Minor Transactions: 03/05/23
It’s a relatively slow day on the NHL calendar, at least compared to yesterday, with just five games on the schedule. But in leagues across the hockey world, teams are gearing up for the playoffs, such as in Europe where the ICEHL and DEL both are set to begin their playoffs this week. As teams in foreign leagues or minor leagues either get set to begin their playoffs or secure their spot in them, they’re also making tweaks to their rosters and other forms of transactions. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- Former Ottawa Senator and three-time Spengler Cup champion Chris DiDomenico is returning to Fribourg. Swiss club HC Fribourg-Gotteron has announced that the 34-year-old forward has signed a two-year deal set to begin next season. After a 2017-18 season that saw DiDomenico play 24 NHL games and score 18 points in just 13 AHL playoff games, he made the choice to cross the Atlantic and return to Switzerland, where he was before making it to the NHL. DiDomenico has been a star there, scoring a total of 314 points in 328 total games, and has scored 23 goals and 53 points in 46 games this season.
- 2016 Carolina Hurricanes third-round pick Jack LaFontaine, 25, has been reassigned to the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, according to a team announcement. LaFontaine returned in time to play in the Solar Bears’ game against the South Carolina Stingrays today, where he stopped 32 of 34 shots en route to a 7-2 victory. LaFontaine has spent most of this season in the ECHL, and he has a .905 save percentage in 22 games in Orlando this season.
- Morten Poulsen, who represented Denmark at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and is a star in Denmark’s top professional league, has signed a two-year extension with his current club, Herning Blue Fox. The 34-year-old is Herning’s captain and has scored 290 points in 394 career games at Denmark’s highest level. He’s a three-time Danish champion and has experience playing in Austria, in the Finnish Liiga, and in Sweden.
- A longtime veteran of the second and third divisions of German hockey won’t be hanging up his skates anytime soon. 41-year-old blueliner Lukas Slavetinsky, who has nearly 1,300 games of experience at four levels of German hockey has signed a one-year extension with his current team, EV Fussen, who play in the third tier of German hockey. He’s still quite productive, having scored 39 points in 39 games this season, and got into eleven games of action this year in second-tier DEL2. He last saw the ice in the DEL, the highest level of German pro hockey, in 2006-07 with ERC Ingolstadt.
- Michel Ackers, a 31-year-old defenseman who has served as captain of Herner EV 2007, a club in Germany’s third division, has signed a two-year extension to remain with the team. Ackers is one of the club’s most committed players, having skated in over 300 games for them and scored around a point-per-game rate multiple times. He’ll remain with the team for the next two years with the hope of finally leading them to promotion to the DEL2.
Big Hype Prospects: Sykora, Michkov, Huuhtanen, Poirier, Merilainen
Welcome to PHR’s Big Hype Prospects series. Like the MLB Trade Rumors series of the same name, we’re taking a look at the performances of top prospects from across the hockey world. We’ll look at drafted prospects who are rising, others who are struggling, and prospects for the upcoming draft who are notable.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Adam Sykora, LW, New York Rangers (HK Nitra, Tipos Extraliga)
37 GP 8G 12A 20pts
Despite not having a first-round pick at the 2022 NHL draft thanks to their in-season acquisition of Andrew Copp from the Winnipeg Jets, it seems as though the Rangers still managed to nab a quality prospect with their highest pick in the draft, all the way down at 63rd overall.
While fast-rising Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson has attracted most of the attention for the way he’s laid waste to college hockey in his first season since being drafted, Sykora, the player selected immediately after Huston has had among the most impressive and attention-worthy seasons of the 2022 second-round as well.
With 20 points in 37 games played, Sykora has upped his point-per-game scoring rate from .37 to .54.
That scoring rate puts him third in U21 scoring in Slovakia’s top professional league, and the two players in front of him are aged 21 and 20, respectively. Sykora, on the other hand, is just 18 years old and will have to wait until September to turn 19.
In other words, Sykora is just over a month older than top 2023 draft prospect Adam Fantilli, and is already reaching triple-digit career games played in a solid professional league.
