Metropolitan Division Notes: Hischier, Gudbranson, Hurricanes
New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted today that Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald doesn’t think that center Nico Hischier will be travelling with the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Fitzgerald has reportedly talked with New Jersey’s medical staff and Hischier is being evaluated on a day-to-day basis. The ailment is being called an upper-body issue at this time and could it keep Hischier out of action for the next four games. That would mean that his earliest return date would be November 10th against the Washington Capitals.
The former first-overall pick is off to a slow start this season with just two goals in his first seven games after putting up 31 goals and 49 assists in 81 games last season. His lack of offense hasn’t hurt the Devils thus far as the team is off to a 5-2-1 start and currently sits third in the Metropolitan Division. If Hischier is sidelined for some time it is possible that former NHL regular Chris Tierney could fill in during his absence.
In other Metropolitan notes:
- Columbus Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger tweeted today that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson has again missed practice. This is the second day in a row that the Ottawa, Ontario native did not skate after playing in Monday night’s game against the Dallas Stars. The 31-year-old was questionable for that game after taking a puck to the foot against the New York Islanders on Saturday night but did play in the 5-3 loss. Gudbranson has no points in nine games thus far this season but has averaged over three blocked shots a game.
- Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted today that Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki are both very close to returning to action and will likely be assigned to the AHL shortly after they do. Ponomarev suffered a knee injury in September and started the season on the injured reserve. Last season he played for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL posting 24 goals and 22 assists in 64 games. Suzuki on the other hand has been dealing with a shoulder injury that has kept him off the ice. He also spent last year with the Wolves in the AHL posting 13 goals and 19 assists in 50 games. Carolina doesn’t currently have an AHL affiliate now meaning that both players could find themselves on different teams once they are assigned to the AHL.
Panthers Injury Notes: Bennett, Ekman-Larsson, Rodrigues
The Florida Panthers have shared injury updates to three recently hurt players, announcing that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is likely to play, Evan Rodrigues is hopeful, and Sam Bennett is likely out for the team’s Thursday night matchup against the Detroit Red Wings.
More specifically, head coach Paul Maurice said that Bennett will miss a little more time than a typical day-to-day designation would suggest, although the injury isn’t as severe as the one that delayed Bennett’s start to the season.
Bennett’s injury is a tough one to stomach. The 27-year-old centerman was in his first game back from injury but hurt his left leg – seemingly his left ankle – in a net-front scrum with Boston’s Hampus Lindholm. He is now set to miss even more time, making this season the sixth time that Bennett has appeared in fewer than 75 of his team’s games through his nine-year NHL career.
The injury is especially tough given how successful Bennett has been with the Panthers. He tallied a modest 40 points in 63 games last season but exploded for 15 points and 60 penalty minutes in 20 playoff games – operating as a key piece of Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals. He set his career-high in scoring in the 2021-22 season – his first full year with the Panthers – when he scored 28 goals and 49 points in 71 games.
Luckily, it doesn’t seem like Florida will be missing any other key pieces. Ekman-Larsson, who has three points in eight games this season, is good-to-go after taking a sucker punch from Charlie McAvoy. The punch earned McAvoy a four-game suspension that he’s in the process of serving. As for Rodrigues, Maurice said that the team was taking precaution in holding him out of Wednesday’s practice, and he should be good for Thursday night’s game.
Nicolas Hague Out With Injury Through The Weekend
Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy shared that defenseman Nicolas Hague will be out with a lower-body injury until at least next week. Hague was slow to get up after a collision in the team’s October 30th game. He seemed fine in the moment but is now set to miss at least three games, with Vegas playing on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.
While Hague’s absence is certainly not ideal, the Golden Knights are certainly not strangers to injured defensemen. Hague joined Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb as the only Vegas defenders to play in all of the team’s games this season – a streak that now belongs solely to Theodore and McNabb. As a result of the slew of injuries, the team has already cycled through eight different defenders this season. They also have Zach Whitecloud and Daniil Miromanov on injured reserve, adding to their list of NHL defensemen to keep in mind.
And while Vegas is certainly capable of filling his role, the loss of Hague is still tough to swallow. He ranks fourth on the blue line in scoring, with three points through 10 games so far this season. He’s managed those numbers while operating comfortably on Vegas’ second pair, averaging 19 minutes of ice time through the early season. Hague, 24, is in his fifth season of NHL action. He was the fourth prospect that Vegas ever drafted, going 34th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft. Hague is one of eight players from Vegas’ 2017 draft class to play NHL games – an impressive feat for the franchise’s inaugural draft.
