Maple Leafs Recall Simon Benoit
10/12 – The Leafs have loaned Benoit back to the Toronto Marlies.
10/11 – The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled defenseman Simon Benoit from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, according to a team release Wednesday. In a corresponding transaction, they returned forward Bobby McMann to the Marlies after he cleared waivers earlier today.
Benoit will serve as the lone extra skater on the active roster and is not expected to play in tonight’s season-opening contest against the Montreal Canadiens. He can stay on the NHL roster for up to 30 days (or 10 games played) before he requires waivers to be returned to the minors.
The Maple Leafs signed Benoit, 25, to a one-year, league-minimum contract in August. The Laval, Québec, native played in a career-high 78 games last season for the Anaheim Ducks, notching ten points and a -29 rating whilst facing some tough minutes on a poor defensive squad.
Benoit is one of a trio of veteran blueliners signed to league-minimum deals Toronto has stashed in the minors, along with William Lagesson and Maxime Lajoie. Earlier in the preseason, few expected Benoit to be on the active roster for tonight’s game, given the team’s cap constraints, but defenseman Conor Timmins sustained a lower-body injury that has him on long-term injured reserve to start the campaign. He is out week-to-week, and while Benoit will likely remain up with the Leafs for a while, expect him to hit waivers again if needed upon Timmins’ return. Benoit was also sidelined with an injury of his own at one point, dealing with back spasms at the beginning of the preseason schedule.
Kings’ Viktor Arvidsson To Miss Season Opener, Arthur Kaliyev Recalled
1:46 p.m.: Kings head coach Todd McLellan informed reporters that Arvidsson’s timeline for return is “a bit longer than day-to-day” (via The Athletic’s Eric Stephens). Hence, an emergency recall to give the Kings a 12th forward for Saturday’s game is likely.
1:37 p.m.: Los Angeles Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson will miss tonight’s season opener against the Colorado Avalanche with a lower-body injury, team editorial content manager Zach Dooley relays. The Kings are expected to play down a forward and only dress 17 skaters due to cap constraints.
The team recalled forward Arthur Kaliyev from AHL Ontario today and assigned goaltender David Rittich there after clearing waivers. However, Kaliyev will miss the first two games of the season due to a four-game suspension doled out during preseason play for kneeing Anaheim Ducks forward Chase De Leo. Los Angeles does not have the cap space to recall an additional forward to replace Arvidsson.
Slotting in for the suspended Kaliyev, however, will be 21-year-old winger Alex Laferriere. The 83rd overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft is expected to make his NHL debut on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala.
Playing short a forward creates the option of a $0 emergency recall for the Kings to execute before their second game of the season, which is Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Of course, that would be unnecessary if Arvidsson is ready to return. He’s listed as day-to-day and has not been ruled out for that contest. Arvidsson, 30, enjoyed quite a strong campaign with the Kings last season, recording 26 goals and 59 points in 77 games. He is entering the final season of a seven-year, $29.75MM contract initially signed with the Nashville Predators in 2017 and is slated for unrestricted free agency in the summer.
Blues Place André Heim On Unconditional Waivers
The St. Louis Blues placed forward André Heim on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination Wednesday, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Heim, 25, was on assignment to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds after the Blues cut him from their training camp roster on September 29. The Blues signed Heim to a one-year, entry-level contract worth $950K in May after the 6-foot-2 center notched 12 goals, 19 assists and 31 points in 42 games for Ambrì-Piotta in the Swiss National League.
The Blues were facing a bit of a roster crunch in Springfield after their affiliate accepted two players on loan from the Carolina Hurricanes, who are without an AHL affiliate in 2023-24. Alongside bringing in defenseman Dylan Coghlan, the Thunderbirds also received 22-year-old center prospect Jamieson Rees. Rees notched 14 goals and 42 points in 65 contests for the Chicago Wolves last season and creates competition in the Springfield top-nine, leading to less opportunity for the older Heim.
After failing to crack the NHL roster, it’s fair to assume Heim, who’s played in his native Switzerland for his entire hockey career, would prefer to return home rather than fight for ice time in the minors. He could very well return to Ambrì-Piotta, where he served as a member of their leadership team last season. If not there, another team in the NL is likely.
