Anaheim Ducks Activate Max Comtois, Move Isac Lundeström To IR
The Anaheim Ducks placed forward Isac Lundeström on injured reserve Tuesday and activated left wing Max Comtois, according to CapFriendly.
Lundeström suffered a finger injury on December 1, and the team gave him a six-week recovery timeline on Saturday. A capable young bottom-six center, Lundeström had six points in 24 games before the injury, which should see him return to the lineup in mid-January.
If needed for whatever reason, Lundeström is eligible for long-term injured reserve. With the team not needing the salary cap benefits of such a move, though, expect Lundeström to stay on IR until he’s ready to go.
Comtois hasn’t played in nearly a month, last playing in a November 12 loss to Chicago. He missed the following 11 games with a lower-body injury, and he’ll look to build on the four goals he scored pre-injury. Comtois is expected to draw into the lineup tonight when the Ducks host the Carolina Hurricanes.
Nathan MacKinnon Expected To Miss Four Weeks
As reported by Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic Tuesday night, Colorado Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon is expected to miss roughly four weeks with an upper-body injury suffered last night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The report comes after head coach Jared Bednar told reporters this morning that MacKinnon was “going to miss some time” with the injury.
It appears that ghosts of Vegas Golden Knights past are coming to haunt the Avs this season, with an injury list that alone rivals the core of a playoff-contending team. Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher are now the team’s only healthy forwards with double-digit points, pushing the Avs to use even the fringes of their minor-league depth.
The pure length of the injury list is compounded by the quality of players, none higher than MacKinnon. The freshly-minted highest-paid player in the league is already living up to his future contract extension, leading the Avalanche with 34 points in 23 games.
Colorado now turns to Rantanen, a natural winger playing center on the second line with some other depth pieces out, to be their first-line pivot in all likelihood. They’ll also need much more out of players like Alex Newhook, who has nine points in 23 games.
Jean-Luc Foudy, Evan Rodrigues, Artturi Lehkonen, Shane Bowers, Valeri Nichushkin, Gabriel Landeskog, Darren Helm, Bowen Byram, Josh Manson, and Kurtis MacDermid comprise the team’s injury list. Out of all of them, Foudy, Nichushkin, and Lehkonen appear the closest to returning.
Vancouver Canucks Recall Christian Wolanin, Move Thatcher Demko To IR
Dec 6: It turns out Wolanin was just an extra body for last night’s game. He did not suit up in Vancouver’s insane come-from-behind win against the Montreal Canadiens, and the team returned him to AHL Abbotsford on Tuesday.
Dec 5: The Vancouver Canucks have moved goalie Thatcher Demko to injured reserve, freeing up a roster spot to recall defenseman Christian Wolanin from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, according to a team announcement Monday night.
Three days ago, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Demko would be sidelined for six weeks with an injury and that Vancouver avoided a “worst-case scenario.” Although they did recall Collin Delia at the time, they did not have to make a corresponding transaction to do so.
Wolanin, 27, has yet to suit up for the Canucks this season. A veteran of 70 NHL games, he signed a one-year contract in Vancouver in July.
While none of the Canucks regular defensemen are hurt, Wolanin earns a call-up based on performance. His 24 points in 20 games are second in scoring among AHL defensemen, only behind Darren Raddysh‘s 26 in 19. He’s eighth in league scoring among all skaters.
A fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2015, Wolanin is on his fourth NHL organization after spending time with the Kings and Sabres (for one game) over the past three seasons.
Minor Transactions: 12/06/22
While baseball news may be heating up, some great NHL storylines are still on the docket tonight. Mitch Marner and Jason Robertson will show down as two of the hottest players in the league, while Shane Wright will play his first NHL game against the team that passed on drafting him first overall. There’s been some movement today in the minors, too, and we’ll cover that right here.
- The Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit’s AHL affiliate, has made some roster swaps. Today, the team signed forwards Gordie Green and Lukas Craggs to AHL PTOs and sent forward Kirill Tyutyayev to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, per a team announcement. Undrafted, the Michigan-born Green was a former captain at Miami University-Ohio and has hovered close to a point per game in the ECHL ever since. Craggs, 26, was previously in the Nashville Predators organization, but the team released him several seasons ago. He’s failed to make much of an AHL impact since. Tyutyayev, who is actually a Detroit draft pick but remains unsigned, missed much of 2021-22 due to injury and will get his first taste of ECHL hockey.
This page will be updated throughout the day
Snapshots: Blackhawks, Boeser, Boucher
The Chicago Blackhawks are the team to watch when it comes to selling at the trade deadline, with so much focus on Patrick Kane‘s potential destination. Scott Powers of The Athletic examined the situation regarding Kane and Jonathan Toews, but also touched on the trade market for lesser players like Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou.
Signing those two always seemed like a move destined to lead to trade deadline flips, but the Blackhawks may not get as much as they think for them. One executive told Powers that Domi and Athanasiou would likely cost third or fourth-round picks in a trade, though admitted things can change if teams get “desperate.”
- Brock Boeser‘s camp has been given permission to seek a trade, and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote yesterday that agent Ben Hankinson already spoke to at least six teams last week, with more talks planned. LeBrun uses the word “inevitable” to describe a Boeser trade before the end of the season.
