New Jersey Devils Assign Akira Schmid To AHL
After calling him up on an emergency basis yesterday, the New Jersey Devils have sent goaltender Akira Schmid back to their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
The move returns Schmid, 22, to a Comets team where he shares the crease with fellow goalie prospect Nico Daws. The Swiss netminder has had a bit of an odd season, as his numbers are poor at the AHL level but highly impressive in the NHL.
In eight AHL games, Schmid has a 4-1-3 record, a 2.72 goals-against-average, and a grisly .887 save percentage. On the flip side, in nine NHL games Schmid has gone 5-4 with a 2.24 goals-against-average and an impressive .919 save percentage.
One would typically expect a player to post better numbers at the lower level of competition, but that hasn’t been the case for Schmid. It’s highly likely that the state of the Devils, a team overflowing with competent defensive defensemen, played a role in Schmid’s numbers being better at the NHL level.
In any case, Schmid will head back to the AHL level looking to help Utica reach the playoffs. The team sits third in the AHL’s North Division and will hope to increase its lead on the two teams at their heels, the Laval Rocket and Syracuse Crunch.
Montreal Canadiens Issue Injury Updates
The Montreal Canadiens have issued some injury updates, news covering several key players. Firstly, the team has revealed that rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle has suffered a lower-body injury that will keep him out of the lineup for a minimum of eight weeks.
Additionally, forward Brendan Gallagher has suffered a lower-body injury and will be out for at least two weeks.
Finally, both Mike Matheson and Sean Monahan skated this morning, and are considered to be progressing well. Even so, both are expected to remain out of action for the next two weeks.
These developments are not especially encouraging ones for the Canadiens, who have been on a nightmarish stretch as of late. After an impressive start, the Canadiens have now lost six straight games and nine of their last ten.
Losing Guhle for eight weeks is a particularly disappointing development given how much of an important role he has played for the Canadiens in what has been an impressive rookie season.
Guhle has averaged the second-most minutes played of any regular Canadiens defenseman this season, behind only veteran blueliner David Savard.
He’s seen significant minutes on the penalty kill, and has impressed many with the poise he’s displayed in such unforgiving circumstances.
He now faces a relatively long recovery process, and in his absence, the Canadiens will be forced to rely even more on veterans Savard and Joel Edmundson, while also putting their glut of rookie blueliners under siege to an even greater degree than they have already been.
For Gallagher, another two-week absence due to injury is an unwelcome development, especially given the fact that he had just recently returned from an injury-related absence. Various ailments have laid waste to the veteran forward’s past two seasons, and is now seemingly derailing a third-straight campaign.
As for Matheson and Monahan, the news that they are progressing well is an important positive development for the Canadiens. While they’ll still remain out for the next two weeks, getting the two veterans on track to eventually return is a nice boost.
Monahan has been great in Montreal, scoring 17 points in 25 games, while Matheson has played significant minutes in the few games he’s skated in this year.
Picture courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Seattle Kraken Re-Assign Shane Wright To OHL
Fresh off of leading Team Canada to victory at the World Junior Championships, Shane Wright‘s status for the rest of the season has been made clear.
The Seattle Kraken have reassigned the forward to his junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs, meaning he will spend the rest of the season chasing the Memorial Cup. That chase may not take place in Kingston, though, as NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston tweets that the expectation is that Wright will be traded to another OHL team.
Kraken general manager Ron Francis issued the following statement regarding Wright’s status:
We’re very proud of Shane’s performance at the World Juniors, helping captain Team Canada to a gold medal. He has a bright NHL career ahead of him with the Kraken and now has an opportunity to lead his junior team as they compete for a Memorial Cup. We look forward to watching him the rest of this season and wish him well.
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster season for Wright, who somewhat surprisingly fell to the number-four slot at the 2022 draft. The now 19-year-old center began the year with the Kraken, but played sparingly and was frequently a healthy scratch.