And beyond just his scoring rate, Sykora is one of Nitra’s most relied-upon players, often skating in more than 20 minutes a night and regularly contributing on both special teams units.
Sykora’s best asset is his motor, which is always running to the max on every shift. He’s extremely hard-working and has more skill than one might expect. While he may not end up an overwhelming points producer, it’s easy to see his game being quickly transferrable to North American ice. He was even drafted number-one overall at the 2022 CHL Import Draft, suggesting Canadian junior teams were similarly optimistic about his game’s translatability to the other side of the Atlantic, and he’s already signed to an entry-level deal with the Rangers.
While Nitra hasn’t been a great team as a whole this year, they play HK Poprad in a playoff series later this week and Sykora’s performance there will definitely be something for the Rangers and their fans to pay attention to.
Matvei Michkov, LW, 2023 Draft Prospect (HK Sochi, KHL)
27 GP 9G 11A 2opts (for Sochi)
With Connor Bedard routinely torching competition in the WHL and Fantilli piling up impressive scoring numbers in college hockey, it’s easy to see why they’re regularly viewed as the two main can’t-miss prospects eligible to be selected at the draft in Nashville. But tucked away in the KHL (and under contract there through 2025-26) is Matvei Michkov, who has all the talent to be in the conversation with those other two prospects but is highly unlikely to be a consideration for the top-two picks in the draft.
Michkov’s season began somewhat unevenly. He was playing well, especially at the second-tier VHL level where he scored 14 points in 12 games, but opportunities in the KHL were scarce. His club, SKA St. Petersburg, is regularly among the KHL’s juggernaut teams and could not afford him any sort of regular role. In fact, when he managed to get into the ice for two KHL games, he finished with less than eight total minutes played across both games.
A December loan to HK Sochi, a team that would be able to give him ample ice time, ignited Michkov’s game and gave him a chance to show what he could do in one of the most talent-rich leagues outside the NHL. Michkov ended up playing 27 games for Sochi, and he finished with 20 points in 27 games. While one might note that eight of those points game in two games against the Kunlun Red Star, the KHL’s Chinese club and one of the worst teams in their league, it’s also worth noting that Kunlun won 10 more games this season than Sochi did.
Michkov is a fantastically skilled offensive player and his scoring numbers in the KHL are extremely rare for someone his age to accomplish. Kirill Kaprizov managed just eight points in 31 games in his own draft year, while Alex Ovechkin scored 23 points (more than Michkov) but in 53 games, not the 27 Michkov played for Sochi.
That’s not to say that Michkov is going to have the type of NHL success either of those two players have had — one is an all-time great and the other is looking increasingly like a franchise-defining star — but it does indicate the type of rare talent we’re dealing with here.
While the uncertain timeline of when Michkov would be available to NHL teams will likely hurt him on draft day, as NHL GMs weigh the risks and rewards of investing such high picks in different players, Michkov’s form in Sochi has underscored just how much he belongs in the conversation for the most talented player available at the 2023 draft not named Bedard.
Niko Huuhtanen, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning (Jukurit, Liiga)
45 GP 16G 13A 29pts
While Huuhtanen, 19, was the 2021 NHL draft’s “Mr. Irrelevant” as the last player selected, to borrow from an NFL tradition, he’s quickly reached a point of relevance in the two seasons since earning the moniker. The Lightning saw something in Huuhtanen, a six-foot-two 210-pound winger, and used their last pick on him after he scored 20 goals and 34 points at the Finnish junior level.
He was selected second overall at the 2021 CHL Import Draft, and headed to the WHL to play for the Everett Silvertips the following year. As a later birthdate for the 2021 draft, suspicions that Huuhtanen might be a late-bloomer seemed to be confirmed after his WHL performance, as he became an instant-impact contributor for the Silvertips, and finished with 37 goals and 77 points in 65 games.
This season, Huuhtanen has taken his game even further and is now one of the top scorers for Jukurit, a team in one of the best professional leagues in the world. At just 19 years old, Huuhtanen manged to score 16 goals and 29 points for Jukurit, a total that led all teenage players in Liiga. Huuhtanen plays the type of game that is highly coveted among NHL teams, combining the prototypical power forward’s physical game with goal-scoring ability and some sneaky skill.
