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Oilers Place Jake Walman On Injured Reserve

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The Oilers announced that defenseman Jake Walman is headed to injured reserve after sitting out last night’s season opener with an undisclosed injury. They’ll use his vacant spot to officially register forward Jack Roslovic’s contract and add him to the active roster after announcing his signing last night.

Walman suffered a setback in his recovery from the injury on Monday, according to the team’s Tony Brar. That was hours after the club announced a seven-year, $49MM extension for the pending unrestricted free agent, in addition to locking up captain Connor McDavid for another two years after this one. He hasn’t played since logging over 21 minutes of ice time in Edmonton’s preseason opener against the Flames on Sep. 21, so his IR placement will be backdated to then, and he’ll be eligible for activation at any time.

A 2014 third-rounder, Walman is entering his first full season with the Oilers and his seventh NHL campaign overall. He’s coming off a breakout campaign that earned him that extension and saw him average almost 23 minutes per game across 65 appearances with the Sharks and Oilers, posting a 7-33–40 scoring line and +4 rating. If he’d not been banged up for nearly 20 games last year, he was on pace for a 50-point campaign in 82 games, ranking 22nd in the league in points per game.

It’s still not clear when Edmonton expects Walman to make his season debut. The lefty was widely expected to play mostly on his off side this season and round out Edmonton’s second pairing with Darnell Nurse. Alec Regula filled that spot last night in the Oilers’ shootout loss to the Flames, and it didn’t go very well. While the pairing controlled 63.8% of expected goals at 5-on-5,  he ended up being a -2 on the night.

Ducks Place Ryan Strome On IR, Beckett Sennecke To Debut

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The Ducks already announced they won’t have veteran forward Ryan Strome on hand for their season-opening road trip due to an upper-body injury. Today, they formalized an injured reserve placement for Strome, according to the NHL’s media site. It’s not clear yet if there’s a corresponding transaction. They recalled Tim Washe from AHL San Diego last night in Strome’s place, but the roster spot for Washe was opened up by goaltender Ville Husso heading to the minors after clearing waivers.

In any event, Anaheim is now working with an open roster spot. They can backdate his IR placement to yesterday, meaning he’s now on Day 2 of his required seven-day absence. The earliest he’ll be eligible to return is Oct. 15, which would also rule him out of Anaheim’s home opener against the Penguins next Tuesday unless his IR placement is backdated further than anticipated. The Ducks haven’t divulged any specifics, but their only ruling him out for their road trip is a promising sign that he shouldn’t miss too much, if any time, after he’s eligible for activation.

Strome has rarely missed time since signing a five-year, $25MM deal with Anaheim in free agency in 2022. He’s played all 82 games twice and only missed three games in the 2023-24 season due to an illness and an upper-body injury.

Strome’s absence opens the door for 2024 No. 3 overall pick Beckett Sennecke to make his NHL debut after breaking camp with the team. Strome had spent most of camp centering Anaheim’s veteran third line between Frank Vatrano and Alex Killorn. Free-agent splash Mikael Granlund will move down to fill that 3C role while Sennecke slots into second-line duties on the right side on a youth-fueled line with Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish, Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune relayed yesterday.

The 32-year-old Strome has been as consistent as possible as a Duck, hitting 41 points on the nose in each of his three seasons in Orange County. He’s had decent defensive impacts, particularly last season, when he posted a relative +3.7% Corsi share at even strength. He chews up minutes, averaging more than 16 per game, and quietly leaves a significant hole in Anaheim’s lineup early on that Sennecke, who’s coming off an 86-point season for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, will look to fill.