The Kraken exploited a little-known feature of the NHL-CHL transfer agreement that allowed Wright to spend two weeks in the AHL. After a successful five-game stretch there where Wright scored four goals, was recalled back to Seattle, played in one game, scored his first NHL goal, and then left to captain Canada’s World Juniors squad.
Now back in the OHL, Wright will look to have a dominant rest of the season and help his team win the Memorial Cup. Wright’s OHL performance last year was seen as somewhat disappointing, as he failed to lead the Frontenacs on a deep playoff run and didn’t post the dominant production many expected.
He’ll now get another chance to have the overwhelmingly productive OHL campaign many were expecting, and with some NHL experience under his belt and a WJC win in his back pocket, he’s in a prime position to succeed.
New York Rangers Send Gustav Rydahl To AHL
1/6/23: Rydahl’s stay on the Rangers roster has been brief. The team has announced that the forward has been sent back down to AHL Hartford. Rydahl wasn’t dressed for the Rangers’ 4-1 victory over the Canadiens last night.
1/5/23: The New York Rangers have added some more size and grit to the roster, recalling Gustav Rydahl from the minor leagues. Arthur Staple of The Athletic tweets that he is up for Jonny Brodzinski, whose wife is expecting.
Signed to a one-year, $750K contract out of the SHL last May, Rydahl likely would have made the Rangers lineup out of training camp had he not been one of the few waiver-exempt bubble players. Instead of risking someone else, he was sent to the minor leagues where he has been playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack, racking up nine points and 24 penalty minutes in 24 games.
He won’t make many highlight reels, but the hard-working 26-year-old is a versatile player that found plenty of success in the SHL. His consistent north-south game resulted in 15 goals and 30 points in 44 games for Farjestads BK last season, and he was even better in the postseason when the checking tightened. That’s the kind of play the Rangers are dying to see out of their bottom six, meaning the forward (who can play center and wing) could get a chance to prove himself.
The Rangers will take on the Montreal Canadiens this evening before heading to New Jersey for a game Saturday night.
Canada Wins 2023 World Junior Championship
Team Canada has won the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, defeating Czechia to win the gold medal. The game-winning goal came off the stick of Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Guenther in overtime, ending Czechia’s bid for their first gold since 2001.
It’s Canada’s second consecutive gold medal and their second gold medal in just five months after the delayed 2022 tournament occurred in August. It’s also the second straight tournament in which Canada won in 3-on-3 overtime, with Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish scoring the winner last year.
The 2023 presumptive first-overall pick and tournament MVP, Connor Bedard, finished the tournament with an astonishing 23 points in seven games, leading all other players in the tournament by nine points. He’s now the all-time leader for Canada at the World Juniors and set a single-tournament point record for Canadian players.
It’s a tough loss to swallow for Czechia, who played their hearts out and deserved to get this far in the tournament. Getting their first medal since 2005 is still a great success, and they’ll take home the silver. Goaltender Tomas Suchanek was named to the media All-Star team after posting a .934 save percentage and playing every minute of the tournament for Czechia.
Buffalo Sabres 2022 first-round pick Jiri Kulich led the Czechs in scoring, potting seven goals in seven games and adding two assists.
NHL Announces Initial All-Star Rosters
According to a league release, the NHL has named the first eight selections to the four divisional All-Star teams for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida.
The league names one player to represent each team at the game, a rule in standing since the league switched to a divisional format for its mid-season talent showcase. A public fan vote will decide the three remaining players per division next week.
Each division’s leader in points percentage after gameplay concludes on January 11 will determine coaches for these teams. The Boston Bruins have already clinched the best such number in the Atlantic at that time, meaning Jim Montgomery will be behind the bench for the star-studded Atlantic Division, arguably the league’s best contingent of talent.