According to CapFriendly, the Lightning have all the way until June 1st, 2025 to give Huuhtanen his entry-level deal before losing his exclusive rights. But given the way he’s played the past two years and how pro-ready his game looks, it’s likely that he’ll enter their organization well before that runway ends.
Jeremie Poirier, LHD, Calgary Flames (Calgary, AHL)
53 GP 7G 29A 36pts
Oftentimes it can be a bit of a challenge for skaters (and especially defensemen) who score at the junior level to translate their impressive numbers to the professional level. There’s often the pressure for defensemen to become deferential in their game, to play with a lot more safety and lose the type of risk-taking offensive flair that made them successful at those lower levels. Those challenges can be even more greatly magnified by higher competition level, as the time and space with the puck players are often more easily able to generate at the junior level can quickly evaporate against pros.
For Poirier, a Flames 2020 third-round pick, those challenges have been more than capably met. Fresh off of a Memorial Cup victory with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL, Poirier has stepped into the lineup with the Calgary Wranglers and become their most productive defenseman in his rookie professional season. With 36 points in 53 games, Poirier is not only Calgary’s most productive defenseman, he’s also the most productive defenseman aged 20 or under in the American League.
While the Flames have seemingly deemed him best served playing a full first pro season in the AHL without the potential interruption an NHL call-up would bring, Poirier has quickly played his way into the Flames’ medium-to-long-term blueline plans.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter is notoriously demanding of his players, and it’s likely that Poirier will need to further refine his defensive game to have success under Sutter. But as far as adjustments from the CHL to NHL go, Poirier’s has been as smooth as one could reasonably have hoped it would be.
Leevi Merilainen, G, Ottawa Senators (Karpat, Liiga)
39 GP 1.94 GAA .920 SV%
While the Ottawa Senators got strong goaltending from Anton Forsberg last season and gave him a $2.75MM AAV contract extension through 2025, the team’s “goalie of the future” remains relatively unclear. Big 2019 second-round pick Mads Sogaard has done quite well in six NHL games, with a 4-0-1 record, 2.33 GAA, and .922 save percentage, but he has just an .898 save percentage in 21 AHL games this season. 22-year-old Kevin Mandolese is a big netminder, but his AHL numbers have been similarly shaky.
While 2020 third-round pick Leevi Merilainen‘s uneven play last season in the OHL with the Kingston Frontenacs was far from the resounding step towards “goalie of the future” status many were hoping he’d take, his form this season in the Finnish Liiga has been exactly that.
Merilainen has played in 39 games for Karpat this season and currently ranks third among all league netminders with a .920 save percentage. He’s helped Karpat rise to the upper end of Liiga’s standings and has handily outperformed 2020 Pittsburgh Penguins second-rounder Joel Blomqvist. At six-foot-two, 180 pounds Merilainen doesn’t have the imposing size many NHL teams covet in their goalies, but he’s also big enough where size isn’t the sort of underlying concern it is for other prospect goalies.
The Senators signed Merilainen to an entry-level deal in 2021, and could be looking to have him cross the Atlantic and continue his development in their organization next season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Injury Notes: Simek, Guhle, Barron
San Jose Sharks defenseman Radim Simek did not travel with the team to Winnipeg, according to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Nikolai Knyzhov and Nick Cicek were recalled on Sunday, as the Sharks reshuffle their blueline ahead of their matchup with the Jets. They’ll be looking to put together a bounce-back performance after their squad was thoroughly dismantled by the Washington Capitals after the first period of yesterday’s game.
Simek has been a defense-first member of the Sharks’ blueline since coming over from the Czech league in 2017 as a free agent. He has recorded 28 points in 199 games played since making his NHL debut, and while he averages over 15 minutes of ice time per game for his career, he has struggled with nagging injury issues in recent years. Simek is making $2.25MM against the cap through next season.