- Reid Boucher, who pleaded guilty in relation to a 2011 sexual assault case involving his 12-year-old “billet sister,” and was sentenced earlier this year, has re-signed with Avangard Omsk for another year. Boucher is fourth in KHL scoring this season, with 36 points in 37 games.
Tanner Laczynski Placed On Injured Reserve
The Philadelphia Flyers are without another forward for the next little while, as Tanner Laczynski has been moved to injured reserve and is out week-to-week according to Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He joins Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk, Bobby Brink, and Wade Allison as forwards on IR.
The silver lining, if one can call it that, is that van Riemsdyk practiced and appears to be ready to return when the Flyers play tomorrow night.
Laczynski, 25, has been a regular in the Flyers lineup this season, playing in 19 games so far. The late-round pick had just six appearances before this year and had never registered an NHL point – something he has four of now. One of those came last night against the Colorado Avalanche in a statement win for the club, pouring on five goals against the defending (albeit banged up) champions.
Moving him to injured reserve opens up the roster spot needed for van Riemsdyk, meaning no one else will have to be sent down. The Flyers have actually been playing much better of late, even if their overall results haven’t been strong. They still sit seventh in the Metropolitan Division with a 9-12-5 record.
Colorado Avalanche Send Three To AHL
2:15pm: After the Avalanche lost Megna on waivers, they were under the 18-man roster limit. Hudon has been recalled to make the team compliant again.
9:10am: With Nathan MacKinnon the latest player to go down for the Colorado Avalanche, the team will have some tough decisions on how to organize a lineup moving forward. Today, they have sent Andreas Englund, Anton Blidh, and Charles Hudon back to the AHL, though they may not stay there for long.
Hudon, 28, made his Colorado debut last night, playing over 15 minutes and recording seven shots on goal. The talented winger is a potential fit for the top-six, but likely doesn’t fit any lower than that. With both Alex Galchenyuk and Jayson Megna on waivers today to create some additional flexibility, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hudon back up for tomorrow’s game.
Englund, meanwhile, has been playing regularly for the team as they deal with injuries to Josh Manson, Bowen Byram, and Kurtis MacDermid. The 6’3″ defenseman has one assist and five penalty minutes in six games, seeing just over ten minutes of ice time last night.
Unless a defenseman is being activated, Englund (or someone else from the minor leagues) will be needed once again for tomorrow night. The team only has five other healthy defensemen on the roster.
Anaheim Ducks Claim Jayson Megna; Alex Galchenyuk Clears
The Anaheim Ducks have added a depth forward, grabbing Jayson Megna off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche. Alex Galchenyuk, who was on waivers with him, has cleared according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Megna, 32, certainly didn’t seem like much of a target given the fact that he hasn’t scored a single point in 14 games this season, but the Ducks must see something they like in the veteran minor league forward. He comes with a league-minimum salary and 162 games of NHL experience, though it’s hard to believe he’ll be a regular in the Anaheim lineup.
It has been nearly six years since Megna scored a goal in the NHL, his last coming on February 9, 2017. During his stint with Colorado this season, he was averaging just over seven minutes a night and recorded six shots on goal.
Galchenyuk, meanwhile, can now be assigned to the minor leagues, though it is unclear if the Avalanche will do so after losing Nathan MacKinnon last night. The team is without nearly a dozen roster players, so might need to keep the veteran forward up for the time being.
Los Angeles Kings Activate Alex Iafallo
The Los Angeles Kings will have some added scoring punch in the lineup when they take on the Ottawa Senators tonight, after activating Alex Iafallo from injured reserve.
It’s been nearly two months since we last saw Iafallo in a game for the Kings, and he was red hot when he did go down to a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old had five points in the first four games of the year and looked like he might be on his way to setting career-high scoring totals.
Now, after missing 23 games, he’ll slide back into a Kings’ lineup that has somehow managed to stay in a playoff position despite going 13-10-4 on the year. Los Angeles has posted a 3-4-3 record in their last ten but remain in third place in the Pacific for the time being.
Getting Iafallo back won’t fix all of the things that have ailed the club this year, but his speed should give them a different look against the Senators tonight. The first of a six-game road trip, it’s perfect timing for the Kings, who will travel to Toronto, Montreal, Columbus, Buffalo, and Boston before finally returning home for a game on the 17th.
San Jose Sharks Recall Eetu Makiniemi
The San Jose Sharks have called up another goaltender, adding Eetu Makiniemi for the first time this season. Aaron Dell has been returned to the AHL, after allowing five goals on 37 shots against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
Makiniemi, 23, was a part of the Brent Burns trade this summer, coming over from the Carolina Hurricanes along with a third-round pick and Steven Lorentz for the star defenseman. The young netminder was originally selected 104th overall in 2017 and has been excellent in his short time in North America.
Over 26 AHL games since the start of 2021-22, Makiniemi has gone 17-6-2 with a .920 save percentage. Given Dell’s struggles, it’s easy to see why the team would want to switch.
Still, it’s not easy to be a Sharks goaltender right now. The team is bleeding shots and scoring chances, and is now one of just three teams in the league to have given up at least 100 goals. Three losses in a row takes them to 8-16-4 on the year, only ahead of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division.
With James Reimer still working through an injury, it’s Kaapo Kahkonen‘s net with Makiniemi likely serving as backup. The team has a very light schedule at the moment, with just three games between now and December 17. That means Makiniemi may not actually end up making his NHL debut, though he’ll get some experience and exposure to the league over the next few days at least.