Murray to a three-year extension at the time and thought they had an elite netminder that could lead them to more Stanley Cups. Unfortunately, Murray’s play flatlined and he was unseated as the starter by Tristan Jarry. He was then dealt to the Senators in 2020 and signed to an extension in a move that proved disastrous for Ottawa.
Sabres To Start Year With Three Goalies
The Buffalo Sabres, fresh off signing Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year extension, are preparing their opening night lineup to start the season later this week. Based on what Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News is reporting, it appears the Sabres plan to start the season with three goaltenders on their NHL roster. At least for the time being.
The Sabres reportedly don’t feel confident that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is ready to take over the backup role full-time. This means that the club is likely to keep veteran Eric Comrie on their NHL roster as insurance just in case they need to give starter Devon Levi some nights off and Luukkonen isn’t up to the task.
Levi is expected to start the bulk of the games in October for the Sabres, and while carrying three goalies will limit the Sabres flexibility should they need to call up forwards and defenseman, the team feels that Comrie offers them more consistency at this point than Luukkonen does, but lacks the upside that Luukkonen offers the team long term.
It’s a delicate predicament for Buffalo as they are hoping to take a big step this season and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Sabres want to win now, and Comrie offers them a better shot at that, but Luukkonen has played just one less pro game than the 28-year-old Comrie, and at 24 years of age Luukkonen hasn’t come close to reaching the potential that made him a second-round pick in 2017. Statistically, both men have very similar NHL numbers as they both sport a career .897 save percentage and a goals-against average above 3.30.
The three-goalie solution can’t be the Sabres long-term solution as eventually they will have to add a forward or defenseman and will need to move a goalie off the NHL roster to do so. How they solve that problem will be interesting to see as they could find a trade partner or subject a goalie to waivers and demote them to the AHL. This would create another logjam as the Sabres currently employ Dustin Tokarski and Devin Cooley on two-way contracts for the Rochester Americans.
Sabres Sign Rasmus Dahlin To Eight-Year Deal
The Buffalo Sabres kicked off the week by announcing a highly anticipated eight-year extension with star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The long-term deal will begin in the 2024-25 season and will carry run until 2032. The Sabres have now locked up a core piece of their back end through the bulk of his prime as Dahlin will be 32 years old when this extension expires. Early indications are that the deal will carry an $11MM AAV.
The $88MM extension will be tied for the second-highest cap hit among defensemen with Los Angeles Kings defender Drew Doughty. Their salary cap hits trail only Erik Karlsson and his $11.5MM price tag. It’s a big price to pay for the Sabres as it puts Dahlin into another salary stratosphere alongside two defensemen who have arguably failed to live up to their large salaries. The key difference between Doughty/Karlsson and Dahlin is that the Sabres are locking up the 23-year-old through his entire prime. While Doughty and Karlsson are still terrific players, they were paid largely for past performances.
Dahlin had a career year last season posting 15 goals and 58 assists in 78 games all while logging 25:48 of ice time a night. He finished fifth among NHL defensemen with 73 points, one of the highest scoring rankings ever by a Sabres defenseman. On the defensive side of things, the 2018 first-overall pick finished second on the Sabres in hits and led the team in blocked shots, a testament to his improved defensive capabilities that finally seem to be catching up to his elite offensive ability.
Many skeptics will point to the $11MM AAV and call the deal an overpay for the Sabres, and at first glance, it does seem steep. The closest comparable to Dahlin’s deal would be Charlie McAvoy’s eight-year deal with a $9.5MM cap hit that was signed in October 2021, or the eight-year deal that Mikhail Sergachev signed in July 2022 that carries an $8.5MM cap number. Those deals, while both massive bargains today, were signed at a time when the offensive upside of both players was more of an unknown. Prior to signing his eight-year deal, Sergachev had topped 40 points only once in his career, while McAvoy had never topped 32 points when he signed his long-term extension. Dahlin is in a different category as he has averaged well over 40 points a season and is now rounding into form defensively.
