Oilers Recall James Hamblin On Emergency Basis
When Connor Brown wasn’t able to play on Saturday, the Oilers were forced to play short a player. In doing so, they created a short-term cap-exempt emergency recall. The team announced that the recall has been used on James Hamblin who has been promoted from AHL Bakersfield.
The 24-year-old made his NHL debut last season with Edmonton, getting into ten games with the big club. He was held without a point but recorded a dozen shots on goal while averaging just under nine minutes per game. He spent most of last season in the minors where he had 10 goals and 18 assists in 52 games with the Condors. This season, Hamblin is off to a good start with two goals and three helpers in six contests, helping him earn this promotion.
Hamblin is in the final season of a two-year, entry-level contract which carries a cap hit of $807.5K. The AAV being that low permitted him to be the recall; teams are limited to bringing up a player making no more than $100K above the league minimum salary ($775K this year) when using a cap-exempt promotion. Once Brown or Mattias Janmark return from their respective injuries, Hamblin will need to be returned to Bakersfield.
Ducks Activate Alex Killorn, Assign Robert Hagg To AHL
The Ducks are welcoming back a key forward tonight as they announced that they have activated winger Alex Killorn from injured reserve. To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Robert Hagg was returned to AHL San Diego.
Killorn landed the richest deal for a forward in free agency last summer with Anaheim inking the 34-year-old to a four-year, $25MM agreement. He was coming off a career year with Tampa Bay, one that saw him record 27 goals and 37 assists in 82 games while adding five points in six playoff contests against Toronto.
While the Ducks aren’t expected to be contending in the short term, GM Pat Verbeek clearly prioritized adding some veterans to what was (and still is) a pretty young roster and was hoping that Killorn would line up in a prominent role to start the season. Instead, he suffered a fractured finger during the preseason, one that kept him out of the lineup for nearly five weeks.
As for Hagg, he was recalled just yesterday so his time with the big club was certainly short-lived. He was brought up to serve as an extra defender with Tristan Luneau on a conditioning assignment but as Luneau remains part of Anaheim’s active roster while with San Diego, the Ducks needed Hagg’s roster spot to activate Killorn in advance of tonight’s game against Vegas. He has played in three games for the Gulls so far this season.
Nino Niederreiter Hoping To Sign An Extension With Jets
Getting players to sign extensions in Winnipeg has been a hit-or-miss proposition for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. In recent months, clearly, Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted no part of that but he got Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck to sign on the dotted line. When those two did so, it took care of their two more prominent pending unrestricted free agents.
One notable among the list still needing a new deal is Nino Niederreiter. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reports that the winger’s camp has made it known to Cheveldayoff that he’d like to stick around and that his agent Andre Rufener will be in town this week to discuss a possible new contract for his client.
The 31-year-old didn’t have a particularly strong market in his last trip through unrestricted free agency in the 2022 offseason. It took more than a week for him to land a two-year, $8MM contract with Nashville, a move that represented a $1.25MM cut in pay despite putting up a 24-goal showing with Carolina the year before.
Niederreiter’s stay with the Predators was fairly short-lived as he was moved to Winnipeg in the days leading up to the trade deadline back in February for a second-round pick. He finished up the season relatively well with 13 points in 22 games while adding four more in their five-game first-round exit at the hands of Vegas.
Now, with a full training camp with the Jets under his belt, Niederreiter is off to a strong start to his 2023-24 season, notching five goals and four assists in his first 11 games, good for a share of the team lead in points. With that in mind, it’s not surprising to see him want to extend his stay as the fit with Winnipeg appears to be a good one.
Speculatively, for Niederreiter to justify signing an extension this early in the season, it might take a bit more than his current price tag to get him to put pen to paper on a new deal. On top of that, it stands to reason that a contract longer than two years will likely be required. But if Winnipeg likes the way that he’s fitting in, an early extension would make a lot of sense on their end as well. If one happens, it’ll be a pretty good longer-term outcome for a trade deadline pickup that largely went under the radar last season.
Andrew Mangiapane Receives One-Game Suspension
6:00 PM: The verdict is in and Mangiapane has been assessed a one-game suspension. In the video, it’s noted that the league accepted Mangiapane’s contention that he wasn’t intending to drive McCann’s head into the ice and acknowledged that the Flames forward didn’t use his full extension of arms or body weight. However, he was deemed to have full body control, resulting in the decision to suspend him. This is the first suspension of his career and he will forfeit just over $30K in salary.
12:05 PM: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has announced that Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane will have a hearing today for cross-checking forward Jared McCann in last night’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
The incident in question occurred at a chaotic moment during yesterday’s 6-3 Flames victory, wherein Mangiapane and other Flames players were making a push in the offensive zone, trying to get a goal past a scrambling Seattle netminder.