Waivers: 10/10/23
Oct. 11, 1:03 p.m.: All three players have cleared waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Oct. 10, 1:45 p.m.: Although not as busy as the past few days, there’s still some activity on the waiver wire today. The lone player on waivers yesterday, New York Islanders forward Ross Johnston, was claimed today by the Anaheim Ducks.
Los Angeles Kings
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
The most notable name here is Rittich, a 31-year-old Czech netminder who has 172 games of NHL experience. Though the number of clubs rostering three goalies to start the season might point to a heightened risk of goaltenders getting claimed off of waivers, the fact that Martin Jones, who played in 48 games last season, cleared waivers does bode well for the Kings’ likelihood of passing Rittich through.
Rittich is playing on a one-year, $875k contract and is set to be the Kings’ third goalie behind Pheonix Copley and Cam Talbot. Last season, Rittich was Connor Hellebuyck‘s backup and went 9-8-1 with a .901 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average.
Gone are the days when Rittich was a borderline starter-level netminder as he was with the Calgary Flames, and although public expected goals models were down on his work last season, there could be NHL teams in need of goalies who believe he still has something to offer at the game’s highest level.
Barré-Boulet, 26, is an undersized, undrafted former QMJHL star who has become a top player in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch. He made the AHL’s First All-Star team last season after scoring 84 points last season, by far a team lead, but so far hasn’t been able to translate that success to the NHL level.
The final player on the waiver wire today is McMann, an undrafted forward from the Maple Leafs. The Colgate University product worked his way up from the ECHL to the NHL and was impressive at the AHL level last season, scoring 21 goals in just 30 games.
The energetic winger isn’t exactly the prototypical player that gets claimed off of waivers but perhaps there is a team is intrigued enough by his minor-league goal-scoring and endearing style to put in a claim.
Canucks Assign Vasily Podkolzin To AHL, Recall Akito Hirose
The Vancouver Canucks assigned forward Vasily Podkolzin to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and recalled defenseman Akito Hirose in corresponding transactions, a team release states Wednesday.
This signals that 26-year-old Guillaume Brisebois may not play tonight in the team’s season opener against the Edmonton Oilers. Brisebois is dealing with a lower-body injury, and his unavailability would leave the Canucks with just five healthy defensemen at their disposal. Free-agent addition Carson Soucy is listed as week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, although he remains on the active roster for now.
If Brisebois cannot play, Hirose will suit up on the team’s third pair alongside Noah Juulsen tonight. Vancouver signed Hirose, 24, to a two-year, $1.575MM contract in July. An undrafted free agent, the Canucks initially acquired Hirose’s rights by extending him an entry-level contract in March after he concluded his junior season at Minnesota State University-Mankato.
Playing in seven games down the stretch of the 2022-23 NHL season, Hirose notched three assists and a -1 rating while averaging 17:27 per game. He does not require waivers for assignment to AHL Abbotsford and will likely be returned to the minors once one or both of Brisebois and Soucy are ready to return.
Podkolzin, meanwhile, finds himself on the outside looking in on Vancouver’s roster for their first game of the season. Selected 10th overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the Russian winger is entering his third season in North America. He managed to avoid designation to the AHL in his rookie season in 2021-22, notching 14 goals, 12 assists and 26 points in 79 contests for the Canucks before joining Abbotsford in the postseason. 2022-23, meanwhile, saw Podkolzin appear in just 39 games for Vancouver while suiting up in 28 for AHL Abbotsford. There, he scored seven goals and added 11 assists for 18 points.
Like Hirose, Podkolzin does not require waivers to head to Abbotsford. With his $925K cap hit being slightly higher than most of his fringe NHLer teammates, Podkolzin will likely need a strong start to the season in the minors to find his way back to Vancouver.
Vancouver had $0 in cap space before making this transaction, as the team had not made any moves since turning in their opening night roster on Monday evening. Replacing Podkolzin with Hirose on the active roster now leaves the Canucks with $137.5K in space in their LTIR salary pool created by defenseman Tucker Poolman and his $2.5MM cap hit.