Critics might also point to Jake Sanderson’s recent extension for $8MM per year with the Ottawa Senators, but again the context is important to understand Dahlin’s deal. Sanderson has one season of NHL experience, while Dahlin has five. Sanderson posted 32 points last season, while Dahlin has routinely posted over 40 points a season. Dahlin’s contract is also buying out more unrestricted free-agent seasons, which typically cost more than restricted free-agent seasons.
With Dahlin’s long-rumored extension finally complete, Dahlin now joins Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, and fellow defenseman Mattias Samuelsson – all of whom signed long-term extensions since the start of last season. The Sabres are expected to compete for a playoff spot this season as they finally emerge from a long rebuild.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Five Key Stories: 10/2/23 – 10/8/23
With the start of the regular season now just days away, activity across the NHL picked up over the past few days. Here’s a rundown of the biggest news of the past week.
Ducks Sign Two: There won’t be any in-season holdouts in Anaheim this year as the Ducks agreed to bridge deals with their two remaining restricted free agents. First, they inked center Trevor Zegras to a three-year pact which carries a cap hit of $5.75MM. He’s coming off a career-best year offensively with 65 points and is one of the young pillars up front for the Ducks. Both sides get more time to evaluate with this deal to see if Zegras can become a top-end producer. They took a similar approach with defenseman Jamie Drysdale, giving him a three-year deal with a $2.3MM AAV. Drysdale missed most of last season after suffering a torn labrum but showed plenty of promise before that, making a part of their very strong young blueline corps. Notably, the salary structure for both contracts is uniform, making it that their qualifying offers in 2026 will be the same as their cap hits.
Stepan Hangs Them Up: Veteran middleman Derek Stepan has decided to call it a career, announcing his retirement at the age of 33. In his prime, he was a capable second center who also brought some defensive value to the table. He had at least 44 points in each of his first eight NHL seasons, surpassing the 50-point mark in six of those. That helped Stepan play in over NHL games between the regular season and the playoffs, the bulk of which came with the Rangers who drafted him in the second round back in 2008.
Three For Hartman: After inking Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno to extensions last week, the Wild took care of their other prominent pending unrestricted free agent, signing forward Ryan Hartman to a three-year, $12MM extension. The 29-year-old is entering his fifth season with Minnesota and has gone from more of a depth piece to a core part of their top six after putting up 65 points in 2021-22 and 37 more last year despite missing 23 games due to injuries. Along the way, he has shown himself to be capable of playing down the middle, helping to fill a big need on the depth chart. As long as he can produce at a second-line rate, this is a deal that should work out well for both sides.
Four For Kaliyev: Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev received a four-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety for his kneeing incident on Ducks forward Chase De Leo. The ban covered the final two games of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season, meaning that the 22-year-old won’t be eligible to suit up for Los Angeles until October 17th. Kaliyev was an effective secondary scorer last season, notching 28 points in 56 games. Meanwhile, De Leo will miss roughly the next eight weeks with a knee injury and will begin the year on season-opening injured reserve.
One More Year: Still with Los Angeles, Kings head coach Todd McLellan was heading into the final year of his contract. Teams don’t typically like to have their bench bosses in their ‘lame duck’ season so they worked out a one-year extension that keeps him under contract through 2024-25. The veteran has been behind the bench for 290 games with Los Angeles with his team posting a 141-115-34 record. However, the team hasn’t won a playoff series with him at the helm. This extension allows for any possible distraction to go away but it stands to reason that with the summer they had, simply making the postseason is no longer the bare minimum so even with a new deal in hand, the pressure will be on McLellan this year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Lightning
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2023-24 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Current Cap Hit: $90,448,333 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
None that are projected to make the roster or play a prominent role this season.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
F Alex Barre-Boulet ($758K, UFA)
D Zach Bogosian ($850K, UFA)
F Logan Brown ($775K, RFA)
D Calvin de Haan ($775K, UFA)
D Haydn Fleury ($762.5K, UFA)
F Tyler Motte ($800K, UFA)
D Philippe Myers ($1.4MM, UFA)
D Brent Seabrook ($6.875MM, UFA)
F Steven Stamkos ($8.5MM, UFA)
Considering the number of times that Tampa Bay has extended its core players as soon as possible under GM Julien BriseBois, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the same thing would happen to Stamkos. Surprisingly, it hasn’t, an outcome that the captain himself isn’t too pleased about. While his output slowed last season, he still put up 34 goals and averaged more than a point per game. At this price point, that’s still pretty good value. Stamkos will be 34 next summer and in a position to earn another multi-year agreement, likely with a market value around what he’s making now unless he slows down considerably this year. BriseBois is taking a wait-and-see approach to see if Stamkos still fits on the team moving forward, a question that might not be able to be answered until we know the actual Upper Limit for 2024-25.
