Evening Injuries: Vilardi, Samuelsson, Guhle
For the first time since being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets this offseason, forward Gabriel Vilardi would take on his former team, the Los Angeles Kings. Unfortunately, Vilardi would only play around six minutes of the game before leaving with an apparent knee injury. Shortly thereafter, the Jets would announce that Vilardi would miss the rest of the game, and more would be known about the severity after the game.
Playing in their defensive zone early on the first, as they were both going into the corner, forward for the Kings, Blake Lizotte, appeared to get his stick behind the left leg of Vilardi, causing him to fall awkwardly on his right knee. Without the ability to put much pressure on his right leg after the fall, Vilardi immediately bolted for the locker room, where he is being attended to by team doctors (Link to video).
Although it is too early to tell, if Vilardi is set to miss significant time for the Jets, it would obviously be a big blow to both him and the team. There have been injury concerns for Vilardi in the past, but with him now playing on the top line in Winnipeg, it creates a much larger hole to fill. As it is well known throughout the league, Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks is on the trade block and could be a potential landing spot if Vilardi is set to hit the LTIR.
Other injuries:
- The Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson would sit out the remainder of the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an upper-body injury. Although the Sabres did add defensemen Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson to significantly improve the team’s defense, as far as the ability to shut down the opposing team’s forwards, Samuelsson is one of the best on the team. In the first season of a seven-year, $30MM contract extension signed at the start of last year, it would be a significant hurdle for Buffalo if Samuelsson is set to miss any time beyond tonight.
- In one of the more chaotic games of the young season, the Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle would miss the rest of the team’s game against the Minnesota Wild after leaving late in the second period. In total tonight, before leaving the losing effort, Guhle played just over 10 minutes of action, taking one slashing penalty against Marcus Johansson.
Alex Goligoski Out With Lower-Body Injury
Absent from tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Alex Goligoski is out with a lower-body injury. For context on that injury, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that Goligoski injured himself sometime during practice with the team yesterday.
Playing on the last year of a two-year, $4MM contract signed with the Wild back in 2022, Goligoski is not getting off to the best start in what could be his final year in the NHL. In the team’s first two games, Goligoski has averaged just over 17 minutes of ice time, scoring zero points, blocking five shots, and already carrying a -3 rating.
In Minnesota’s most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Goligoski would take a tripping penalty near the beginning of the second period, allowing the Maple Leafs to take a 4-1 lead on the night after a Tyler Bertuzzi goal on the powerplay. The Wild finished the second period on a high note, pulling themselves one goal away from tying the game. Nevertheless, with about seven minutes gone in the third period, Goligoski took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, eliminating Minnesota’s momentum for the rest of the evening.
Replacing Goligoski in the lineup tonight will be 29-year-old defenseman Dakota Mermis, who has yet to play in any games for the Wild up to this point. More importantly, however, if Goligoski continues his run of play on the Minnesota blue line, he could find himself on the waiver wire once captain Jared Spurgeon returns from his upper-body injury.
Snapshots: Dubois, Fabbri, Greaves
In an article by Carter Brooks of The Hockey News, it was reported that the current head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, Rick Bowness, spent some time trying to convince Pierre-Luc Dubois to stay with the Jets long-term, but ultimately fell short of that goal. In the end, as he was publicly vocal about his desire to leave Winnipeg, the Jets would trade him to the Los Angeles Kings for a trio of forwards this past summer, and Dubois would sign an eight-year, $68MM extension in Los Angeles.
Included in the article was a quote from Bowness about the situation last year, saying, “I had no problem with ‘Dubie. I talked to him an awful lot, spent a lot of time with him. I was trying to convince him to stay, but that wasn’t going to happen no matter what. I have no problem with Dubie at all. We had a very good rapport“. During the entirety of the Dubois saga in Winnipeg, it appeared on the outside as if there were internal struggles surrounding the team given Dubois’ attitude towards the organization, but the head coach seems to disagree with that narrative entirely.
Nevertheless, the Jets are making good on their end of the trade, as the forwards acquired, Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari have all scored a combined one goal and two assists in the team’s first two games of the season, while Dubois has yet to find the scoreboard for the winless Kings. Tonight, Dubois will make his first return to Winnipeg since the trade, in front of what is likely to be an extremely vocal crowd.
