Metropolitan Notes: Werenski, Danforth, Atkinson, Couturier, Mete, Arvanitis
With training camps opening today for most teams, a few squads made some paper moves last night to properly represent players’ statuses heading into 2023-24. One of them was the Columbus Blue Jackets, who officially activated star defenseman Zach Werenski from injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. The move ends a more than ten-month stint on the injured list and clears the path for Werenski to resume his role as the team’s top defender on opening night.
Really, Werenski’s injury was incredibly symbolic for the Blue Jackets last season. A team with some promise after flashy offseason moves, like bringing in free agent prize Johnny Gaudreau, needed everything to go right to be competitive in the Eastern Conference. But a shoulder injury sustained just 13 games into the season would end Werenski’s campaign – during a game that also saw young defender Nick Blankenburg sustain an ankle injury that kept him out long-term. Adam Boqvist had gone down with a foot injury not too much earlier, and before long, Jake Bean joined the trio on the injured list with a season-ending shoulder injury – meaning Columbus had lost four of their top six defensemen to start the campaign within the season’s first 16 games. After a similarly flashy summer regarding player acquisitions, Werenski and the other Blue Jackets will look to avoid the same horrid injury luck.
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division this morning:
- Columbus also took forward Justin Danforth off injured reserve, who played just six games last season before a shoulder injury ended his campaign. The 5-foot-9 winger had gotten off to a great start during his second season in Columbus, registering two goals and an assist through five contests and even sliding up into the top six at points. The 30-year-old, a pending UFA with a $975K cap hit, could be on the outside looking in for a roster spot, however. The team needs spots in the lineup for younger forwards like Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Alexandre Texier, and, likely, Russian rookie Dmitri Voronkov after a strong KHL season in 2022-23.
- The Philadelphia Flyers made similar paper moves, per CapFriendly, activating forwards Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier and defenseman Victor Mete off injured reserve. Both Atkinson and Couturier missed the entirety of 2022-23 due to upper-body and back injuries, respectively. The Flyers’ front office has said repeatedly throughout the summer that they expected both players back at full health for the start of the upcoming season. Mete, a July free agent signing, played just 17 games between the NHL and AHL last season with Toronto before a lower-body injury shut him down for the season in early December.
- The New York Rangers have signed goaltender Brad Arvanitis to a PTO, according to a team announcement on X. He’ll be in camp as an extra body with an ECHL contract already secured with the Maine Mariners, the Boston Bruins’ affiliate, for next season. Arvanitis, 26, actually spent the majority of last season playing in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), a league technically one rung below the ECHL but carries no direct NHL affiliation. However, SPHL teams often serve as a source of reserve players for ECHL squads, and the two leagues will often loan players to each other throughout the season. In his first full professional season after finishing his collegiate career at Division III school Babson College, Arvanitis posted a .919 save percentage, 2.71 goals-against average and a 9-6-2 record in 20 appearances with the SPHL’s Pensacola Ice Flyers.
Avalanche Notes: Toews, Cogliano, Manson, Wagner, Maenalanen
Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews told reporters including Bennett Durando of The Denver Post that the two sides had some discussions about a possible contract extension. The 29-year-old has dominated over the past two seasons, reaching the 50-point mark both times while logging over 25 minutes a night. That’s the type of stat line for a number one defenseman but Toews is being paid nowhere near there with the AAV on his expiring deal checking in at $4.1MM; it wouldn’t be surprising to see him double that on a long-term contract. Toews also made it known that his desire is to remain with Colorado but with the big-ticket deals they have on the books and Mikko Rantanen being UFA-eligible in 2025, it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to accommodate Toews’ preference.
More from Colorado:
- Forward Andrew Cogliano will take part in training camp but is unlikely to suit up in the preseason, relays NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding (Twitter thread). He suffered a fractured vertebra in the playoffs against Seattle and it stands to reason that the Avs will opt to be careful with the 36-year-old who signed a one-year, $825K deal with them earlier this offseason.
- Over the weekend, head coach Jared Bednar indicated that the expectation for defenseman Josh Manson would be that he’d be ready for the start of camp. While he’ll be able to meet that timeline, Bednar told Boulding that Manson is dealing with a lower-body injury and won’t be 100% recovered. The 31-year-old battled injuries last season and was limited to just 27 games where he had 10 points but was limited to just 17:41 per game, a career low.