Goalie Notes: Vasilevskiy, Kochetkov, Vladar, Nedeljkovic

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Lightning star Andrei Vasilevskiy will indeed get the start for Tampa’s home opener against the Senators tonight, head coach Jon Cooper told Benjamin Pierce of NHL.com. It’s the expected result following a bit of a saga during training camp that saw his workload early on limited. He practiced to start camp, but then disappeared from sessions for over a week due to what Cooper called “player management,” and there was enough concern about his status for the start of the season for the Bolts to claim Pheonix Copley off waivers from the Kings as insurance. Vasilevskiy ended up returning to practice in late September and made a preseason appearance against the Panthers, though, so it seemed for a while that opening night wouldn’t be a concern. With the reigning Vezina runner-up firmly back in the fold, there might be a deal in place to return Copley to Los Angeles, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote earlier this week.

More updates from the world of goaltending:

  • Hurricanes tandem partner Pyotr Kochetkov will not dress against the Devils tonight after being “nicked up” in preseason, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Walt Ruff of NHL.com. He’s day-to-day, and his injury offers up the missing context as to why Carolina claimed Brandon Bussi off waivers from the Panthers earlier this week. Frederik Andersen will get the start and will presumably see a higher-than-normal workload until Kochetkov returns – a risky bet considering injuries have limited Andersen to an average of 24 starts over the last three years. Bussi would be in line for his NHL debut should he see action during this stretch.
  • Free-agent signing Daniel Vladař is getting the start over Samuel Ersson as the Flyers open their season tonight, head coach Rick Tocchet told Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. It was essentially a coin flip between the two, Tocchet said, signaling they’re likely set to receive similar workloads out of the gate. Both struggled in preseason samples, but Vladař was the better of the two with a .875 SV% and 2.32 GAA in a pair of appearances. Ersson played three exhibition games, logging a .841 SV% and 4.44 GAA.
  • In another toss-up, the Sharks are going with veteran addition Alex Nedeljkovic between the pipes to kick off their season over top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. It’s an earned reward for the 29-year-old, who stopped all but one of the 53 shots he faced in two preseason showings for San Jose for a staggering .981 SV% and 0.50 GAA. Askarov, while still locked into a full-time NHL role for the first time this year, struggled in exhibition play with a .855 SV% and 3.79 GAA in a team-high three appearances.

Blues Reassign Georgi Romanov

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Oct. 9: Romanov has cleared waivers and will be assigned to Springfield, according to Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic.

Oct. 8: The Blues have signed goaltender Georgi Romanov to a two-way deal, the team announced. He’ll be reporting to AHL Springfield, but he needs to clear waivers first. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports confirms he landed on the wire today. He had been in training camp with the Devils on a PTO, and while they never confirmed they released him, today’s news solidifies it.

Romanov is entering his seventh professional season and his third in North America. The Russian netminder signed with the Sharks as an undrafted free agent in 2023 after putting together a strong resume with Gornyak-UGMK in the second-tier VHL, only getting one game of top-flight KHL action with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg before making the jump. He enjoyed brief call-ups to San Jose in each of his two years there but was not given a qualifying offer this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

The 25-year-old brings six career starts and four relief appearances to the Blues’ pipeline. He fared as expected in them for a rookie netminder behind a league-worst team, going 0-6-0 but posting a respectable .888 SV% and 3.53 GAA while cumulatively allowing 3.5 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.

Romanov did well at the AHL level, posting a 3.12 GAA and a .904 SV% with a 20-15-13 record in 50 appearances for the San Jose Barracuda over the past two years. He looks to slot in as the new AHL starter and No. 3 goalie on St. Louis’ depth chart. The club lost Colten Ellis, who logged a .922 SV% in 42 games for AHL Springfield last season, on waivers to the Sabres earlier this week.

Wild’s Nico Sturm To Miss 6-8 Weeks, Back Surgery Likely

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Nico Sturm suffered a back injury early in training camp, and the Wild center landed on injured reserve on Tuesday. After being noncommittal about his return timeline, head coach John Hynes said today that Sturm is expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season and will likely need surgery in the coming days (per Michael Russo of The Athletic). Sturm remains on IR but is now eligible for a shift to long-term injured reserve if Minnesota needs additional cap relief, although that’s unlikely with $3.58MM in existing space, per PuckPedia.