Other snapshots:
- Seemingly losing game time to injury every season, Robby Fabbri of the Detroit Red Wings has already missed two games with an undisclosed injury early on this season. According to Ansan Khan of MLive, Fabbri shouldn’t be out too much longer, as the team is looking to have him back in the lineup this weekend as they take on the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames. In the same report, Khan also noted that defenseman Jeff Petry is also expected to be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but would not elaborate on what defenseman would sit in his place.
- After being recalled to the Columbus Blue Jackets on an emergency basis yesterday morning, the team has announced they have returned goaltender Jet Greaves back to their AHL, the Cleveland Monsters. Greaves served as the backup option behind Spencer Martin last night against Detroit, giving regular starting netminder, Elvis Merzļikins, a bit more time to recover from a bout of the flu.
Panthers Recall William Lockwood, Loan Mackie Samoskevich To AHL
The Florida Panthers have swapped forwards with their minor-league affiliate, the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, per a team announcement. William Lockwood is coming up to the big leagues, while rookie winger Mackie Samoskevich has been loaned to the minors.
Lockwood, 25, joined the Panthers last summer by signing a two-year, two-way deal worth $1.55MM. The former Canucks prospect cleared waivers pre-season and was off to a hot start with his new organization, potting two goals and an assist in two appearances with the Checkers. He has 28 previous NHL appearances to his name, all coming with the Canucks between 2020-21 and 2022-23. He appeared in 13 contests last season, recording his first NHL point, an assist, in the process.
The Panthers are able to carry a full 23-man roster with defenseman Aaron Ekblad on LTIR for the time being, and they’re taking full advantage by carrying 14 forwards and seven defenders with the team and auditioning some new faces. Lockwood could be one of them, along with former Canucks and Sharks winger Jonah Gadjovich, who the Panthers signed yesterday after he’d inked an AHL-only deal with the Checkers earlier in the summer. For now, Lockwood and Gadjovich are projected to serve as the extra forwards while 2020 third-round pick Justin Sourdif gets a continued look in the Panthers’ top nine with Sam Bennett sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Samoskevich, still just 20 years old, now heads to Charlotte to get more consistent playing time while the Panthers cycle through their depth options. The 24th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft had two assists in two regular-season games with the Checkers to end last season and added four assists in seven playoff games. That came after a standout sophomore season at the University of Michigan, where he tallied 20 goals, 23 assists and 43 points in 39 games. Now in the second season of his entry-level deal, Samoskevich costs $925K against the cap, while Lockwood costs the league minimum $775K – although the savings don’t amount to any long-term benefit with the Panthers using LTIR to stay cap-compliant.
Lockwood will require waivers to return to Charlotte if he plays more than ten games during his recall or is on the roster for more than 30 days.
Canucks Place Guillaume Brisebois On LTIR
The Canucks announced Tuesday that defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has been placed on long-term injured reserve. In a corresponding transaction, forward Jack Studnicka was moved to the active roster after being brought up on emergency recall last Thursday.
Brisebois, 26, has not played yet in 2023-24 after sustaining a lower-body injury late in training camp. The 66th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft had remained on Vancouver’s roster as an extra skater but did not appear in their first two games of the season, both wins against the Oilers.
A mainstay with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate since turning pro in 2017, Brisebois played in a career-high 17 NHL games in 2022-23, recording his first NHL goal and adding two assists for three points along with a -2 rating. Averaging 16:32 per game, Brisebois’ defensive game didn’t translate well to the majors – he posted a rather aggressively low 37.6% Corsi share at even strength and averaged being on the ice for a goal against per game.
It’s unclear if Brisebois will remain on the roster once his LTIR stint is done or if he’ll be waived for the purpose of assignment to AHL Abbotsford once healthy. Assuming his LTIR placement is retroactive to the beginning of the season, he will be eligible to return for the Canucks’ game on November 4 against the Stars. Players on LTIR must miss at least ten games and 24 days of action.
Brisebois is in the first season of a two-year, $1.55MM extension signed with the Canucks in March. While the contract is a one-way deal in 2024-25, he’s still getting paid on a two-way structure this season – the minimum $775K in the NHL and $375K in the AHL.
Studnicka was brought up on emergency recall after cap constraints and injuries forced the Canucks to play short for their first of two games against the Oilers last week. Skating in a fourth-line role, Studnicka scored in 7:19 of ice time during the team’s 4-3 win over Edmonton on Saturday.