- Offseason signing Chris Wagner won’t be able to push for a roster spot after all as Bednar told Boulding that the forward ruptured his Achilles tendon and will be out until sometime in 2024. The 32-year-old has 360 career NHL games under his belt and could have fit in on a new-look fourth line but instead, he’ll miss at least the first half of the season.
- Saku Maenalanen was supposed to push for a roster spot while playing on a PTO but Peter Baugh of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that the winger failed his physical and has been released from his deal. The 29-year-old had 10 points in 64 games with Winnipeg last season and will now look to catch on elsewhere. Peter Holland and Joel Kiviranta are the remaining PTO forwards that will be aiming to secure a contract with the Avalanche.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres
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.
Buffalo Sabres
Current Cap Hit: $74,723,570 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Peyton Krebs (one year, $863K)
G Devon Levi (two years, $925K)
F John-Jason Peterka (two years, $856K)
D Owen Power (one year, $916K)
F Jack Quinn (two years, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Krebs: $412.5K
Levi: $925K
Peterka: $32.5K
Power: $1.85MM
Quinn: $850K
Total: $4.07MM
Krebs locked down a regular spot in Buffalo’s lineup last season but saw his per-game production drop along the way, failing to crack the double-digit goal mark in the process. He’s still an important part of their future but unless he can jump into an impact role this year, a bridge deal around the $2MM mark looks like his likely outcome while he’s unlikely to hit his ‘A’ bonuses. Quinn, on the other hand, already saw some top-six time last season and should get back to that role once he recovers from surgery. If he gets into the 25-30-goal range, he’s a candidate to go for a long-term contract right away. The injury will make it difficult for him to max on his four ‘A’ bonuses.
Peterka’s first full NHL campaign was a strong one given what was a bit of a limited role. He doesn’t necessarily profile as the type of player who the Sabres would want to bypass a bridge deal with but again, if he can lock down a full-time top-six spot over the next two years, it’s possible he plays himself into that core role. Peterka’s bonuses are of the games-played variety and as long as he stays healthy, he’ll hit them.
Power made his presence felt in his first full NHL season in 2022-23. He logged nearly 24 minutes a night, seeing tough minutes in all situations. He only scored four goals but added 31 assists, demonstrating that there is plenty of upside at that end of the rink. The 2021 first-overall selection is extension-eligible now and GM Kevyn Adams has indicated a desire to get an early extension done. Those contracts are rarely bridge agreements so a long-term pact will be coming his way. The eight-year, $64.4MM extension given to Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson stands as the likely starting point for those discussions. Notably, Power will have five years of club control next summer so a max-term deal will only give Buffalo three more years to work with. He has four ‘A’ bonuses and $1MM in ‘B’ bonuses; the A’s are likely to be hit while the B ones are quite difficult to hit.
Levi had quite a run down the stretch after his college season ended as he quickly took over the number one role, helping the Sabres to stay in the playoff race. Buffalo opted to not get another veteran to help ease him in so it’s fair to say he’s likely to get a big workload this year, giving him a chance to hit at least some of his four ‘A’ bonuses. Assuming he can hold it down, he could be eyeing a bridge deal around the $4.5MM mark, similar to the ones that Jake Oettinger and Spencer Knight signed. A long-term agreement would probably push past the $6MM mark.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
D Jacob Bryson ($1.85MM, RFA)
G Eric Comrie ($1.8MM, UFA)
D Rasmus Dahlin ($6MM, RFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($2.5MM, UFA)
D Erik Johnson ($3.25MM, UFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Tyson Jost ($2MM, UFA)
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen ($837.5K, RFA)
F Casey Mittelstadt ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Kyle Okposo ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Victor Olofsson ($4.75MM, UFA)
D Riley Stillman ($1.35MM, RFA)
Potential Bonuses
Okposo: $500K
It feels like Olofsson has been a speculative trade candidate for a few years now but yet, here he is still with Buffalo…for now at least. He impressed with 28 goals last season but still found himself on the fourth line and even out of the lineup at times. Buffalo has opted to keep giving him raises but if his ice time is limited again this season, the chances of another team seeing fit to do so next summer appear to be low. Okposo opted not to test free agency this summer, instead accepting this deal, a considerable cut from his $6MM AAV last season. He would have been hard-pressed to beat this the way the open market went and since he’ll be 36 in April, he’s likely going year-to-year from here on out. His bonus is payable with a Stanley Cup victory.