Ducks Recall Stalock As Gibson Is Day-To-Day With Injury
The Anaheim Ducks have recalled goaltender Alex Stalock on an emergency basis, as goaltender John Gibson is out day-to-day with injury. Rookie goaltender Lukáš Dostál will fill in as the team’s starter in Gibson’s absence.
Dostal takes on the starter role only hours after being named the NHL’s ‘Rookie of the Month’ for his October performance. The 23-year-old goaltender appeared in five games in October, setting a 4-1-0 record and saving 152 of the 165 shots that he faced, good for a .921 save percentage; a stat that ranks 10th in the NHL among goalies with five or more games played. He was just two games shy of losing his rookie eligibility, playing in 23 NHL games prior to this season. He recorded a dismal 5-12-3 record in those games, although his .902 save percentage spoke to the potential for strong future showings. That potential is certainly shining through now, with Dostal poised for a great opportunity as long as Gibson remains out.
Interim backup Alex Stalock is continuing his journeyman career with a call-up to the Anaheim Ducks – now his fourth NHL team. With three games for the San Diego Gulls this season, Stalock has now played for seven different AHL clubs as well – although two of those teams were different affiliates of the San Jose Sharks. Either way, it’s been a winding career for the 36-year-old Stalock, who was originally picked 112th overall in the 2005 NHL Draft. He will become the 11th player from that draft class to play this season, if he finds his way into Anaheim’s crease.
Ottawa Senators Fire General Manager Pierre Dorion
The Ottawa Senators have relieved general manager Pierre Dorion of his duties. The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after it was announced that the team would lose a First Round pick for their mishandling of Evegnii Dadonov‘s trade away from the club.
This was the last straw for Ottawa, says Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, as the club has faced a string of bad news and scandals to start the season. Only last week it was announced that Shane Pinto would face a 41-game suspension for going against the NHL’s betting policy. This comes after a laborious contract negotiation with the restricted free agent that carried into the regular season.
Ottawa is off to a fine enough start to the season, despite the off-ice theatrics, with a 4-4-0 record through their first eight games and the seventh-most goals in the NHL. They’re being championed, once again, by the powerful duo of Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk – the former leading the team in assists (8) and the latter leading them in goals (6). The two have spent 123 minutes of ice time together and have been on the ice for 12 of Ottawa’s 32 goals so far this season. Their even-strength line is rounded out by Claude Giroux, who has nine points of his own through the team’s eight games.
Dorion was also the man to bring in free agent Vladimir Tarasenko, whose brought a defiant punch to the team’s second line, with three goals and nine points. With Dorion now out of the picture, all attention turns towards who the Senators may entertain as his replacement. New team owner Michael Andlauer announced that Dorion has stepped down and Steve Staios will take over general managing duties in the interim at a press conference on Wednesday.
Avalanche Release Multiple Injury Updates
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has released an update on a slew of players in preparation for the team’s Wednesday night matchup against the St. Louis Blues. Bednar shared that newcomers Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar are likely to miss the matchup, while Cale Makar and Bowen Byram are game-time decisions. Drouin and Tatar were the last two skaters on the practice ice for Colorado, hinting that they could be leaning towards sitting out. If they do miss time, Bednar hinted at Kurtis MacDermid drawing into the lineup.
Drouin and Tatar have both played in all eight games for Colorado this season, with very different results. Drouin is off to a slow start, netting a sole assist on the season while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per game. Tatar has served in a similar role to Drouin – averaging 12 minutes of ice time each game – but has managed four assists. The duo are two of three Colorado forwards that haven’t scored a goal yet this season – Andrew Cogliano being the other.
Bednar said yesterday that one of Byram or Makar would likely sit out of the team’s Wednesday outing. Which defender may miss time is, unfortunately, unclear. While Byram has made an impact through the early going, he doesn’t bring the takeover ability that Makar can.
The Avalanche are now faced with the decision of whether to ice 12 forwards and six defensemen, or 11 forwards and seven defensemen – given the injuries to two top-nine forwards. MacDermid is likely to play regardless of what decision Colorado makes here – either slotting in on offense or defense depending where they need support. If Colorado decides to ice 11 forwards, Caleb Jones will draw in as the seventh defender. If they ice 12 forwards, Riley Tufte is expected to make his Avalanche debut. Both players were recalled to the NHL lineup yesterday.