Motte was a late-summer signing after Josh Archibald decided to not play this year. This is the second straight summer where his camp has misread the market, resulting in a lower-than-expected contract. Assuming he has a similar showing this year as he has had lately, a small raise should be achievable as long as he doesn’t set his sights too high again early in free agency. Brown comes in after being non-tendered by St. Louis and if he can earn a spot in the lineup when he returns from an injury that will keep him out at the start of the season, he could get a small raise or at least more guaranteed money next year. Barre-Boulet is listed here as he’s tied for the lowest cap hit in the league which gives him a shot at a spot on the fourth line. Primarily a minor leaguer the last two years, he’s likely to stay around the minimum salary next year.
Among the blueliners, Seabrook’s career has been over since late 2019. He’ll be on LTIR for one more season and then the Lightning can try to work back to being a non-LTIR team, ideally giving them a chance to back a bit of in-season flexibility. Meanwhile, Myers isn’t even on the roster now as a decision to extend him around this time last year didn’t pan out as he’s already cleared waivers. However, they’ll still carry a $250K charge even with him in the minors. Considering what they’re currently over their LTIR ceiling by, that small amount is notable. Myers will likely wind up with a deal close to the minimum next summer.
Bogosian’s days of being an every-game player are done but he can still hold his own on a third pairing. With his usage the last few years though, it’s hard to see him getting more than this on the open market next year. Tampa Bay brought in de Haan this summer and it’s possible he winds up platooning with Bogosian in that part-time role. Barring him having a bounce-back year, this is the range he’ll be in price-wise moving forward. Fleury is another player on a sub-minimum contract which gives him some value from a depth perspective. He has had a very limited role the past couple of years and at this point, he might be heading for a two-way deal next summer.
Signed Through 2024-25
F Michael Eyssimont ($800K, UFA)
F Luke Glendening ($800K, UFA)
D Victor Hedman ($7.875MM, UFA)
F Tanner Jeannot ($2.665MM, UFA)
G Jonas Johansson ($775K, UFA)
D Nick Perbix ($1.125MM, UFA)
The Lightning paid a high price at the trade deadline to land Jeannot and they weren’t exactly rewarded for their investment. He’s poised to have an important role this season and if he can get close to his 2021-22 performance, he could be in line for a decent-sized raise with the premium power forwards typically get. Eyssimont opted to take some job security over testing the open market in the summer, understandable considering he was a waiver claim last year. If he can secure a full-time spot with Tampa Bay, he could set himself up for a small bump, even if he stays on the fourth line. Glendening is basically a faceoff specialist who can kill penalties at this point of his career. He might have left some money on the table to sign with Tampa Bay but his value is going to be limited moving forward.
The same can’t be said for Hedman. While he couldn’t match his career-best 85 points from 2021-22, he still produced at better than a 50-point pace while averaging nearly 24 minutes a night. While he’ll be 34 when his next contract starts (turning 35 early the following season), he should still be capable of covering 20 minutes a night while playing in all situations. A small pay cut might be needed but he’ll have plenty of interest if he gets to the open market. Perbix had a nice rookie season after being a college free agent signing. He’ll be tasked with covering a regular role on the third pairing and if he can hold that down for two years, he’ll hit the market in his prime (at 27) which could allow him to possibly double this AAV at that time.