It looked like Sturm’s absence may not be too lengthy at first. He actually returned to practice last week and even played in last Friday’s preseason finale against the Blackhawks, but he either aggravated his injury or wasn’t as healthy as he and the team’s medical staff thought.

The injury means a delayed start to Sturm’s second stint with the Wild. He broke into the league with Minnesota back in 2019 as an undrafted free agent signing out of Clarkson. He spent most of his first pro year developing in the minors before landing a full-time role with Minnesota for the 2020-21 season. After being traded to the Avalanche at the 2022 deadline, he’s made stops in San Jose and Florida before rejoining Minnesota in free agency this past offseason on a two-year, $4MM contract.

The past two years haven’t been all that kind offensively to the faceoff specialist. After peaking with a career-high 14 goals and 26 points in 74 games for the Sharks in 2022-23, he’s posted 12 goals and 27 points in 125 combined appearances since 2023-24. He saw his ice time with San Jose slashed by over four minutes per game year-over-year before being sent to the Panthers at the deadline, where he served as an injury fill-in down the stretch and a frequent scratch in the playoffs, although he did make eight appearances en route to the second Stanley Cup of his career (he also won with Colorado in 2022).

Sturm produced at a 27-point pace per 82 games in his first stint with the Wild. Asking for that much offense this time around may have been a stretch, but he’s remained one of the league’s best in the dot, going 56.5% for his career and 58.1% over the past two seasons. He provides legitimate defensive value, too, consistently posting favorable possession metrics for his defensively oriented usage.

As a result, 2022 second-rounder Hunter Haight will be making his NHL debut in Minnesota’s first game of the season tonight in the fourth-line center spot that Sturm was expected to hold, Hynes said (via Sarah McLellan of The Minnesota Star Tribune). He was a late inclusion on the Wild’s opening night roster and the corresponding recall for Sturm’s IR placement earlier in the week.

Blue Jackets Name Jet Greaves Opening Night Starter

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Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason confirmed to reporters today that Jet Greaves will open the season as Columbus’ starting netminder, via Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

Given how last season transpired, it’s not much of a surprise. While Elvis Merzļikins remains under contract at a $5.4MM cap hit and has been the team’s starter since 2021-22, his workload in recent seasons has been because of a lack of other quality options, not because of his performance. He had a couple of excellent showings as Joonas Korpisalo’s backup to begin his NHL career, but hasn’t had an average showing since his first year as Columbus’ No. 1. He’s rebounded somewhat from a disastrous 2022-23 season, but still posted an uninspiring .892 SV% and 3.18 GAA in 53 appearances for the Jackets last year.

Greaves, on the other hand, has gone from unheralded prospect to one of the league’s most intriguing young goalies over the past couple of seasons. The 24-year-old has operated as the Blue Jackets’ third-stringer for the past two years and got into a career-high 11 games last year – including five straight starts to end the season as the Jackets chased a playoff berth. He went 5-0 in those games, but they’d fallen too far back in the race by that point and missed out on a wild-card spot by two points.

The undrafted netminder has logged a stellar .924 SV% in 21 career NHL appearances over the last three years, including a sparkling .938 mark and 1.91 GAA with a pair of shutouts in last season’s body of work. In those 11 games, Greaves managed to stop 14.5 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck – 15th in the league and more than what high-end starters like Mackenzie Blackwood, Adin Hill, and Linus Ullmark managed to produce over a full season’s worth of work.

Greaves was similarly outstanding as the starter for AHL Cleveland in 2024-25. His .920 SV% and 2.62 GAA in 40 appearances, the former of which ranked fourth in the league among goalies who saw that kind of workload.

The writing was also on the wall based on his and Merzļikins’ preseason performances. Greaves got slightly more minutes and had much better results – a .917 SV% in three outings compared to an .896 mark from his Latvian counterpart.