Mangiapane fired a backhander towards an open net that was promptly blocked by McCann, who as part of his block slid towards Mangiapane. The puck appeared to stay with McCann after the block, and, in his search for the puck under McCann, Mangiapane delivered a cross-check to the head/neck area of McCann.
McCann immediately recoiled, a whistle was blown, and Mangiapane was assessed a match penalty with a standard 15 penalty minutes added to his record. Now, Mangiapane is facing supplemental discipline by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and could end up missing games for the Flames.
Any Mangiapane suspension would be a major blow to the Flames, who count on the 27-year-old as one of their more consistent scorers. Mangiapane currently ranks second on the Flames with seven points in 11 games, and losing him for any amount of time would make it even more difficult for the team to climb out of the 3-7-1 hole it has found itself in to start the season.
Calgary Flames Assign Three Players To AHL
11/6: As expected, Ryan Pike confirmed today that the Flames organization had re-called all three players back up to the NHL club.
11/5: Ryan Pike of FlamesNation is reporting that the Calgary Flames have assigned forwards Martin Pospisil and Connor Zary, as well as defenseman Nick DeSimone to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Because the team does not play today, and considering Pospisil and DeSimone have already cleared waivers this year, it is entirely likely this is only a paper transaction. All three players should be on the Flames roster again shortly.
Since coming over to the Flames organization during the 2019-20 season, Pospisil has been a solid player at the AHL level when healthy. This season, when playing for the Wranglers, Pospisil has scored three goals and three assists in six games, sitting fourth on the team in points in the early days of the season. He made his NHL debut last night against the Seattle Kraken and scored his first NHL goal while getting a bit over 10 minutes of ice time.
Now in his third season with Calgary, DeSimone was called up to replace the minutes left behind by defenseman Jordan Oesterle, who had recently been placed on waivers in order to send him down to the AHL. DeSimone was also able to crack the lineup during last night’s game against the Kraken, where he provided one assist in 12 minutes of ice time.
Similarly to Pospisil, Zary is another young prospect in the Flames organization and has played in two games since being called up on an emergency loan on October 31st. In those two games played, Zary has provided Calgary with one goal and one assist, playing on the team’s second line next to Nazem Kadri and Yegor Sharangovich.
East Notes: Blue Jackets, McCabe, Timmins
Going into the regular season, there was no question that the Columbus Blue Jackets were dealing with a roster glut, and have been keen on moving players up and down regularly given their current level of play. This was evidenced most recently on Friday, as the Blue Jackets decided to send down top-center prospect, Kent Johnson, in exchange for Yegor Chinakhov from the Cleveland Monsters.
In a Sunday article, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic touched on a few of these issues, most notably pointing out that Blue Jackets General Manager, Jarmo Kekalainen is still working the phones to move out a few players, and that scouts from the Philadelphia Flyers and Winnipeg Jets organizations were seen at the team’s game this past Thursday.
The feeling around the organization is that trade must come sooner rather than later, as Portzline also mentions that Kirill Marchenko can only play in two more games before becoming waiver-eligible, and six games remain for Cole Sillinger. Although Marchenko was a prized goal-scorer for Columbus last season, his recent play led to new head coach, Pascal Vincent, scratching the young forward in the team’s game last night against the Washington Capitals.
Other notes:
- David Alter of The Hockey News is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman, Jake McCabe, will return to practice with the team today. The team could certainly benefit from the return of his defensive prowess, as the team has lost four straight games since McCabe went down with a groin injury. It remains to be seen whether or not he will return to game action this week, as Toronto has an upcoming four-game homestand.
- Sticking with the Maple Leafs, similarly to McCabe, Mark Masters of TSN reports that Toronto defenseman, Conor Timmins, was seen skating today in practice. Working his way back from a lower-body injury, Timmins has been on long-term injured reserve since the beginning of the season. Although the Maple Leafs should have a full defensive unit upon his return, they could certainly improve upon the trio of Simon Benoit, William Lagesson, and Maxime Lajoie as their depth defenseman on the NHL roster.
Minor Transactions: 11/05/23
It’s another busy day for hockey, although most of the game action is happening outside the NHL. Just four teams in the world’s top league are set to do battle today, although the schedule does feature quite a few games in Germany, Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and in the CHL.
Regular-season play poses many challenges to pro clubs around the world, with injuries and underperformance often causing player movement. As always, we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.