Girgensons also elected not to test free agency, inking this deal to stay with the team that drafted him in the first round in 2012. The market for bottom-six forwards wasn’t great so this looks like a wise move in hindsight. If he’s back on the fourth line routinely next season, free agency might not be as kind to him a year from now. Mittelstadt had a breakout campaign in 2022-23, setting new career bests across the board despite seeing a small dip in playing time. Given how his first few years went, this is a case where both sides will want to wait and see what comes next. A repeat showing could push his AAV toward the $6MM mark while if he takes a step back, it could land closer to $4MM. Jost chose to take less than his qualifying offer to stick around in Buffalo. He held his own after being claimed off waivers from Minnesota but will need to push for a regular top-nine spot if he wants to get another look as eventually, the Sabres will need to cut costs in their bottom six.
Dahlin’s situation has generated a lot of attention in recent weeks. Some had suggested it was likely that an early extension was coming early in the summer. Clearly, that hasn’t happened. Then the target appeared to be the start of training camp but that hasn’t happened yet either. A max-term agreement should push his AAV into the $10.5MM territory, give or take a couple hundred thousand either way. At this point, it’s possible that the term of the deal is the hold up more than the cap hit. If Dahlin opted for a medium-term pact, Buffalo would still gain several years of team control but he’d also be positioned to test the market while still being in his prime where a max-term pact could be more lucrative. The AAV on a shorter-term pact should check in at or just below $10MM.
Johnson’s signing was a puzzling one on paper after his role and playing time dipped sharply in Colorado the last couple of years. However, he adds some experience and leadership to a back end that didn’t have a ton of it before and it seems like Adams was willing to overpay for it. If he stays around the 17-minute mark, his market value might be closer to half things next summer. Jokiharju has struggled to stay healthy in the first two years of his bridge deal but has also logged more than 21 minutes a night in the 60 games per season he has played. If that continues this year, he’ll be positioned to at least get past the $3MM mark with arbitration rights even without much in the way of offensive production.
Both Bryson and Stillman find themselves in a similar situation, trying to secure a full-time spot in the lineup. Bryson looked like a future regular just a year ago but saw his playing time drop to under 15 minutes a game last season. Stillman, meanwhile, is with his third team in less than a year and has yet to solidify himself as a regular yet. Bryson needs to be qualified at $1.9MM and Stillman at $1.35MM. If they can’t lock down a bigger role in the lineup, both could be non-tender candidates.
Luukkonen had a rough year with Buffalo last season, posting a 3.61 GAA and a .891 SV% but it was his first taste of extended NHL action. He’s not ready to be a starter yet but he still is likely part of their future plans. At the moment, his next deal might be in the $1.5MM territory but a good year could send that upward quickly.
Signed Through 2024-25
F Jordan Greenway ($3MM, UFA)
F Lukas Rousek ($775K, RFA)
Greenway came over in a midseason trade with Minnesota and didn’t exactly light it up. Overall, he had just 11 points in 67 last season, numbers that are more in line with a fourth liner. Power forwards get plenty of runway to develop though and he’ll have a chance to rebuild some value over the next couple of years. Rousek is a contender to land a spot in training camp after a strong showing last season with Rochester. If he’s able to do so, a seven-figure deal should be achievable in 2025.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Connor Clifton ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Alex Tuch ($4.75MM, UFA)
Tuch had shown flashes of top-six upside with Vegas and in his first stint with the Sabres but couldn’t sustain it consistently. That changed last season as he became a bona fide top liner, shattering his previous benchmarks while passing the point-per-game mark for the first time. Given the premium placed on big forwards, this contract is currently well below market value.
Clifton’s first taste of free agency was a good one, landing a deal whose AAV is almost as high as his career earnings to date. He adds some sandpaper to Buffalo’s back end and should fill the spot of Ilya Lyubushkin who was traded to Anaheim earlier this summer. This deal seemed a bit on the high side when it was signed although his market was relatively strong by all accounts.
Kings Sign 13 Players To Camp Tryout Agreements
The Kings have released their training camp roster, one that features plenty of players on tryout agreements. A total of 13 unaffiliated players will be taking part in camp with Los Angeles as they fill out an extended roster with the majority of their NHL roster in Australia for a pair of games against Arizona later this week.
Up front, Ryan Francis, Nathan Burke, Isaac Johnson, Sean Tschigerl, Ty Thorpe, Easton Armstrong, and Sam Alfaro will all be taking part. They’ll be joined by defensemen Max Coyle, Jacob Modry, Chase Pauls, Samuel Mayer, and Hunter Mayo, along with goaltender Jacob Oster.