Pacific Notes: Carrier, Martinez, Vlasic, Carlsson, Soucy/Friedman
Golden Knights forward William Carrier will return to the lineup Tuesday against the Stars, head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed today. Carrier, 28, missed Vegas’ last two games with an upper-body injury.
The defending Stanley Cup champions are picking up where they left off, receiving spectacular goaltending from Adin Hill and Logan Thompson en route to a 3-0-0 record and league-high +9 goal differential. Carrier hasn’t been a part of that, however – he played just over five minutes in the season opener against Seattle before leaving with the UBI and sitting out their following two wins against San Jose and Anaheim. He’s entering the final season of a four-year, $5.6MM contract that’s paid dividends for the Knights. Carrier has become one of the more dependable fourth-liners in the league since Vegas claimed him in the 2017 Expansion Draft, and he’s now played well over 300 games as a Knight. He posted a career-high 16 goals and 25 points last season and added six points in 18 postseason contests, playing a crucial depth role en route to the team’s first Stanley Cup win.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- Cassidy also said defenseman Alec Martinez practiced in a non-contact jersey today and will travel with the team on their upcoming road swing through Winnipeg and Chicago. The 36-year-old defender has been day-to-day with an upper-body injury since the beginning of the month and has remained on injured reserve since the season began one week ago. Entering the final season of a three-year deal earning him $5.25MM per season, the veteran of 763 NHL games was arguably Vegas’ most important shutdown defender last season, posting a team-high +30 rating and blocking 244 shots – the most in the NHL by far. His absence has meant increased ice time for the younger Nicolas Hague, who’s stepped up to the plate with three points in three games while averaging 21:20 per game.
- Sharks defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic practiced with the team this morning but is not expected to suit up Tuesday night against the Hurricanes, The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka reports. Vlasic did not play the final two periods of the Sharks’ shootout loss at the hands of the Avalanche Saturday and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. 22-year-old Henry Thrun will step into Vlasic’s place on the Sharks’ second pairing alongside Matt Benning after the former was scratched against Colorado.
- 2023 second-overall pick Leo Carlsson has returned to practice for the Ducks after missing the first two games of the season with a leg injury, writes Eric Stephens of The Athletic. Carlsson told The Sporting Tribune’s Derek Lee Tuesday that he wants “to be 100% [for] the first game,” of course referring to his first NHL appearance. He hopes to be ready for the Ducks’ next game, a Thursday showdown against the Stars. Carlsson is currently on season-opening injured reserve but can be activated at any time.
- Tuesday’s trade acquisition Mark Friedman will join the Vancouver Canucks on their upcoming road trip, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. His recall likely spells the end of 24-year-old Akito Hirose‘s time on the NHL roster, as he does not require waivers to return to AHL Abbotsford, and Vancouver is now carrying eight healthy defensemen on the roster with Carson Soucy now expected to make his season debut today against the Flyers. Friedman has appeared in two games thus far in 2023-24, both with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, recording no points and a -1 rating.
Penguins Acquire Jack Rathbone From Canucks
The Penguins have acquired once-promising defense prospect Jack Rathbone from the Canucks and minor-league forward Karel Plasek, per a team release. In return, the Canucks receive a pair of players designated for AHL Abbotsford in defenseman Mark Friedman and forward Ty Glover.
Rathbone and Friedman will report to their new teams’ respective AHL affiliates, while Plasek and Glover will report to their new teams’ respective ECHL affiliates.
While a fourth-round pick in 2017, Rathbone’s stock as a prospect rose wildly in the 2019-20 season after recording 31 points in 28 games during his sophomore campaign at Harvard. He then turned pro with Ivy League schools shutting down in 2020 due to COVID, but he didn’t play much – just eight games with Vancouver and eight with AHL Utica, instead spending most of the season on the taxi squad.
2021-22 saw him put together an incredible rookie season in the minors, again notching over a point per game with Abbotsford – although he was held without a point in a nine-game NHL call-up. That led to optimism he would become a full-time fixture on the Canucks’ blueline in 2022-23, but it wasn’t to be. He played just 11 NHL games, recording two points, and his production took a significant step back in the minors – just five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 37 contests. He has a goal through two games with Abbotsford this season.