Some other injury notes from across the NHL:
- The Montreal Canadiens announced today that rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle is out with an upper-body injury. Per the announcement, Guhle’s status is to be considered day-to-day. It’s an unfortunate development for the 21-year-old as he just recently returned from an extended injury-related absence. When healthy, he has impressed despite being thrust into a challenging situation as a minutes-eating rookie blueliner with significant defensive responsibilities.
- Another Canadiens rookie, Justin Barron, is also out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. While Barron didn’t make the Canadiens out of training camp as Guhle did, Barron got some extra seasoning at the AHL level and has played well as of late. He’s scored three goals and nine points in 24 games this season and is averaging just over 15 minutes time-on-ice per game.
Afternoon Notes: Quick To Make Vegas Debut, Bjorkstrand Practices
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Jonathan Quick is set to make his team debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, according to NHL.com.
Just as the hockey world began trying to envision Quick in a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey, he was flipped again to Vegas, a team the Los Angeles Kings likely would not have dealt him to. Quick will provide veteran leadership for rookie goalie Logan Thompson, who has shined this season in the absence of Robin Lehner. Thompson carries a .914 save percentage and 2.66 GAA with 20 wins in 36 games for Vegas, earning his first All-Star nod.
Quick has had a bit of a fall from grace in recent years, and has struggled this season, with a 3.50 GAA and .876 save percentage in 31 games, a far cry from his days as the stalwart for a defensively stingy Kings team.
“I can’t get into his head and what it means to him, but he’s here because he still wants to play,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy told NHL.com on Saturday. “He feels he can help the team win. I do know that, 100 percent. He’ll get that opportunity this little bit.”
More notes from around the NHL this afternoon:
- Seattle Kraken winger Oliver Bjorkstrand participated in the morning skate on Sunday after leaving Friday’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, according to Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times. Bjorkstrand recorded an assist in his return to Columbus on Friday for the first time since being traded to the Kraken. Bjorkstrand has 33 points in 62 games for Seattle, as the Kraken head toward their first playoff appearance in franchise history.
San Jose Sharks Recall Nick Cicek, Nikolai Knyzhov
The San Jose Sharks recalled defensemen Nick Cicek and Nikolai Knyzhov from the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda on Sunday, per a team tweet.
As The Athletic’s Corey Masisak notes, the recalls give San Jose some extra defensemen on the roster as they embark on a three-game road swing. Defenseman Radim Simek also left yesterday’s 8-3 loss to Washington, and his status is still unknown.
For Knyzhov, it’s a chance to get into his first NHL games since his breakout campaign in 2020-21. After just three previous games of NHL experience, Knyzhov appeared in all 56 games during the COVID-shortened campaign, scoring 10 points and mostly played alongside Erik Karlsson.
He’s played just 12 games of hockey since then, all coming this year with the Barracuda. A groin injury cost him the entire 2021-22 campaign, and an offseason Achilles injury kept him out through the end of January 2023. He hadn’t recorded a point with the Barracuda, but the defensive-minded Knyzhov will still get a chance to show that he can still play a role in the NHL.
Cicek, 22, has four assists in 16 games with the Sharks this season. Signed this past offseason after an impressive performance on an AHL deal last year, Cicek has slid up to the seventh or eighth spot on the organization’s defense depth chart.
Dallas Stars Loan Fredrik Olofsson, Matt Murray To AHL
The well-worn track between the NHL and AHL for a pair of Dallas Stars players saw more traffic today. As announced by the team Sunday afternoon, forward Fredrik Olofsson and goalie Matt Murray have been loaned to the AHL’s Texas Stars.
Murray heading to the AHL could be a sign that backup Scott Wedgewood is ready to return from an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out for much of the past few weeks. Wedgewood last played just over two weeks ago and was heating up with a .920 save percentage in his last five starts, although a lack of goal support left him with just a 1-4-0 record. An AHL presence for most of his career, the 30-year-old Wedgewood has done well since earning the full-time backup gig in Dallas.
The “other” Matt Murray made his NHL debut three nights ago, stopping 19 of 21 shots in a 5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks. He returns to Texas, now indisputably the team’s third-string goalie after Anton Khudobin was dealt to the Blackhawks in this week’s Max Domi trade.