Francis, Burke, and Johnson all topped last season at the AHL level with Laval, San Jose, and Manitoba, respectively. As for Tschigerl, Thorpe, and Alfano, they played at the CHL level with Calgary, Vancouver, and Erie. The first two are eligible to turn pro now while Alfano, being 19 until January, is ineligible to play in the minors this season. Armstrong, meanwhile, also was in major junior last year but has already committed to play with Fargo of the USHL in 2023-24.
As for the blueliners, Coyle and Modry played collegiately with Bowling Green State and SUNY-Plattsburgh. Modry is the son of long-time NHL blueliner Jaroslav Modry who spent parts of ten seasons with Los Angeles. Pauls, Mayer, and Mayo all played in the CHL with Lethbridge, Peterborough, and Red Deer. Pauls and Mayer are AHL-eligible but Mayo is not. Oster is also ineligible to play in the minors and is likely ticketed to return to OHL Oshawa.
For the majority of these players, they’ll be looking to land a contract with AHL Ontario, the Kings’ affiliate at that level or at least get an invite to their training camp. For the junior-only players, they’ll be hoping for an entry-level contract or to at least get on an NHL radar moving forward. It’s not often that a team brings in this many players on training camp tryouts but odds being odds, at least one or two of them will get an extended look beyond the next few weeks.
Columbus Blue Jackets Issue Multiple Injury Updates
Ahead of training camps opening, the Columbus Blue Jackets released the injury status of four players:
D Jake Bean – out week-to-week with an abductor strain (groin)
F Kirill Marchenko – out day-to-day with back strain
F Mathieu Olivier – out week-to-week with a leg injury
G Daniil Tarasov – out day-to-day with a knee injury
The news sounds especially disappointing for the young Bean, who was limited to just 14 games last season thanks to a shoulder injury. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline relays he’s likely to miss the most time out of any player on this list, putting his availability for the beginning of the regular season in doubt.
It hasn’t been a smooth journey for the 2016 13th overall pick, as his development has been interrupted by injuries on multiple occasions. Without a clear path to a full-time roster spot with the team that drafted him in Carolina, the Hurricanes traded him to Columbus at the 2021 draft in a series of deals that saw Seth Jones head from Columbus to the Chicago Blackhawks. Bean seemed to put some things together in his first season with Columbus, notching 25 points in 67 games while earning a top-four role and posting acceptable possession numbers.
When he can make his season debut, he likely won’t get the same opportunity. After acquiring Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson this summer, Columbus’ top four is full, and there’s simply no way Bean will get the nearly 21 minutes per game he got in 2021-22. Missing training camp will only hurt matters, as his competitors for ice time will have more of a chance to show new head coach Pascal Vincent that they’re deserving of NHL ice.
Olivier is the other player whose absence is tabbed as longer-term. Portzline says this was a known factor for Columbus, as Olivier played the tail end of last season with a broken bone in his leg and experienced “complications” during offseason recovery. It’s unclear when exactly we can expect Olivier to return to the team. The 26-year-old enforcer scored a career-high 15 points in 66 games last season, his first in Columbus after beginning his pro career with the Nashville Predators. The spot he vacates in the lineup gives more opportunity for players like the returning Alexandre Texier and youngsters like Cole Sillinger and Dmitri Voronkov to gain spots on the team’s opening-night roster.
Marchenko’s and Tarasov’s absences are shorter-term and not expected to stretch into the regular season. Portzline says that both players would be available if the regular season began tomorrow and also clarified that Tarasov’s knee injury is not connected to the one that limited him to just four NHL contests in 2021-22.
East Notes: Nylander, Pinto, Lafrenière
The Toronto Maple Leafs are returning to an experiment that’s yielded middling returns at best when tried in the past. Head coach Sheldon Keefe is beginning training camp by utilizing William Nylander at center, putting the Swede back in the position he played when he was drafted in a crucial year for both team and player.
In theory, the move could pay serious dividends if kept long-term. It allows Keefe to roll out Nylander, Auston Matthews and John Tavares on three separate units while letting David Kämpf hone his shutdown specialty in a fourth-line role. If Nylander can adapt to playing down the middle, it would also give more support to a rag-tag group of wingers made up of skilled free-agent signings on one-year deals and youngsters looking to prove they can handle full-time roles. He hasn’t ever stuck as a full-time center, however, and he was famously moved there by former head coach Mike Babcock during the postseason early in his career. It didn’t work out – he scored just three goals through his first three playoff series, but he’s exploded since then and solidified himself as a consistent playoff performer – which is more than other stars on the team can say.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference today:
- Things are still progressing on the Shane Pinto front for the Ottawa Senators. The RFA remains without a contract as training camp looms in a matter of hours now, but general manager Pierre Dorion tells TSN’s Claire Hanna he’s getting “creative” in freeing up cap space to sign the young center. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch also chimed in today, reporting the Sens and Pinto aren’t far apart on a new deal but that many moving parts (i.e., creating cap space via trade) still need to get worked out. While it’s anyone’s guess if Pinto will be in attendance for the first day of training camp, it does seem the wheels are in motion to make things work, and it won’t be too much longer before he reports, new contract in hand.
