Canadiens Place Rafael Harvey-Pinard On IR; Recall Jayden Struble
Unable to play in the team’s last two games due to a lower-body injury, the Montreal Canadiens announced they have placed forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the injured reserve. In a corresponding move, in the same announcement, the Canadiens have recalled defenseman Jayden Struble from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
This is not the first time Harvey-Pinard has been injured this season, as he missed several games earlier this month, also with a lower-body injury. Only playing in 13 games for Montreal up to this point, Harvey-Pinard has tallied four assists while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per game.
Last year, Harvey-Pinard split time between the Canadiens and the Rocket, playing in 34 games and 40 games for each team, respectively. After a 14-goal and six-assist performance for Montreal last year, the team rewarded him with a two-year, $2.2MM contract, offering him a full-time spot on the roster.
Struble came over to the Canadiens as the 46th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft, playing for Northeastern University of the NCAA before joining Laval at the end of last season. In 12 games played for the Rocket this season, Struble has scored one goal and five assists up to this point.
Hypothetical Goalie Trade Targets For The Edmonton Oilers
There is no doubt that the Edmonton Oilers have struggled defensively this year, and have struggled to generate much offense outside of their top-six forward group. However, the team has had a uniquely poor start with their goaltending, as the duo of Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell have produced a 5-10-1 record in 16 games played, as well as carrying a .873 SV% and a 3.70 GAA collectively.
Even looking deeper into the numbers of the tandem, according to Hockey Reference, they have generated a -14.0 Goals Saved Above Average, a 3.76 Adjusted Goals Against Average, and a 37.5% Quality Start Percentage.
In any trade to improve their goaltending, the Oilers’ dream scenario would be to include Campbell and his $5MM salary, but with most other teams carrying limited cap space through the season, that option becomes much more improbable.
The most recent comparable to Campbell’s situation would be a June 6th trade between the Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings, and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Kings were able to unload the two-year, $10MM remaining on Calvin Petersen‘s contract, as well as the contract of defenseman Sean Walker, but did have to send a prospect, as well as a first-round pick in 2023, and a second-round pick in 2024 to Philadelphia just as a facilitator in the deal.
Essentially, the cost of $5.6MM in cap space for Los Angeles, without acquiring anything of value in return, was a prospect, and two high draft picks. If the Oilers are looking to improve their goaltending in a similar trade, the cost would certainly increase beyond that price.
To set the table, Edmonton does have all three of their first-round picks over the next three seasons, as well as two of their second-round picks (the 2025 selection is owned by the Arizona Coyotes) over the same time. Also, if any acquiring team is willing to buy out Campbell this offseason, they would be on the hook for $10.5MM spread out over the next six seasons.
Now, let’s look at a list of options and work a potential deal around them:
Petr Mrazek – Chicago Blackhawks (one-year, $3.8MM)
Not only would Chicago be able to absorb the contract of Campbell even after a buyout, but Mrazek is quietly having a very productive season even with a poor team in front of him. In 10 games played for the Blackhawks this season, Mrazek has a 4-5-0 record, coupled with a .915 SV% and a 2.89 GAA.
With only one year remaining on his contract, a trade for Mrazek would allow the Oilers to improve their goaltending situation down the stretch while giving them the financial flexibility to pursue a different goaltender in the offseason if they choose to do so.
In order to rid themselves of Campbell’s contract, Edmonton would need to attach their first-round pick in 2024, as well as their second-round pick in 2026, and potentially a third-to-fourth-round selection in either of the next three years simply to acquire Mrazek from the Blackhawks in the first place.
Karel Vejmelka – Arizona Coyotes (two-years, $5.45MM)
Even behind a struggling Coyotes defense for the last three seasons, Vejmelka has put up decent numbers and could benefit from a stronger team in front of him. Over the last three seasons in Arizona, he has played in 112 games and carries a 33-62-11 record coupled with a .899 SV% and a 3.51 GAA.
As the Coyotes are looking to exit their rebuild soon, they may not be inclined to take on Campbell’s contract, or even be inclined to buy him out after acquiring him. However, if the Oilers were willing to part ways with defenseman Cody Ceci in this hypothetical deal, Arizona could be more tempted.
With Matt Dumba, Troy Stecher, and Josh Brown all headed for free agency next summer, the Coyotes are going to have quite the hole on the right side of their defense. Ceci will be signed for one more after this season at $3.25MM and has offered quality defensive play over the course of his career.
Elvis Merzlikins – Columbus Blue Jackets (four-years, $21.6MM)
It’s tough to think of a more direct comparable to Campbell than the situation of Merzlikins over in Columbus. Both goalies are signed for the next four years, they are both coming off of poor 2022-23 seasons, and both have had a tough start to this year.