He’ll now try and get back on track with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he joins another young defenseman looking to reclaim his game – 2018 first-round pick Ty Smith, who’s just a year removed from posting back-to-back 20-point years with the New Jersey Devils. The 24-year-old Rathbone is a pending restricted free agent who’s owed a rather pricey qualifying offer of $997.5K this summer.
Pittsburgh also receives the 23-year-old Plasek, a Canucks sixth-round selection in 2019. He only has one season in North America under his belt – an injury-plagued 2021-22 campaign that saw him play eight games for AHL Abbotsford, failing to record a point. On loan with HC Olomouc in the Czech Extraliga last season, Plasek recorded six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 31 contests.
Vancouver’s return is not puny – Friedman is a two-way defender who excels defensively at the minor-league level and can provide reliable bottom-pairing minutes in a pinch. The 27-year-old pending UFA is signed to a one-way contract this season but cleared waivers pre-season with the Penguins. He appeared in 23 games for the Penguins in 2022-23, recording a goal and two assists while averaging 14:27 per game. He has the most career NHL games of anyone involved in this trade, with 65.
Glover, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing by Pittsburgh in 2022 after a pair of campaigns with Western Michigan University. He spent all of 2022-23 at the AHL level with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, recording seven goals and five assists for 12 points in 49 contests. However, he failed to crack the AHL squad out of camp this season and was assigned to ECHL Wheeling before the trade, although he’ll now likely join Vancouver’s affiliate at that level, the Kalamazoo Wings.
Rangers Have Shown Interest In Patrick Kane
It’s nearing decision time for the best free agent remaining on the market. Longtime Chicago Blackhawk and brief New York Ranger Patrick Kane is almost at the end of a long recovery process from hip resurfacing surgery, and multiple reports expect Kane to start contract discussion with teams in the coming days to determine his playing home for 2023-24.
Multiple teams have reported interest in Kane throughout the summer and into the season. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli threw a new name into the mix today: a reunion with the Rangers, whom Seravalli says “are paying attention to Kane” as he nears a return. Seravalli had the following to say about the Rangers’ interest:
You saw what they had to give up last year to get him; they knew at the time he wasn’t fully healthy. It didn’t quite come together like it probably should have, but I think they were really impressed with the way he entered and was a leader. They were just kind of hoping, wishing and praying he’d be at the Kane 88 showtime level we are used to. I think in the back of his mind, he’s also certainly intrigued on what it would be like to go back there. Maybe sort of finally put that piece back together.
The Rangers acquired Kane in a three-way deal with the Coyotes last February, trading a second and fourth-round pick to the Blackhawks and a third-round pick to the Coyotes to retain half of his contract. They also sent minor-league defenseman Andy Welinski to the Blackhawks in the trade. Kane’s stint in the Big Apple was underwhelming considering his reputation, but many fans weren’t surprised at his solid but not star-level play. He potted five goals and seven assists in 19 games down the stretch and added a goal and five assists in the team’s first-round loss to the Devils. Still, his nagging hip injury and long-declining advanced metrics limited his effectiveness.
Most wrote off an offseason reunion due to the Rangers’ cap constraints, which will remain a considerable roadblock in a potential deal. CapFriendly lists the Rangers with just $675K in cap space with a roster of 22 players, not even enough to accommodate a league-minimum deal. Hypothetically, the Rangers could send a player down and use the cap space to sign Kane, but they’d only be able to offer around $1.4MM per season in that case. That’s an offer other teams are likely to beat, namely the Buffalo Sabres, whom Seravalli affirms have interest in the forward after previous reports linked them into the conversation last month. Trading a forward – potentially $3.6MM man Barclay Goodrow – seems likelier.
Seravalli also acknowledged previous reports that Kane is interested in joining the Red Wings and reuniting with former Chicago linemate Alex DeBrincat. However, like others who reported on the link, he did not say if Detroit was interested in signing him.
East Notes: Stamkos, Olofsson, Mayfield
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos will likely miss his second straight game Tuesday with a lower-body injury as he did not take line rushes with the team at morning skate, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times relays. It’s another significant injury blow for the Lightning, who remain without star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and depth forward Tyler Motte with longer-term injuries.