It remains to be seen how Evason manages Greaves’ workload this season, or whether he operates as an outright starter rather than a tandem lead. Given he’s untested in the NHL for extended periods, it will likely be the latter. The season might start with a rotation approach and, if Greaves still holds up as the clearly better option, he could be in line for more consistent usage in the back half of the year.

Jets Expected To Activate Jonathan Toews From IR

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Jonathan Toews’ return to NHL ice will proceed as scheduled tonight. Despite being listed on injured reserve due to an undisclosed issue on the Jets’ opening night roster, Toews was a full participant in morning skate and is expected to be added to the active roster before tonight’s home opener, according to the team’s Mitchell Clinton. Winnipeg has a full 23-man roster and will need to make a corresponding transaction – presumably demoting one of their two waiver-exempt scratches in Parker Ford or Brad Lambert to AHL Manitoba.

The 37-year-old has carried a day-to-day designation for the past week after getting banged up in his final preseason appearance against the Wild on Sep. 30. Toews did not record a point in any of his three exhibition appearances but skated heavy minutes in the first two, around 18 minutes per game. The elite faceoff man showed no rust in the dot, going 28-for-46 on draws for a 60.9% win rate.

Toews will be anchoring Winnipeg’s second line between rookie Nikita Chibrikov and fellow offseason free agent signing Gustav Nyquist in his debut for his hometown team. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and future Hall of Famer last played a regular-season game 910 days ago on April 13, 2023, the final game of the Blackhawks’ 2022-23 season.

The longtime Chicago franchise cornerstone became a free agent the following summer and spent the last two seasons on the sidelines while dealing with the combined effects of chronic inflammatory response syndrome and long COVID. Back in May, he made clear his intent to return to play in 2025-26 and fielded calls from the Avalanche and Lightning as well before opting to sign in Winnipeg.

In his most recent NHL showing, Toews churned out a 15-16–31 scoring line in 53 appearances for the Hawks. With Winnipeg needing Toews to shoulder top-six minutes out of necessity to kick off the campaign, they’ll need at least that level of production – if not more – to help their offense stay afloat behind their dominant first line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi. In addition to losing top-six fixture Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency, the club is also without Cole Perfetti to begin the campaign after a preseason ankle injury and is missing captain Adam Lowry until later this month in the best-case scenario after he underwent hip surgery at the beginning of the offseason.

Will Butcher Signs With AHL Cleveland

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After one year overseas, a former Calder Trophy vote recipient is returning to North America. According to an announcement from the team, the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters have signed defenseman Will Butcher to a one-year contract for the 2025-26 season.

Last season, the University of Denver alumnus split his time between the KHL’s Barys Astana and the DEL’s EHC München. He performed much better with the latter, scoring three goals and 11 points in 32 games with a +7 rating, after tallying three assists in 15 games with the former.

Despite his offensive struggles in Europe, Butcher is only two years removed from being one of the better puck-moving defenseman in the AHL. In his first full season in the AHL with the Texas Stars during the 2022-23 season, Butcher scored six goals and 43 points in 65 games with a +11 rating, tying for 14th in scoring among defensemen.

Still, it’s difficult not to assess Butcher’s career as somewhat disappointing. On his entry-level deal with the New Jersey Devils, as recently as the 2018-19 campaign, Butcher was considered to be an up-and-coming offensive contributor from the blue line, scoring nine goals and 74 points in 159 games, averaging 17:38 of ice time per game.

New Jersey rewarded Butcher with a three-year, $11.2MM extension, though his production began to decline almost immediately upon putting pen to paper. In the following three campaigns, the final one with the Buffalo Sabres, Butcher registered seven goals and 40 points in 116 games before becoming a full-time AHL contributor.