If Edmonton was able to frame this deal in the right way, it could become a change-of-scenery swap, with the Oilers not having to add too much extra in return. Even from the viewpoint of Columbus, playing in a much smaller market, Campbell may even be able to regain some of his lost confidence.
Unfortunately, there is a very real possibility that Merzlikins will fail to improve Edmonton’s goaltending situation, even after a change of scenery. In a disastrous year in the net for him last season, Merzlikins held a 7-18-2 record, carrying a horrid .876% and a 4.23 GAA.
Jake Allen – Montreal Canadiens (two-years, $7.7MM)
Similar to where the Canadiens are in the rebuild like the Coyotes, it is unreasonable to think Montreal would be inclined to take on the contract of Campbell, even in a buyout situation. With Allen making $3.85MM for this season, and next, Edmonton will once again look to salary match through different positions.
Over the last two seasons, the Canadiens have built up some serious young depth on defense, meaning the Oilers may have to part with some forwards to acquire Allen and his cap hit. Given this, a realistic package would revolve around Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele.
As a pending unrestricted free agent, Foegele will simply be on the Canadiens roster for the rest of the year, and move on next summer. When healthy, McLeod represents a bottom-six center option with the ability to play on both sides of the puck, allowing the Canadiens to comfortably replace Sean Monahan next year, and give them a long-term option on the third-line.
Juuse Saros – Nashville Predators (two-years, $10MM)
At last year’s trade deadline, the Oilers and Predators connected on a massive trade, sending Mattias Ekholm to Edmonton in exchange for a package surrounding Tyson Barrie, a prospect, and two draft picks. In the summer, Nashville showed a few more veterans the door and took a very aggressive approach to free agency.
Sitting at 28th place in the NHL entering Thanksgiving week, and unlikely to contend over the last two years of Saros’ contract, the Predators could be inclined to trade him this season. Saros has gotten off to a slow start this year but has finished top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting in each of the last three years.
Due to his track record, it will take a mammoth offer to pry Saros out of Nashville, and the Oilers would need to give up serious capital in return. If they are also willing to take on the contract of Campbell, a package including a young roster player such as McLeod or Dylan Holloway, one of Edmonton’s better prospects such as Philip Broberg or Xavier Bourgault, Edmonton’s first-round pick in 2024, as well as a conditional second-round pick in 2026 with the ability to turn into a first, that may be enough to get Saros from the Predators.
Damon Severson Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury
A few minutes ago, the Columbus Blue Jackets suffered their ninth straight loss, this time at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. To add insult to injury, after Ryan Poehling of the Flyers scored a short-handed goal in the second period, the Blue Jackets announced that defenseman Damon Severson would not return to the game due to an upper-body injury.
At this point, there has been no update on the severity of Severson’s injury, but more information should be made public before the team’s upcoming game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. On the night, Severson played in just under 10 minutes of the game and held a -1 rating due to the shorthanded goal.
Over the course of the season up to this point, Severson had played in 18 games for Columbus before tonight’s game, scoring three goals and five assists in total. In an effort to bolster the Blue Jackets defensive core, Severson was acquired as part of a sign-and-trade early in the offseason with the New Jersey Devils.
After doubling down on their core this past offseason, Columbus once again finds themselves in a precarious situation, sitting with a 4-11-4 record entering into Thanksgiving week. Not only do the Blue Jackets have the worst record in the Metropolitan Division, they hold the worst record in the Eastern Conference by a margin of three points.
Golden Knights Activate Nicolas Hague From Injured Reserve
As the team begins to take warm-ups in their Sunday night matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vegas Golden Knights announce that defenseman Nicolas Hague has been activated off of the team’s injured reserve, and will play in tonight’s game.
Hague had been sidelined with a lower-body injury since the team’s October 30th game against the Montreal Canadiens. Although not a member of the original Golden Knights team that managed to make the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season in the league, Hague was the fourth-ever draft pick of Vegas, being selected 34th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft.
As one of the more unheralded members of the Golden Knight’s blue line, over the last three years, Hague has regularly averaged more than 18 minutes of ice time per night, as well as receiving regular minutes on Vegas’ penalty kill units.
Last season, in what has been the best of his career to date, Hague played in 81 games for the Golden Knights, scoring 17 points in total, while blocking 133 shots and throwing 117 assists. He also carried an above-average Corsi For % of 46.8%, and an On-Ice Save Percentage of 91.7%.
Getting off to one of the hottest starts in the league, the Golden Knights have cooled off a bit in Hague’s absence, going 4-3-1 in their last eight games, after starting off the season 9-0-1. With Hague back in the lineup, Vegas will now have added confidence in their ability to keep the puck out of their net.