Olofsson, 26, is still waiver-exempt and will likely continue to return to Texas as breaks in Dallas’ schedule allow. With accruing salary cap space nor roster limits in consideration after the trade deadline, Olofsson’s deployment by Dallas isn’t affected by any financial motivations. The undrafted free agent has played in 20 games with Dallas this season, registering a goal and three assists.
Metropolitan Notes: Meier, Lazar, Flyers
A week after learning he’d officially be joining the team, New Jersey Devils fans should finally get to see Timo Meier in action today when the team takes on the Arizona Coyotes. Head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters today, including NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky, that “as long as he’s feeling good, [Meier] should be ready to go.”
Meier had been day-to-day with an upper-body injury at the time of the trade and had not played since February 18. According to Devils senior producer Sam Kasan’s report of the team’s line rushes during yesterday’s practice, Meier is expected to line up at left wing alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, forming a potentially terrorizing two-way scoring unit.
More notes from the Metro Division this morning:
- Novozinsky also reported this morning that it may be a few games before New Jersey sees their other trade deadline acquisition in a Devils uniform. Curtis Lazar, acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on deadline day, is dealing with work visa issues, and it could be as long as a week until he’s able to join the team. The 28-year-old Lazar is expected to contest with Jesper Boqvist, Michael McLeod, and Miles Wood for ice time in New Jersey’s bottom six.
- While many Philadelphia Flyers fans criticized general manager Chuck Fletcher‘s lack of significant activity at the trade deadline, head coach John Tortorella stepped to his defense yesterday. Tortorella told reporters, including Olivia Reiner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, that Fletcher tried to gain assets for expiring contracts. Offers were presented for many of the Flyers’ pending UFAs, including James van Riemsdyk and Justin Braun, but Fletcher opted not to move them for a lower asking price than desired.
Poll: Who Won The 2023 Trade Deadline Week?
The 2023 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, with most of the action spread among the days leading up to last Friday. Playoff contenders were as active as ever, with an eyebrow-raising 13 first-round picks dealt in the weeks leading up to the deadline. With so much activity, though, it’s difficult to immediately say which team (and which general manager) came out on top.
First off, the world-beating Boston Bruins made a pair of significant deals with conference rivals. Their biggest acquisition came in the form of Dmitry Orlov from the Washington Capitals, who had been quietly one of the best defensive defenders in the league over the past few years. His two-way play has made an immediate impact, recording three goals and nine points in just five games with the Bruins since the trade, already doubling his goal total on the season. The team also acquired a pair of aggressive forwards, Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway, who seem to fit seamlessly into the tapestry of a quintessential Bruins lineup.
However, their Atlantic Division rivals were some of the most active teams on the market too. No team made more additions to their roster than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who added a significant complement of defensive-minded skaters in Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, and Luke Schenn while also adding some power-play depth in the form of defenseman Erik Gustafsson. Like Boston, they were able to avoid parting with a top prospect in the process, although young NHLer Rasmus Sandin, already off to a strong start with his new team, the Washington Capitals, was a casualty of the roster crunch.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, looking to make a fourth straight Stanley Cup Final, made one of the most controversial moves of the deadline by parting with five draft picks in exchange for depth winger Tanner Jeannot. They also made some salary cap flexibility by swapping Vladislav Namestnikov for Michael Eyssimont, who’s provided some quiet upside in his first extended NHL opportunities with the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks.
The best forward on the market on the market was undoubtedly Timo Meier, who the New Jersey Devils landed to complete a formidable top-six forward group alongside Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Tomas Tatar. The 26-year-old is amidst his second consecutive 30-goal season and is a powerful two-way force. They also acquired Curtis Lazar in a minor deal with the Vancouver Canucks to improve their fourth line.
No team made more star-studded acquisitions than the New York Rangers, not unexpected from one of the most aggressive front offices in the league. A pair of veteran stars headed their way in the form of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, who the Rangers hope will enjoy some revitalization alongside a more robust core on Broadway. It looks like that’s happened so far for Tarasenko, who’s scored four goals and nine points in 12 games as a Ranger. Kane is still looking for his first point and has a -4 rating in two contests since the trade.