The Bolts have dropped back-to-back games against key divisional opponents and have struggled to keep the puck out of their net, although their patchwork goaltending tandem of Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins isn’t entirely to blame. The team has controlled just 41.7% of scoring chances at five-on-five play thus far and has conceded 80 shots over its last two defeats at the hands of the Red Wings and Senators. Missing Stamkos, who has two goals and two assists through two games, makes it harder for the team to outscore their problems. He’s in the final season of an eight-year, $68MM extension signed in 2016 and is one of the best pending free agents available, notably without any extension conversations to date.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference this morning:
- Sabres winger Victor Olofsson will serve as a healthy scratch tonight against the Lightning, head coach Don Granato confirmed Tuesday morning. Tyson Jost, who’s served as a healthy scratch for their first two games of the season, will make his 2023-24 season debut. Olofsson, set to become a free agent next summer, was featured in trade talks this offseason. However, the team held onto him for scoring depth after youngster Jack Quinn sustained an Achilles injury that will keep him out until December. Olofsson is a skilled shooter who’s notched 20 goals in three out of the last four seasons, but his defensive impacts are poor, and his possession numbers are average at best, leading him to become viewed as a power-play specialist. He’s been held off the scoresheet through two contests this season and has a -2 rating, averaging 14:07 per game. 22-year-old Peyton Krebs is projected to fill Olofsson’s vacated spot in the top six, while Jost will slide in at fourth-line center to fill Krebs’ previous role.
- Islanders head coach Lane Lambert told reporters that defenseman Scott Mayfield is officially out for Tuesday’s contest against the Coyotes. The veteran shutdown man is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot late in last Saturday’s win against the Sabres and did not practice yesterday due to swelling in his leg. Lambert confirmed Samuel Bolduc would replace Mayfield in the lineup and make his season debut. The 2019 second-round pick skated in 17 contests with the Islanders last season, recording two goals and an assist.
Minor Transactions: 10/17/23
It’s a busy hockey day across the world, as the Champions Hockey League prepares for Game Day 6. This brings together a slew of exciting matchups, including a bout between Sweden’s Farjestad and Germany’s Munich Red Bulls. Farjestad has excelled in the CHL so far this season, winning four of their five games and averaging 4.4 goals-for and 1.8 goals-against on a per-game basis. Munich is coming off a tough loss in their home league but boasts one of the few offenses that can keep up with Farjestad. Munich also has the league’s scoring leader: former NHL first-round pick Jonathon Blum.
Hockey fans will have plenty to keep them busy with seven CHL games, and nine NHL games, on the slate today. The transaction wire remains as busy as the action on the ice and, as always, we’ll track notable player movement here.
- Scott Harrington has been released from his professional try-out with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls and decided to head overseas, signing a one-year deal with the ZSC Lions of Switzerland’s National League. Harrington, now 30, joins a handful of NHL cast members on the Lions – including Dean Kukan, Mikko Lehtonen, and Yannick Weber. That’s a lot of former NHL talent on the Lions blue line, where Harrington will look to carve out a role. ZSC is also home to Montreal Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer, who is playing his first year with ZSC’s top team after playing for their U17 team prior to his move to Canada.
- Tyler Sikura has left the Wilks-Barre/Scranton Penguins in favor of HC Bolzano in Italy. Bolzano plays in the ICE Hockey League, or ICEHL, along with top teams like EC Salzburg Villacher SV. Bolzano now boasts seven North Americans in their forward group, including former 40th-overall pick Christian Thomas.
- Libor Hajek has signed a minor-league deal with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. This contract comes after Hajek attended the Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp on a professional try-out. Hajek split the 2022-23 season between the New York Rangers and the Hartford Wolf Pack, recording a single assist in 16 NHL games and six points in 24 AHL games. Hajek has been apart of the Rangers organization since 2018, when he was a feature of the trade that sent Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Veteran forward Brendan Perlini has signed a PTO with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, per a team release. Perlini attended Carolina Hurricanes training camp this season on a PTO but did not earn a contract. With Charlotte, Perlini replaces forward Jonah Gadjovich on their roster, who was snapped up by the Checkers’ NHL affiliate, the Florida Panthers, on a one-year deal yesterday. The 2014 12th overall pick spent last season with the Chicago Wolves, recording ten goals and five assists for 15 points in 26 games. He last appeared in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers in 2021-22, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be doing so again anytime soon.
This page may be updated throughout the day.