The initial rosters for each division are as follows:
Atlantic Division
Boston: G Linus Ullmark (1st appearance)
Buffalo: C Tage Thompson (1st appearance)
Detroit: C Dylan Larkin (3rd appearance)
Florida: RW Matthew Tkachuk (2nd appearance)
Montreal: C Nick Suzuki (2nd appearance)
Ottawa: LW Brady Tkachuk (3rd appearance)
Tampa Bay: RW Nikita Kucherov (4th appearance)
Toronto: RW Mitch Marner (2nd appearance)
Metropolitan Division
Carolina: LW Andrei Svechnikov (1st appearance)
Columbus: LW Johnny Gaudreau (7th appearance)
New Jersey: C Jack Hughes (2nd appearance)
NY Islanders: C Brock Nelson (1st appearance)
NY Rangers: G Igor Shesterkin (1st appearance)
Philadelphia: C Kevin Hayes (1st appearance)
Pittsburgh: C Sidney Crosby (5th appearance)
Washington: LW Alex Ovechkin (8th appearance)
Central Division
Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (3rd appearance)
Chicago: RD Seth Jones (4th appearance)
Colorado: RD Cale Makar (2nd appearance)
Dallas: LW Jason Robertson (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (2nd appearance)
Nashville: G Juuse Saros (2nd appearance)
St. Louis: RW Vladimir Tarasenko (injured) (4th appearance)
Winnipeg: LD Josh Morrissey (1st appearance)
Pacific Division
Anaheim: RW Troy Terry (2nd appearance)
Calgary: C Nazem Kadri (2nd appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (6th appearance)
Los Angeles: LW Kevin Fiala (1st appearance)
San Jose: RD Erik Karlsson (7th appearance)
Seattle: C Matthew Beniers (1st appearance)
Vancouver: C Elias Pettersson (3rd appearance)
Vegas: G Logan Thompson (1st appearance)
The most important note on these rosters is obviously that of Tarasenko’s status. The 31-year-old is on injured reserve with a hand injury, and likely won’t be able to suit up. His replacement will be named shortly.
More to come…
Minor Transactions: 01/05/23
As of the time of writing, there’s just one game left in the exciting 2023 edition of the World Juniors. All eyes were on the United States earlier today as they won a rollercoaster 8-7 game in overtime off the stick of Winnipeg Jets first-round selection Chaz Lucius. That doesn’t mean other teams have taken their eye off adjusting their rosters, with multiple minor-league teams and former NHLers appearing on the transaction wire today. We’ll keep track of those moves once again right here.
- Feisty enforcer Tyrell Goulbourne is coming out of retirement, as the AHL’s Ontario Reign signed him to a professional tryout today. A third-round pick in 2013, Goulbourne suited up 11 times for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2017 to 2019 but hasn’t yet found his way back to the NHL. After bouncing between three teams last year in the AHL and ECHL, Goulbourne didn’t find a home for the 2022-23 season and retired. He joins a Reign team scattered with other NHL veterans on minor-league deals, including Cameron Gaunce, Alan Quine, and Nate Thompson.
- 37-year-old Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond is still hanging around pro hockey despite having not played in the NHL since 2013-14. He’s played just one season since 2016-17, skating in 23 games in the Quebec-based LNAH during 2019-20. But after signing with the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions just a few days ago and playing in one game, the Lions placed Letourneau-Leblond on waivers with the intent to release him, according to the ECHL’s transactions log. He appeared in 41 NHL games with the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
- The AHL’s San Diego Gulls today announced that they reassigned forward Blake McLaughlin to their ECHL affiliate, the Tulsa Oilers. Under contract with the Anaheim Ducks and selected 79th overall in 2018, it’s been a tough transition to pro hockey for McLaughlin, who finished his collegiate career at the University of Minnesota in 2021-22. Once a consistent offensive presence playing far up in the lineup on a skilled Minnesota team, McLaughlin has failed to register a single point in 24 games with San Diego in 2022-23.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Florida Panthers Recall Chris Tierney
After sending him down a few days back, the Florida Panthers recalled forward Chris Tierney today from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, according to a team tweet.