It was one team out of the playoff picture, though, that may have made the most effective roster improvement. The Ottawa Senators acquired defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes for a trio of draft picks, filling a gigantic hole in their defensive makeup. Now 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, the acquisition of Chychrun (under contract through 2025) gives the Senators a fighting chance at making the playoffs for the first time since advancing to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017.
It’s up to you, PHR readers, to decide who they think had the best overall haul at this year’s deadline. Cast your vote and let us know who you think came out on top.
Minor Transactions: 03/04/23
With the NHL trade deadline now passed, playoff races in both conferences are ramping up and today is a jam-packed Saturday full of NHL action. A potential Eastern Conference Final preview happened earlier today when the Boston Bruins took on the New York Rangers, and multiple teams jockeying for playoff position are engaged in important games. As these games play out, teams in minor and foreign leagues are making tweaks to their rosters and signing contract extensions. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- 2014 Toronto Maple Leafs fourth-round pick and 2021-22 EIHL Player of the Year J.J. Piccinich has signed a two-year contract extension with his current club, Norway’s Stjernen Hockey. Piccinich, a former captain of the OHL’s London Knights, torched the United Kingdom’s top league last season to the tune of 80 points in 52 games for the Belfast Giants. He left Northern Ireland for Norway this season and has fit exceptionally well, scoring 65 points in 45 games. Piccinich has won quite a bit in his career and is a Hockey East, OHL, Memorial Cup, ECHL, and EIHL Champion, and he’ll now have two more seasons after this one to win a title in Norway.
- 27-year-old Zac Masson will get his first chance to show what he can do at the ECHL level. The former University of Alaska-Anchorage forward was signed out of the SPHL’s Birmingham Bulls by the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators today, giving him his first opportunity at North American hockey’s third tier of the pro game. Masson has had to work his way up to this level, as he spent his first season as a professional playing for Bisons de Neuilly-sur-Marne in the second tier of pro hockey in France. This year, he’s scored 11 goals and 21 points in 40 games for the Bulls, and will now get a chance to impress at a more difficult level of hockey with the Gladiators.
- Roberts Mamcics, a 27-year-old Latvian winger who represented his home country at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has signed a one-year contract extension with his current team, Slovakia’s HC Nove Zamsky. With just seven points in 33 games this year, Mamcics hasn’t scored a ton, but he’s helped Nove Zamsky reach the playoffs this season. This has been Mamcics’ first season in Slovakia, with much of his prior professional experience coming in the KHL with Dinamo Riga before he split last season between four teams: Riga, Latvia’s HK Zemgale, the SHL’s HC Linkoping, and Czechia’s Berani Zlin.
West Notes: Coyotes, Carrier, Duhaime
The Arizona Coyotes made one of the biggest deals of the season when they sent defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Ottawa Senators for a trio of draft picks. The Coyotes will receive a first-round pick in 2023 and a pair of future second-round picks. While the initial ask was certainly higher, Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong explained his thought process to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports.
Armstrong stated he valued the Senators first-round pick higher than most other teams next two first-round picks. The Senators are fighting for a playoff spot, but are on the outside looking in and have to leapfrog a handful of teams down the stretch to get in. If they miss, the Coyotes are guaranteed a top-16 pick which, paired with two future second-round picks, has more value than two first-round picks that would be closer to 30th overall. Armstrong said he believes this pick will be somewhere between 6-18 in a deep 2023 draft, and that was ultimately why he pulled the trigger on the Chychrun trade.
- Per a team release, the Vegas Golden Knights will be without William Carrier for the foreseeable future. He is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury after leaving the Golden Knights 4-3 shootout win in the first period. Carrier is having a productive season with 16 goals and 25 points in 56 games but now joins Mark Stone, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit on the sidelines in Vegas.
- Minnesota Wild winger Brandon Duhaime won’t play today due to injury according to Joe Smith of The Athletic relays (Twitter link). He will be re-evaluated when the team returns from their trip after tonight’s contest in Calgary. The 25-year-old has seven goals and an assist in 39 games so far.