- Former Detroit Red Wings prospect Seth Barton has decided to continue his career overseas, signing a contract with KooKoo Kouvola of the Finnish Liiga. According to the team, the contract contains a trial period lasting until the end of the calendar year and is of a one-year duration with an option to extend for another season. Barton, 24, was a 2018 third-round pick who this past summer signed an AHL deal with the Hartford Wolf Pack, re-uniting him with Ryan Martin. Martin, the GM of the Wolf Pack and assistant GM of the New York Rangers, was the GM of Barton’s former team, the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. With Ben Harpur, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, Nikolas Brouillard, and Connor Mackey standing in his way, Barton was unlikely to see significant time at the AHL level. So rather than potentially spend the season playing ECHL hockey with the Cincinnati Cyclones, Barton has decided to instead play in Liiga. He’ll join a KooKoo squad that is in need of defensive reinforcement as they have surrendered the second-most goals in league play.
- Kenny Johnson, the younger brother of veteran NHLer Jack Johnson, has signed a standard player contract with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. The six-foot-four former Penn State Nittany Lion concluded his four-year NCAA career last season and dipped his toes in the waters of pro hockey with games on two ECHL teams: the Orlando Solar Bears and Wheeling Nailers. Johnson has played in the Royals’ game yesterday and will look to secure a regular place in their lineup in what would be his rookie ECHL campaign.
This page may be updated throughout the day
Tampa Bay Lightning Assign Waltteri Merelä To AHL
The Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned forward Waltteri Merelä to their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
Merelä, 25, has played this season entirely in the NHL and has been held scoreless through ten contests with the Lightning. As a waiver-exempt player, sending Merelä to the AHL allows Tampa Bay to activate veteran forward Tyler Motte off of injured reserve without needing to risk losing a player on waivers in order to create the necessary room on the roster.
A signing out of Tappara Tampere of the Finnish Liiga, Merelä has averaged nearly 11 minutes time-on-ice per game including 1:20 short-handed time on ice per game. Although he hasn’t scored yet, Merelä was a solid scorer in Liiga and should be capable of putting some points together at least at the AHL level.
Merelä brings a winning pedigree to Syracuse as a two-time Liiga champion and one-time winner of the Champions Hockey League. If the six-foot-three forward can find a way to translate some of his scoring success in Finland to the AHL ice, he should be able to find his way back to Tampa this season.
For Tampa Bay, this reassignment serves as a potential indication that Motte is ready to return to the lineup. The return of Motte would be a welcome development, as he is a respected fourth-liner who hasn’t had the chance to really make an impact for the Lightning just yet. He has played in just one game this season, the team’s opening game against the Nashville Predators.
Mathew Barzal Fined For High-Sticking
The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for high-sticking Carolina Hurricanes blueliner Tony DeAngelo.
The incident in question occurred in the second period of last night’s game, a comeback 4-3 win for the Hurricanes. The play was described at the time by Newsday’s Andrew Gross at the time described as “Barzal swings his stick and hits DeAngelo in the head.” Barzal took a penalty on the play.
While the fine is the maximum allowable under the CBA, it’s unlikely Barzal was truly at risk of being suspended for the play.
Instead, he’ll take a small financial hit and be able to move on to the Islanders’ next game, which is Tuesday when they host the Minnesota Wild. Barzal is one of the Islanders’ most important scorers, and he currently sits tied for third on the team in scoring with eight points in 10 games.
New York Rangers Assign Three Players To AHL
4:18 PM: The Rangers announce that all three players have been recalled from Hartford.
9:15 AM: The New York Rangers have reassigned three players to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack: forward Jonny Brodzinski, defenseman Connor Mackey, and goaltender Louis Domingue. The trio of players were recalled on November 3rd for the team’s eventual shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild.
Brodzinski filled in as the team’s third-line center with Filip Chytil injured and veteran Barclay Goodrow away from the team to be with his wife for the birth of their child. Mackey was recalled to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman due to the Adam Fox injury, and Domingue was recalled in order to back up Jonathan Quick, due to an injury to starter Igor Shesterkin.
Now the three players have been returned to Hartford with just Brodzinski managing to skate in an NHL game. These reassignments are of significant consequence for the Wolf Pack, who rely on Brodzinski as their captain and offensive engine. (he has six goals, 11 points in seven games) Mackey plays a top-four role in Hartford while Domingue splits starts with prospect Dylan Garand.
For the Rangers, the return of Brodzinski to the minors indicates that, at the very least, Goodrow is ready to return to the lineup. Chytil could still take some time to recover from his injury, though it’s not expected to keep him out long-term.
As for the situation in net, Domingue’s reassignment indicates that Shesterkin could be ready to at least take up backup duties for the Rangers’ next game, which is Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Beyond the lineup implications, these reassignments have an impact on the Rangers’ salary cap situation. USA Today’s Vince Z. Mercogliano reports that these reassignments mean that the Rangers no longer have to dip into their pool of newly available cap space (due to placing Fox on LTIR) and as a result, the team is now able to accrue cap space.