The 28-year-old veteran of more than 500 NHL games joined the Panthers this past offseason, somewhat surprisingly, on a two-way deal. His offensive production had trailed off throughout his four seasons with the Ottawa Senators, and he couldn’t crack the team out of training camp through a deep Panthers offensive lineup.
That’s led to Tierney not being a full-time NHLer for the first time since 2014-15, his first professional season. Even then, he was point-per-game in the AHL and played the majority of his games that season in the NHL.
Tierney has done well in the minors, recording 16 points in 20 games, but scored just three goals. Things have seemed to go better than expected for him in Sunrise, though, as he has three points through his meager five NHL appearances this season. It’s especially impressive given his minimal usage, as he’s played under eight minutes per game with Florida.
It’s unclear what exactly motivated Tierney’s recall, as Florida doesn’t have any injuries necessitating his presence. It could be that the Panthers want as large a roster as possible for their upcoming West Coast road trip, which they now do with 23 healthy skaters.
Ondrej Palat Activated From Injured Reserve
The New Jersey Devils have removed Ondrej Palat from injured reserve, according to the NHL’s media site. Tyce Thompson, who was recalled recently, no longer appears on the roster and according to Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com is being sent to the Utica Comets. The team also has recalled Akira Schmid, but had an extra roster spot available already so didn’t need a further transaction.
Palat, 31, hasn’t played since October 24 when he logged more than 20 minutes for the first time in a Devils uniform. He would undergo groin surgery a week later, meaning he would miss most of New Jersey’s incredible start to the year. Now that the Devils have started to falter, there’s no better time for the Stanley Cup champion to get back into the lineup.
Though he isn’t an elite offensive player, you will have a hard time finding any former linemates that would say a negative word about playing with Palat. He is the kind of good-at-everything player that every team relies on, and is a consistent presence at both ends of the rink. Marian Hossa-lite, he’s been called in the past, as he allows linemates to cheat offensively while covering a lot of the defensive responsibility.
That’s what the Devils were hoping to add when they signed Palat to a five-year, $30MM contract last summer. The front-loaded deal, which pays him $8.25MM this season, also came with a full no-movement clause for the first three years. The veteran forward is supposed to be able to lend his championship experience to one of the youngest groups in the league, and he’ll be welcomed back to try and help turn things around after a recent skid.
That turnaround may have already started with a decisive 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings last night, but there are some challenges coming on the schedule. The New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, both division rivals, are on tap after tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues.
Snapshots: Flames, Cicek, Brickley
The Calgary Flames had one of the wildest offseasons we’ve seen in quite some time, watching two 100-point players go elsewhere and bringing in three All-Star-level talents to try and replace them. It hasn’t gone perfectly, with Jonathan Huberdeau especially looking a little uncomfortable with his new team, but things are starting to move in the right direction.
At least, that’s what general manager Brad Treliving explained to Sportsnet’s Eric Francis in a long Q&A. Treliving also admitted that the team is still on the lookout for a top-nine forward to add to the group, though hinted that it could be an internal candidate. Jakob Pelletier, the 21-year-old first-round pick from 2019 continues to score at a high rate in the minor leagues but has yet to receive an opportunity in the NHL.
- The yo-yo session continues for Nick Cicek, who was recalled again by the San Jose Sharks today. That’s already three transactions since the month began for the young defenseman, who is getting his first chance at the NHL level and has four points in ten games so far.
- Daniel Brickley, once a hyped college free agent signing by the Los Angeles Kings, will continue his career with the famous MODO Hockey in Sweden’s second league after a move from Vasterviks IK today. Brickley, now 27, played five games for the Kings in the years following his excellent career at Minnesota State-Mankato but quickly found himself falling down depth charts and toiling in the ECHL. He left for Sweden this season and has scored 28 points in 31 games so far.