- New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette says he’ll open camp with 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafrenière at right wing. Many have speculated a move to his off-wing could be beneficial for the 21-year-old, who’s struggled to find ice time on the left wing behind Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin. It could work out to be a prudent move for the Rangers’ new bench boss, as getting both Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko clicking in top-six roles out of the gate alongside the team’s veteran firepower would be incredibly impactful for their long-term futures with the team.
Andrei Svechnikov Expected To Be Ready For Start Of Regular Season
Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov is ahead of schedule in his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery performed in March and will likely be cleared to play by the start of the 2023-24 regular season, general manager Don Waddell told The Athletic’s Michael Russo today.
Svechnikov tore an ACL ligament just after the trade deadline had passed, resulting in surgery that kept him out for the remainder of the 2022-23 regular season and playoffs. It was a gigantic blow to the scoring ability of a Hurricanes team that still managed to reach the Eastern Conference Final without him but lost in a sweep to the Florida Panthers. Carolina has now lost three consecutive Conference Final series without winning a game – in fact, the franchise, despite all their recent success, has not won a game in the final two postseason rounds since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006.
Being ready for the start of the regular season was always a possibility but never a certainty. The standard recovery timeline for his procedure is six to nine months, meaning he could have returned as early as training camp but as late as the Christmas break. There’s been a tone of optimism around Svechnikov’s recovery all summer after he started skating in mid-July, but Waddell stopped short of saying he’d be ready to go for the season opener as soon as last month.
A healthy and confident Svechnikov will be a core piece in helping the Hurricanes get over the hump and again compete for a Stanley Cup. After reshaping their blueline to have the most depth in the league, thanks to adds like Dmitry Orlov, Anthony DeAngelo and Caleb Jones, the Hurricanes are in the conversation for President’s Trophy favorites ahead of puck drop on 2023-24.
Svechnikov is entering the third season of an eight-year, $62MM contract signed before the 2021-22 campaign. The 23-year-old is still looking to eclipse the point-per-game mark for the first time but was still on pace for back-to-back 30-goal seasons before the ACL tear ended his campaign prematurely. He totalled 23 goals, 32 points and 55 points in 64 games last year and has accumulated 112 goals in 347 games throughout his NHL career.
He’s currently projected to help anchor the team’s second forward line on the left wing, with Jesperi Kotkaniemi down the middle and Martin Necas on the right flank. That line controlled 56.9% of expected goals at even strength through 231 minutes together last season, per MoneyPuck. Youngster Seth Jarvis and free-agent acquisition Michael Bunting could get primary even-strength ice time with Sebastian Aho as their center to start the season.
Calgary Flames Sign Jonathan Aspirot To PTO
The Calgary Flames will have career AHLer Jonathan Aspirot in training camp on a professional tryout, according to their training camp roster released Wednesday. If signed to an NHL or AHL deal, it’ll be his second pro organization after spending the last four seasons with the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate in Belleville.
The 24-year-old Aspirot has appeared exclusively for Belleville since turning pro in 2019 and can play both defense and left wing, although he’s listed on Calgary’s roster as a defenseman. He’s amassed 19 goals, 44 assists and 63 points in 161 AHL games, certainly respectable numbers for a physical bottom-of-the-lineup defender. He’s a career +10 player across those four seasons in Belleville, too.
An undrafted free agent, Aspirot initially signed an AHL deal with Belleville for the 2019-20 and earned a three-year, entry-level contract with Ottawa the following summer. He never received a call-up to the Sens’ roster, however, aside from a few days on the team’s taxi squad during the 2020-21 season. As such, the team did not issue him a qualifying offer in June, and he became an unrestricted free agent.