Wild Provide Injury Update On Boldy, Spurgeon
The Minnesota Wild had a pair of injured players return to the practice ice on Wednesday, with Jared Spurgeon skating for half an hour and Matt Boldy returning in full. Frédérick Gaudreau has yet to return, though. Wild head coach Dean Evason shared that the plan is for Boldy to play in Minnesota’s Thursday night game, while Spurgeon is still working his way back.
Minnesota currently reps a 3-4-2 record and the ninth-most goals-for in the league. Both of those metrics should start looking stronger with the return of 22-year-old Boldy, who scored 31 goals and 63 points in 81 NHL games last season. The winger has become a focal point of the Wild offense, averaging 18-and-a-half minutes of ice time each game last year – a pace he maintained this year until his upper-body injury limited his playing time in his last matchup. Boldy has two points through two games so far this season.
And while Boldy’s return is exciting, the Wild lineup won’t look right until Spurgeon is back in the mix. The team captain has become a pinnacle two-way defender in the NHL, proving the value that defenders under 5’10” can provide if they have the right skill set. But Spurgeon has yet to play at all this season, suffering from an upper-body injury sustained in training camp. The Wild placed Spurgeon on long-term injured reserve, retroactive to the start of the season, on October 25th. This means that the soonest he could return is November 4th. He seems on pace to challenge that return date with a return to practice on Wednesday.
Latest On Morgan Frost
At this early juncture in the 2023-24 NHL season, a look at Philadelphia Flyers center Morgan Frost‘s stat line might raise some eyebrows. Despite putting together a breakout season of sorts in 2022-23 and being entirely healthy so far this year, Frost has played in just three total contests, tied for the fewest among Flyers skaters this season.
This has led to speculation in some parts that the Flyers might be looking to trade Frost, 24, as his six consecutive games spent as a healthy scratch would seem to indicate that he no longer held a place in the Flyers’ long-term plans.
That speculation appears to not be grounded in the reality of the situation, though, according to a report from The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz. (subscription link) Kurz reports from a league source that the Flyers ” aren’t looking to move” Frost to another team, and “haven’t engaged in any serious discussions” on a Frost trade. Moreover, Kurz adds that the Flyers still view [Frost] as one of the young players they want to grow with the organization” as the team continues its rebuilding plan.
It appears that Frost’s lengthy stay in the press box was more due to the newfound depth the Flyers have at the center position rather than any mistake Frost had made in the two games he played to start the season.
With Sean Couturier once again healthy, the Flyers boast a deep group of pivots that also includes veteran Scott Laughton and Noah Cates.
Couturier is inarguably the team’s top center, but the issue for Frost has been more about Laughton and Cates. Both players scored at a comparable rate to Frost last season while also providing considerably more on the defensive side of the equation.
Laughton is a widely respected veteran with a well-known commitment to two-way hockey, while Cates was so impressive in his rookie season that he even garnered consideration on the Selke Trophy ballot.
With offseason signing Ryan Poehling offering more speed and grit than Frost could provide centering Garnet Hathaway and Nicolas Deslauriers on the Flyers’ fourth line, it becomes easier to see why Frost hasn’t been able to crack head coach John Tortorella’s nightly lineup.
Tortorella did get Frost back into the mix for their last game, placing him in the second-line center role between Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster. That shifted Laughton down to the fourth line and Poehling to the press box, and it’ll be interesting to see whether the Flyers stick with that arrangement or choose to return Frost to healthy scratch status.
In any case, the Flyers’ decent 4-4-1 start has been partly off the back of their increased depth at the center position. It’s that depth — rather than any desire to make a change-of-scenery trade, according to Kurz’s reporting — that has caused Frost’s frequent healthy scratches so far this season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Ottawa Senators To Forfeit First-Round Pick
The NHL has announced that the Ottawa Senators will forfeit a first-round draft pick for their role in the July 2021 trade of Evgenii Dadonov from the Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights and the subsequent, invalidated March 2022 Dadonov trade between the Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks.
According to the league’s announcement, the Senators will have 24 hours after the conclusion of the NHL Draft lottery to determine if they will surrender their first-round pick in that given year, and they will be able to choose between giving up a pick in either the 2024, 2025, or 2026 drafts.
The Vegas Golden Knights issued a statement regarding the Senators’ punishment, stating:
We appreciate the league’s diligence on this matter and respect the decision. The club will have no further comment.