Ottawa Senators Assign Three Players To AHL
In order to keep both roster and salary cap flexibility over the next several days following their games in Sweden, the Ottawa Senators announced they have sent defensemen Tyler Kleven and Jacob Larsson, as well as forward Matthew Highmore to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
The team did manage to salvage two wins during their overseas trip, defeating the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild, with Highmore being only one of the trio to make an appearance during the games. In just under six minutes of ice time against Detroit, Highmore did not find his name on the scoresheet in any capacity.
In his first season with the Senators organization, Highmore has primarily been playing in the AHL, suiting up in nine games for Belleville, scoring two goals and five assists. In very limited action at the NHL level, Highmore has tallied only one assist through three games played in Ottawa.
Kleven, on the other hand, has received the most playing time in the NHL amongst the three players, playing in five games for the Senators this season, and scoring one assist over that time. As a second-round draft choice by the Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft, Kleven was a teammate of fellow defenseman, Jake Sanderson, at the University of North Dakota prior to their time in professional hockey.
Lastly, of the three, Larsson is the most familiar with the AHL, playing in 201 games over the course of his career spent between the Senators and the Anaheim Ducks. Not much of an offensive weapon, Larsson has two assists for Belleville already this season through 10 games played.
Even with these three on the roster for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult for Belleville to climb out of a quick hole in the AHL’s North Division. Losers of their last three games, the Senators have a 6-7-0-1 record, in sit in second to last place in the division.
Penguins Activate Alex Nedeljkovic, Send Down Magnus Hellberg
After spending nearly a month on the team’s long-term injured reserve, the Pittsburgh Penguins announce they have activated goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, and have sent down Magnus Hellberg to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Earlier in the year, Nedeljkovic played in two games for the Penguins, earning a .914 SV% and a 3.01 GAA before a lower-body injury would sideline him for the foreseeable future. While Nedeljkovic, Hellberg assumed the role of backup goaltender in Pittsburgh, sporting a 1-0-0 record in three games played, producing a .922 SV% and a 2.50 GAA.
As an older rookie in the 2020-21 regular season, Nedeljkovic finished third in Calder Trophy voting after managing a 15-5-3 record with the Carolina Hurricanes, leading the league in both SV% and GAA in 23 games started.
In an attempt to solidify their goaltending for the upcoming season, the Detroit Red Wings acquired Nedeljkovic from the Hurricanes for the signing rights to goaltender Jonathan Bernier, and a third-round draft selection in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Unfortunately for both, he and the team, Nedeljkovic’s tenure in Detroit did not play out as well as the team would have hoped, as he carried a 25-31-11 record in 74 games played, with a .900 SV% and a 3.35 GAA over his two years with the organization.
On January 16th of the 2022-23 regular season, the Red Wings chose to place Nedeljkovic on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the AHL, indicating that his time with the Original Six franchise may be nearing its end. Nevertheless, the team would non-tender Nedeljkovic, allowing him to sign in Pittsburgh to a one-year, $1.5MM contract for this season.
Blue Jackets Make Patrik Laine A Healthy Scratch
After benching star players Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine in several games, the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pascal Vincent, has made Laine a healthy scratch in the team’s game tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers (X Link). In nine games played this year, Laine has two goals and one assist, as well as a -6 rating.
Columbus has certainly struggled to generate offense from their star players at the forward position this year, as Boone Jenner leads the way with 10 points in 18 games. Before tonight’s game against the Flyers, defensemen Ivan Provorov and Zach Werenski lead the team in points with 11 each on the year.
Spending a combined $18.45MM on both Gaudreau and Laine (22% of their entire cap space), the two have only combined for 10 points in 27 games played, hardly what the Blue Jackets should be expecting at that dollar value. Although the bad start to the year is not solely on the shoulders of Gaudreau and Laine, this is a decision that has appeared to be brewing for quite some time.
In a report from Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch, Vincent was quoted as saying, “It was a hard conversation … but nobody is bigger than the Blue Jackets“. Understandably, Laine is reportedly unhappy with the decision made by his new coach, but Vincent is adamant about sending a message to the entirety of the team about the lack of offense.
After being acquired by Columbus back in the 2020-21 season, even though Laine has scored 60 goals and 72 assists in 165 games as a Blue Jacket, he has historically been known to go through streaks as a player. Notably, from mid-December to mid-February last year, Laine would only score five goals in 22 games, before scoring eight goals in 16 games to end the season.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how Laine’s situation in Columbus continues to play out, as being a healthy scratch for the first time in his career may cause his frustrations to boil over.
Panthers “Could” Place Aleksander Barkov On IR
The Panthers may place captain Aleksander Barkov on injured reserve to create space on the 23-man roster for a recall, head coach Paul Maurice told George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. Barkov is out with a knee injury sustained in Friday night’s game against the Ducks and did not practice with the team this morning. The Panthers confirmed earlier Sunday that he’s listed as day-to-day and won’t be in the lineup Monday against the Oilers.