Johansson was a bit of a curious signing to be Tampa Bay’s backup given his lack of NHL success but keeping the cost as low as possible (in this case, it couldn’t be lower) was a priority. Now that he’ll be thrust into the number one role for a couple of months, this will be his chance to show the league that he’s a capable netminder at the top level. A good showing in this stretch – even though it’s not his free agent year – might be enough to allow him to push for a seven-figure AAV next time out.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Darren Raddysh ($762.5K in 2023-24, $975K in 2024-25 and 2025-26)
F Conor Sheary ($2MM, UFA)
Sheary comes over from Washington after two consecutive seasons of being a capable secondary scorer. The risk here is relatively low for the Lightning as if he even produces 30-35 points, they should get a good return on this deal.
Raddysh didn’t play a lot during the regular season but logged more than 25 minutes a game in the playoffs, giving him enough leverage to get a two-year, one-way extension back in June, a pretty good outcome for someone who has cleared waivers in each of the last two training camps. That shouldn’t be the case this time around and as a capable producer in the minors, this could be a team-friendly deal if he’s able to become a secondary point provider from the back end.
Players Still On Training Camp Tryouts
While there have been many players who had been in training camps on tryout deals cut over the past week or so, there are quite a few whose fates have not yet been determined. Here’s a rundown of players who are still on PTO agreements with their respective teams.
Boston Bruins
Edmonton Oilers
F Adam Erne
F Sam Gagner
Gagner did not play in the preseason as he works his way back from hip surgery.
Florida Panthers
New York Islanders
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Libor Hajek
D Mark Pysyk
F Austin Wagner
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vegas Golden Knights
Some of these players will likely receive an NHL contract but cap-strapped teams will wait until it’s absolutely necessary to convert them to a guaranteed deal, either to optimize their LTIR pool or to try to save a day or two worth of cap space. Meanwhile, other teams could also come calling if a waiver target doesn’t make it to them. One way or the other, their fates will likely be decided soon.
2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?
The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:
1st Overall: Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall: Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
10th Overall: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Edmonton Oilers (6)
11th Overall: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (11)
12th Overall: Dmitry Orlov, New York Islanders (55)
13th Overall: Anders Lee, Buffalo Sabres (152)
14th Overall: Tyson Barrie, Florida Panthers (64)
After being an early third-rounder originally, Barrie fares much better this time around, going in the final lottery spot. It was a narrow margin of victory as he checked in with just 18.5% of the votes, barely 2% ahead of the next-highest player.
Barrie was, unsurprisingly, a high-end point producer from the back end in junior. After putting up 52 points in his draft-eligible year, he followed it up with back-to-back seasons with greater than a point-per-game average.
While he spent a good chunk of his first two professional campaigns in the minors, Barrie did see action with Colorado and by the midway mark of that second year, he was a regular with the Avs. Before long, he was one of the more consistent offensive blueliners, putting up a double-digit goal total in five of six years, notching at least 49 points in four of those.
In 2019, the Avs decided to trade for an impact center, acquiring Kadri from Toronto (who went sixth in this redraft) as part of a four-player, two-pick swap. The Maple Leafs were hoping Barrie would be a big boost to their top power play but it didn’t go as planned as he had just five goals and went to Edmonton via free agency the next summer on a three-year deal with a $4.5MM AAV, one that expires at the end of the upcoming season.
Barrie did have some success with the Oilers in that power play specialist role but last season, his contract was needed for cap matching purposes when they picked up Mattias Ekholm from Nashville. A speculative trade candidate over the summer, a move didn’t come to fruition but if the Predators are out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline, he could be on the move again.
Very quietly, Barrie sits eighth in scoring among all players from this draft class, second to only Hedman amongst blueliners. All in all, he has had a pretty impressive career for a third-round pick, one that likely will still have a few years left in it after this coming season.