AHL’s Colorado Eagles Sign Joel Kiviranta, Peter Holland
After attending Colorado Avalanche training camp on professional tryouts, forwards Joel Kiviranta and Peter Holland have inked one-year contracts with their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Both players have significant NHL experience, although Kiviranta’s is more recent, logging 70 games for the Dallas Stars last season.
Kiviranta, 27, had high hopes of securing a fourth-line job in the NHL, but he was passed over in favor of a Dallas teammate last season, Fredrik Olofsson. The Finnish winger notched a career-high eight goals last season but only registered one assist for nine points – poor production given his games played total and ice time (12:09 per game). He’ll now try and earn his way back to the sport’s highest level by taking on a significant role in the minors with Colorado. Kiviranta’s lone stint in the AHL came in 2019-20, recording 12 goals, 11 assists and 23 points in 48 games with the Texas Stars.
Holland was much less likely to earn an NHL job, so it’s fair to call this a successful tryout for the 32-year-old center who retired from hockey after the 2021-22 campaign. A 2009 first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Holland last played in the AHL in 2018-19 before departing for overseas play the following season. He was always a strong producer in the minors, recording 222 points in 252 AHL contests across seven seasons, but couldn’t lock down a full-time NHL role outside of a three-year period with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes in the mid-2010s. Holland and Kiviranta will play vital roles to begin the season with the Eagles, who are without three projected regulars (Alex Beaucage, Jean-Luc Foudy, and Chris Wagner) due to injuries.
Columbus Signs Justin Danforth To One-Year Extension
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Justin Danforth to a one-year, $1.1MM contract extension, carrying him through the 2024-25 season. Danforth played in his first NHL season in 2021-22 but missed all but six games of the 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Danforth, now 30, took roughly a year to rebound fully from the injury. But he made a strong enough impression at the team’s training camp to earn an NHL roster spot once more. He’s had a winding road to the NHL, originally going undrafted and pursuing collegiate hockey with Sacred Heart University. After four years of college, Danforth transitioned into the minor leagues – although he struggled to maintain a presence in the AHL. Rather than continuing to work his way up through the ECHL and AHL, Danforth instead signed with Lukko in the Liiga, Finland’s top league. He played in 59 games for their 2018-19 squad, recording a team-high 52 points. Danforth built his comfortability up enough to take on an alternate captain role with the club in 2019-20. He led Lukko in scoring again that year, tallying 60 points through 56 games.
After two years in Finland, Danforth then appeared in one season with Vityaz Podolsk of the KHL, Russia’s top league. He played in 58 games and, once again, led his team in scoring with 55 points. This burgeoning trend of scoring upside earned Danforth a spot on Canada’s 2021 World Championship roster. He appeared in nine of the team’s 10 games but only recorded one point playing alongside NHL talent.
It wasn’t until after his sole season in the KHL that Danforth finally received his first NHL contract – a one-year, league-minimum $775K deal with the Blue Jackets signed in May of 2021. Danforth appeared in his first NHL games during the 2021-22 campaign, scoring 10 goals and 14 points in 45 appearances. In response, Columbus signed Danforth to a two-year, one-way, $1.95MM contract that carries him through the end of the 2022-23 season. And while he hasn’t yet played more than 10 games on this contract, Columbus is clearly confident in what they have – extending Danforth through next season and providing him his first salary north of $1MM.
New Jersey Signs Lindy Ruff To Multi-Year Extension
The New Jersey Devils have announced a multi-year extension for head coach Lindy Ruff. The details of this extension haven’t been revealed yet, although this deal will lock in Ruff for the foreseeable future. Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said, “We’re incredibly fortunate as an organization to have Lindy Ruff behind the bench to guide this group, who’ve made significant strides under his leadership”
Lindy Ruff has been behind the New Jersey bench since 2020-21 when he took over for interim head coach Alain Nasreddine. Ruff failed to lead the Devils to the postseason in his first two years with the team but last season charged the Devils to only their third playoff berth since 2010. The team would go on to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in a five-game series but the spring hockey was an exciting sign of things to come for a Devils team that’s built out their depth in recent years. Looking at the Devils’ opening night roster for this season, only nine players from Ruff’s first year with the club – speaking to how much change the club has seen over the last few seasons.