Barkov was injured on a hit from rookie defenseman Jackson LaCombe in the third period of Friday’s game. The team spent the past 36 hours evaluating him and determined that while he’ll need to miss time, it luckily won’t be a long-term absence. If Barkov is placed on IR, it will be backdated to Friday, ruling him out of the team’s next two games. He could return Friday against the Jets.
The 28-year-old is off to a strong start this year, posting six goals, 11 assists and 17 points through 16 appearances in 2023-24. He’s averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the seventh consecutive season, and his +14 rating is tied with Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes for the league lead. The 2013 second-overall pick continues to enshrine himself as the best forward in franchise history and is on pace for his fourth straight season above a point-per-game pace.
How much longer Barkov could miss beyond the seven-day period required by an IR placement remains unclear. Given his day-to-day designation, though, it would be surprising to see him out of the lineup by the time the calendar flips to December.
With Barkov out, another future high-flying Finnish centerman, Anton Lundell, will slide into his spot on the top line. The 22-year-old has a goal and seven assists in 17 contests this season and is averaging 15:32 per game. The 2020 12th-overall pick is in the third and final season of his entry-level contract, which costs $925K against the salary cap.
Ottawa Senators Reassign Mads Søgaard
Nov. 19: The Senators returned Søgaard to Belleville early this morning after their trip to Sweden concluded, per a team release.
Nov. 18: The Ottawa Senators have recalled netminder Mads Søgaard from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. With Joonas Korpisalo out due to a minor day-to-day injury, it will be Søgaard who serves as a backup to starter Anton Forsberg in Sweden.
Søgaard, 22, is a big six-foot-seven netminder is a native of Aalborg, Denmark, and has played in a total of 21 career NHL games. He’s had a strong start to the season, posting a .923 save percentage and inspiring confidence in those who predict him to be the Senators’ “goalie of the future.”
Søgaard will likely return to Belleville after the Senators’ trip in order to resume his role as a tandem goalie there. With a big season in the AHL, Søgaard could push Forsberg for the backup/1B role in Ottawa.
After this season, Forsberg will have just one year and $2.75MM remaining on his deal, although Søgaard will still be ineligible for waivers so the Senators will be in no rush to make a change.
Florida Notes: Barkov, Cirelli, Glendening
The Panthers lost superstar center and team captain Aleksander Barkov to an apparent knee injury Friday after he was on the receiving end of a hit from Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe. Today’s initial news regarding his status wasn’t positive – Barkov was a non-participant in practice today, per George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, and David Dwork of The Hockey News believes the team will issue a further update on Barkov’s status later today.
Barkov has been invaluable to the Panthers, notching 17 points in 16 games and leading the team with a +14 rating. Missing him for any length of time is a tough blow, especially for a squad that just reached near-total health with the returns of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour on defense. Barkov already missed one contest this season, an October 24 contest against the Sharks, with an illness. The Panthers won that game 3-1 to reach a 3-3-0 record on the season – a pace they’ve obliterated since and now sit second in the Atlantic Division.
Florida will struggle to replace his offense if he misses significant time, as their secondary scoring outside of Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart has struggled to keep up. Outside of Evan Rodrigues, who has 13 points in 17 contests, mainly playing with Barkov, few Panthers have played up to expectations. That applies mostly to Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, who have scored just one goal each through 17 games after strong showings in the Panthers’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. Lundell slid up to the first line between Reinhart and Verhaeghe at practice today in Barkov’s absence, Richards said.
The latest on some other storylines in the Sunshine State:
- The Lightning saw center Anthony Cirelli return to practice today in a full-contact jersey, Chris Krenn of the team’s official site relayed. Cirelli played less than six minutes in Thursday’s win over the Blackhawks and missed Saturday’s win over the Oilers with an undisclosed injury. Winger Tyler Motte moved to center the team’s third line in Cirelli’s absence. In the first season of an eight-year, $50MM extension signed in the summer of 2022, Cirelli has posted two goals, seven points and a -1 rating in 17 contests. The 26-year-old has continued to maintain a stellar defensive profile despite the mediocre plus-minus rating, as his line with Tanner Jeannot and Michael Eyssimont has a team-high expected goals share of 78.9%, per MoneyPuck. He’s also sporting a career-high faceoff win percentage of 56.4%.
- Staying with Tampa Bay, Krenn also reports that center Luke Glendening is absent from practice today with what the team labeled “body maintenance.” Glendening, 34, logged a season-high 15:52 and scored the game-winning goal against the Oilers yesterday. The veteran shutdown man has logged two goals, no assists and a -3 rating in 18 contests with the Bolts this year after signing a two-year, $1.6MM deal in free agency last summer.