Now, we shift our focus to pick number fifteen, held by the Anaheim Ducks. They opted to look for help down the middle with their original selection, selecting Peter Holland out of OHL Guelph. Holland had a somewhat successful tryout with Colorado this training camp, eventually earning himself a longer look with their AHL affiliate but there are certainly better options for Anaheim in this redraft. Who should they take? Make your selection by voting in our poll below.
If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
West Notes: Coyotes, Blueger, Beauvillier
After sending them down to AHL Tucson earlier in the week, the Arizona Coyotes announced Sunday they’ve recalled defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok. The 23-year-old and 22-year-old defensemen, respectively, combined for 11 games played in the NHL last season.
Arizona makes the recalls as they battle injury uncertainty with some of their defensemen. Head coach André Tourigny told PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan earlier Sunday that multiple defenders were “dinged” up in Saturday’s 7-1 preseason drubbing of the Anaheim Ducks. Carrying Kesselring and Kolyachonok on the active roster for now gives the Coyotes some flexibility as they make their final roster choices ahead of Monday’s opening night roster deadline. Arizona must submit a cap-compliant roster of no more than 23 players before 4 p.m. CT tomorrow. That roster limit may have precipitated today’s choice to send forward Dylan Guenther, who does not require waivers, to AHL Tucson. While the team has not issued a comment, it may be that the Coyotes plan on carrying 12 forwards and nine defensemen when they submit their roster tomorrow to account for the uncertainty surrounding some of their defenders’ availability for Friday’s season opener against the New Jersey Devils. With Kesselring and Kolyachonok in the ranks, the Coyotes are now carrying ten defenders, so it’s likely one of them will return to Tucson within the next 24 hours.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference this weekend:
- Vancouver Canucks forward Teddy Blueger is sidelined on a day-to-day basis with an undisclosed bruise, which left him off the ice today for practice. That wasn’t Blueger’s idea, however, as head coach Rick Tocchet told Sportsnet’s Randip Janda that he didn’t want to risk exacerbating the Latvian pivot’s injury. The Canucks’ regular season opener is in three days against the Edmonton Oilers, and the offseason free-agent addition is expected to make his Vancouver debut centering the fourth line. Blueger, 29, recorded 16 points in 63 contests last year split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights, for whom Blueger was the 13th forward en route to their first Stanley Cup championship.
- Sticking with Vancouver, winger Anthony Beauvillier is also currently absent from the team’s practice ranks thanks to a bout with the flu. He is day-to-day and, as it stands, could miss the season opener Wednesday. The Canucks, who are currently roster juggling to maximize the potential LTIR relief from defenseman Tucker Poolman‘s contract, will need clarity on Beauvillier’s status after tomorrow’s roster deadline to make any corresponding recalls from AHL Abbotsford.
Canucks’ Carson Soucy Out Week-To-Week
Oct. 8: Soucy is out on a week-to-week basis and is a likely candidate for injured reserve to begin the campaign, per Sportsnet’s Randip Janda.
Oct. 7: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy left Friday night’s preseason game against the Calgary Flames with an apparent injury. The team tweeted out the news late last night and haven’t released much information about the undisclosed ailment. There is also no word if the move to keep Soucy out of the game was a precautionary choice, or something else.
Soucy signed a three-year deal with the Canucks in the offseason and was expected to play a big role in their defensive unit. He left the game late in the second period after getting tangled up with Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich. On the play, the 29-year-old appeared to hurt his left knee, and while he stayed out for the rest of his shift, he went straight down the tunnel as soon as he got to the bench.
If Soucy is out for any length of time it could really cause issues for Vancouver’s defensive depth. The team is already dealing with an injury to Guillaume Brisebois who was likely to make the team, and with Soucy out they may not have a good option to fill in for the big rearguard. The Canucks are probably a bubble playoff team at best and will need a lot of good luck this season to get into the postseason.
The Canucks begin the regular season against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, October 11th.