This issue originates from 2021, when the Golden Knights acquired Dadonov from Ottawa. No official statement regarding how exactly the Senators mishandled that trade has been released, but The Athletic’s Jesse Granger writes on X that the issue relates to the Senators’ handling of the no-trade list in Dadonov’s contract. 
While the league did not elaborate on any specifics as to what the Senators did that merited such a punishment, the fact that a first-round pick has been docked sends a signal that the league deemed serious punishment in order for the Senators.
Per the league’s statement, the NHL nor any of the involved clubs will comment further on this matter, meaning no official explanation of the reasons for this punishment will come.
Thankfully, reporting from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch sheds some light on the situation. Garrioch reported that today’s punishment has come “as a result of general manager Pierre Dorion giving the Knights the wrong information about the existence of Dadonov’s 10-team ‘no move’ clause.”
The Golden Knights, seemingly believing that Dadonov did not possess no-trade protection, attempted to trade the player to the Anaheim Ducks in a move that was eventually vetoed by the league.
Garrioch added: “The Knights were under the impression that Dadonov hadn’t entered a 10-team no-trade list before the 2021-22 campaign so he no longer had one.”
This appears to have been an issue for Golden Knights management, as Garrioch cites a source who said: “Vegas president of hockey operations George McPhee and GM Kelly McCrimmon refused to let this matter go and appealed to the NHL’s head office to look into it,” a move that resulted in today’s punishment.
Garrioch also laid out the Senators’ argument in defense of their actions, stating that at the time of the trade, the Senators “argued that Vegas had the contract on its books for eight months” and had not looked “at the details” of the contract. While it’s true that the Golden Knights had employed Dadonov for quite a bit of time before the trade, it seems this argument was not sufficient to stave off punishment from the league.
This reported chain of events has not been officially confirmed, and the league’s statement today makes clear that no official confirmation is set to come. But regardless of what exactly happened in Ottawa to merit this kind of punishment, the reality the Senators now face is that they have lost a key asset for their future.
Their right to choose which draft pick they surrender does offer them some crucial flexibility in the matter, especially if the team misses the playoffs this season and ends up in the draft lottery. Just a few years after the Senators had to watch the Colorado Avalanche draft Bowen Byram fourth-overall with a draft pick that once belonged to them, the Senators will not want a repeat of that situation.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Boston Bruins Place Matt Grzelcyk On Long-Term Injured Reserve, Recall Three
The Boston Bruins have placed defenseman Matt Grzelcyk on long-term injured reserve, according to a team announcement. As a result, Grzelcyk will not be eligible to play until late November.
In addition to placing Grzelcyk on LTIR, the team has also placed forward Jakub Lauko on traditional injured reserve, and recalled defensemen Mason Lohrei, Ian Mitchell, and Parker Wotherspoon from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.
Grzelcyk, 29, lands on LTIR after leaving the Bruins’ October 30th contest with an upper-body injury. Grzelcyk has established himself as a top-four defenseman in Boston, having scored at least 20 points in four consecutive seasons and averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per game in his NHL career.
He’s gotten off to a slow start this season, but thanks to his $3.687MM cap hit his LTIR placement provides the Bruins with the financial headroom to make this trio of recalls.
The most noable name in the list of players called up is Lohrei, who ranks among the top prospects in a thin Bruins prospect system. Set to turn 23 in January, the 2020 second-round pick is a rangy, mobile blueliner who scored well across his two-year collegiate career with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
So far, Lohrei has just 15 professional games on his resume. But with this recall, he is now positioned to potentially make his NHL debut on a Bruins’ roster that, before these recalls, boasted just four defensemen eligible to play.
As for Mitchell and Wotherspoon, neither holds the kind of upside or top prospect intrigue that Lohrei has. What they do have that Lohrei doesn’t, though, is significant experience playing pro hockey and some NHL experience. Mitchell, 24, has played 84 career NHL games while Wotherspoon has 12 NHL games and nearly 300 in the AHL.
As a right-shot blueliner, Mitchell is the likeliest candidate to immediately land in the NHL lineup while head coach Jim Montgomery will have to choose between Wotherspoon and Lohrei as to which left-shot defensemen he’ll dress for games.
That being said, the left-shot blueliners may stand a stronger chance at lasting on the NHL roster beyond the next four games. Once Charlie McAvoy‘s suspension ends, a major void on the right side of the Bruins’ defense gets filled.
Meanwhile, Grzelcyk is set for a more extended absence, meaning Lohrei or Wotherspoon could extend their stay on the NHL roster beyond Mitchell, assuming they can handle the NHL minutes thrown their way.