Ruff is an absolute veteran of the NHL, playing 13 seasons as a player and going on his 30th year of coaching. A majority of his playing and coaching career has been spent with the Buffalo Sabres. He appeared in 608 games with the Sabres – all but 83 of his total career games – recording 285 points and 1128 penalty minutes with the club. When he took the helm behind their bench, Ruff led the Sabres to eight different postseasons through 14 seasons, including making the playoffs in each of his first four years as the club’s head coach. He’s since coached with the Dallas Stars and New York Rangers, before landing with the Devils in 2020.
This extension locks in the leader of what seems to be an up-and-coming Devils roster. Ruff will now look to earn his deal with a strong season ahead.
Capitals Assign Two, Recall McMichael And Protas
The Washington Capitals have loaned Ivan Miroshnichenko and Riley Sutter to the Hershey Bears of the AHL and recalled Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas to the NHL roster. These moves don’t come as a surprise, as Washington needed to first place Max Pacioretty onto long-term injured reserve before they could finalize their opening night roster.
Of note, Hardy Haman Aktell did not get recalled in this transaction; likely a result of Joel Edmundson not being placed on LTIR to start the season. This is a good sign that Edmundson may not be out for much longer, but Washington will be starting the season with 13 forwards and seven defensemen as a result.
These roster moves are headlined by a pair of former First Round picks – McMichael the 25th selection in 2019 and Miroshnichenko the 20th choice in 2022. McMichael joined the Capitals organization a year after his draft day, playing his rookie season in the AHL during the 2020-21 campaign and scoring 27 points in 33 games. Those were impressive enough numbers to earn McMichael a full-time spot on the NHL roster in 2021-22, although he only managed 18 points in 68 games and ultimately earned a demotion to the AHL for last season. On the other hand, Miroshnichenko is brand new to North American pros, coming over from Russia for Washington’s training camp this year. The 19-year-old has been the focus of a lot of scrutiny when it comes to how he was deployed in Russia – finding himself constantly moving back and forth between the country’s second-tier league and their U21 league, the VHL, and MHL respectively, over the last three seasons. His assignment to Hershey will not only represent his first taste of professional hockey overseas, but it should also provide much-needed roster stability. Miroshnichenko was a highly-regarded prospect in his draft year, so attention will undoubtedly be on him as he begins working toward an NHL role.
Philadelphia Flyers Willing To Take On Salary
Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are prepared to weaponize their cap space to acquire additional assets. The Flyers begin today with less than $1MM in salary cap space, a number that would translate to roughly $3.9MM at the NHL trade deadline. Now that number might not seem significant, but the Flyers can easily free up over $6MM by placing defenseman Ryan Ellis on LTIR, something they’ve been hesitant to do thus far, but are willing to do to make a trade work.
After years of being slammed up against the salary cap, the Flyers have finally created roster and salary cap flexibility after a summer in which they moved on from veterans Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo, and Ivan Provorov. General Manager Daniel Briere seems fully committed to rebuilding the Flyers and appears willing to take on undesirable contracts in exchange for future assets.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported just two weeks ago that the Flyers were open to taking on Ottawa Senators forward Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95MM cap hit in exchange for a high prospect or a first-round pick, something Ottawa appears uninterested in entertaining. However that could change if they start the season slow without their second and third-line centres.
While a Joseph deal hasn’t materialized the Flyers will likely have their pick of suitors as the flat cap has created a financial landscape in which 19 NHL teams are within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling (including Philadelphia). There are a lot of teams that see themselves as Stanley Cup contenders who will be hard-pressed to make in-season improvements unless they can move out some salary, this is where the Flyers cap space could be leveraged to acquire assets.
The Flyers are early in their rebuild and are at least three or four years away from turning the corner. With that in mind, any contract they take on will probably fall into the one to three-year range similar to the contract they acquired with Cal Petersen. Philadelphia has several of their own undesirable contracts as well as over $5MM in dead cap space for the next few seasons in the DeAngelo buyout and the retained salary on Hayes.