It may be tough for him to earn a contract with the Flames, however. They already have seven defensemen under contract expected to be assigned to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. However, the Wranglers do have just one defenseman under AHL contract – 24-year-old Jarrod Gourley, who spent most of last season in the ECHL. Aspirot would provide the Wranglers with more quality depth should the Flames need to recall multiple of their mainstay defenders to the NHL roster due to injuries and provide more competition for the Flames’ young prospects.
Aspirot will be the only Flames player attending camp on a tryout who did not have a previous tie to the organization.
Injury Notes: Norris, Ekholm, Poolman
The Ottawa Senators’ playoff hopes were dashed last season in large part due to the absence of second-line center Josh Norris from the lineup. A shoulder injury sustained during training camp limited him to just eight games, but the team hoped he’d be fully ready to go this season after shutting him down for the 2022-23 campaign in January. That may not be the case, as general manager Pierre Dorion said today Norris will wear a non-contact jersey to begin training camp after tweaking something partially related to his shoulder during a captains’ skate last week.
“Josh doesn’t want to wear [the non-contact jersey], but he’ll wear one for a short period of time,” Dorion said. “If the regular season was starting, he’d be playing, just being extra cautious with ongoing rehab.” The 24-year-old centerman is entering the second season of an eight-year, $63.6MM extension signed in July 2022. In 2021-22, his last mostly healthy season, he notched 35 goals and 55 points in 66 contests.
Some other unfortunate injury news as some teams return to the ice for main camps today:
- Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm is dealing with a minor hip flexor injury and won’t be a full participant when the team’s training camp begins tomorrow, general manager Ken Holland informed reporters, including TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. It’s unclear whether this is an injury that was sustained last season and hasn’t fully healed or whether it’s something Ekholm sustained during the offseason. He didn’t miss any games after coming over from the Nashville Predators prior to last season’s trade deadline. The 33-year-old Swede, who has three seasons remaining on a deal carrying a $6.25MM cap hit, notched five goals and 21 points in 33 regular-season and playoff games in an Oilers jersey to close out the previous campaign. He is once again expected to play a pivotal top-four role and remains a valuable second-pair partner to growing power-play dynamo Evan Bouchard.
- The Vancouver Canucks confirmed the expected news that defenseman Tucker Poolman will begin the season on long-term injured reserve and won’t attend their training camp. Poolman has suffered from migraines stemming from concussions for multiple seasons and last suited up for the Canucks at the beginning of 2022-23. He’s played in just 43 games for the Canucks since signing a four-year, $10MM contract with them in free agency in 2021.
Montreal Canadiens’ Christian Dvorak Will Miss First Month Of Season
Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes confirmed to reporters, including TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, today that center Christian Dvorak will not make his season debut until at least November. At a minimum, he will miss the first nine games of 2023-24 after undergoing knee surgery in mid-March.
Hughes said last week that Dvorak, 27, was not yet cleared to play and needed to have an additional consultation with his surgeon. He declined to give a timeline at that moment, but the team now has additional clarity on the status of his recovery. He is behind schedule, as the team initially expected Dvorak to be ready for the start of 2023-24 when he went under the knife over six months ago.
The Palos, Illinois, native has two seasons under his belt as a Hab after coming over from the Arizona Coyotes via trade during the 2021 offseason. Since then, he’s occupied the team’s second-line center role behind Nick Suzuki when healthy – a key caveat given he’s only played in 120 out of 164 possible games in Montreal. Even when in the lineup last season, he struggled heavily, posting ten goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 64 games. That works out to 0.44 points per game, his lowest scoring rate in a full season since putting up 0.42 points per game in his rookie campaign, 2016-17.
All that means Dvorak is slated for a diminished role this season when he does reach full health. Unless the team moves him to the wing, he could very well end up as Montreal’s fourth-line center or even occasionally sitting in the press box. Behind Suzuki, Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan are currently projected to center the second and third lines. They both produced at a higher rate and averaged more ice time than Dvorak in 2022-23. Dvorak has played some left-wing at the NHL level in the past, though, and he could still find himself in a top-nine role if names like Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Juraj Slafkovsky haven’t done enough to demonstrate they belong on the team’s top three lines through the first month of the season.
A silver lining here for Montreal is some potential increased salary cap flexibility. If they deem Dvorak is set to miss a little bit at the beginning of November as well, that would translate to him being out of the lineup for at least ten games and 24 days. That makes him eligible for long-term injured reserve at the beginning of the season, and combined with de facto retired netminder Carey Price‘s $10.5MM cap hit, Dvorak’s $4.45MM cap hit could add more options for Hughes to manage Montreal’s books out of the gate for the most efficient use of LTIR relief.