In Cleveland, he’ll join a team that’s reached the postseason in back-to-back seasons. Given that Denton Mateychuk has graduated into a full-time role with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Butcher could be in line for significant responsibility on the Monsters’ blue line alongside Stanislav Svozil, especially if he returns to form from his 2022-23 campaign.

Michael McLeod Signs With KHL’s Avangard Omsk

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After some lukewarm interest from the Carolina Hurricanes, Michael McLeod’s comeback bid to the NHL will prove unsuccessful. He will return to the organization where he played last season, as the KHL announced a three-year deal for McLeod with Avangard Omsk.

Toward the beginning of training camp, reports indicated that McLeod would inevitably sign with the Hurricanes to return to the North American professional circuit. Still, since the NHL determined that none of the acquitted players from the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial could sign until October 15th, it gave Carolina plenty of time to change their mind.

The Hurricanes faced significant backlash from fans over their decision to target McLeod and former Philadelphia Flyer Carter Hart after they became eligible to return. Carolina pivoted relatively quickly, with TSN’s Chris Johnston saying the two sides couldn’t “get to something both sides would be comfortable with.”

Now, McLeod will return to Russia on a relatively lengthy three-year pact with Avangard Omsk. He spent much of last season with the team, scoring three goals and 13 points in 19 games, and another three goals and six points in 13 games for Barys Astana. He had much improved offensive production in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, tallying one goal and eight points in nine postseason contests.

Avangard Omsk doesn’t have much in the way of former NHL talent outside of McLeod, though they do have former three-time AHL scoring champion Andrew Poturalski and former first overall pick Nail Yakupov. Additionally, the team is coached by Guy Boucher, former head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators.

Oilers Sign Jack Roslovic

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The Oilers announced they’ve signed forward Jack Roslovic to a one-year deal worth $1.5MM. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the deal. Edmonton won’t be able to officially register the contract until they make a corresponding roster move, as they’ve got a full 23-man contingent.

Roslovic, 28, finally lands a contract after going all summer on the free agent market, not even opting to ink a PTO for training camp. He was PHR’s 20th-ranked UFA and had been the highest-profile skater available from Day 4 of free agency onward after Nikolaj Ehlers signed his deal with the Hurricanes, Roslovic’s now-former team.

It’s not often a 22-goal man stays unsigned into August, let alone October, but for whatever reason, that was the case. It’s not Edmonton’s first attempt to bring Roslovic in – they made a pitch early in the summer, which he declined, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported at the beginning of camp. After tying his career-high in goals and totaling 39 points in 81 games with the Canes last year, he may well have asked for too much for too long in negotiations and ended up pricing himself out of a multi-year deal when the game of musical chairs stopped.

He now takes a nearly 50% pay cut from the one-year, $2.8MM deal he signed with Carolina last summer. There’s immense value potential for the Oilers here. The 2015 first-rounder brings over 500 games of NHL experience, can play all three forward positions, and has consistently hovered around a 40-point pace over the past few years. He’s a career 12.4% shooter and has posted a 16-25–41 scoring line per 82 games since debuting with the Jets back in 2017.

Roslovic will provide early-season top-nine reinforcements to a club missing Zach Hyman and Mattias Janmark to begin the season due to injuries. Early on, the Oilers haven’t opted to elevate their young players in the lineup as most expected. Only Matthew Savoie has managed to latch onto a top-six role, skating with Andrew Mangiapane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on opening night, while fellow rookie Isaac Howard has been relegated to fourth-line duties. That’s led to names like Kasperi Kapanen and Noah Philp potentially being overtaxed in third-line duties out of the gate, something adding Roslovic into the mix will help avoid.

Roslovic’s up-and-down versatility means he could conceivably slot in as high as first-line right wing with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl or usurp the inexperienced Philp for third-line center duties. It’s not clear who he’ll force out of the roster in the coming days when Edmonton registers his contract. Waiver-exempt forwards on Edmonton’s active roster include Howard, Savoie, and international free agent signing David Tomasek.

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