Snapshots: Meier, Johnson, WHL Suspensions
While the major news of the day from a trade deadline perspective revolves around Jakob Chychrun, San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier remains the top forward option on the market for many teams. We covered how teams would be potentially interested in Meier even as a rental forward, despite the fact that he has one year remaining of eligibility for restricted free agency — albeit with a pricey $10MM qualifying offer attached.
Today, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the Sharks have not yet given permission to Meier and his agent, former NHLer Claude Lemieux, to negotiate the terms of a potential contract extension with interested teams. LeBrun did note, though, that “the expectation is that will happen closer to trade offers being firmed up.” But the fact that these talks have not yet occurred could be an indication that the Meier trade process isn’t quite as far along as the Chychrun saga seems to be, especially given today’s news of Chychrun being healthy scratched.
Some other notes from across the hockey world:
- The Colorado Avalanche announced that veteran blueliner Erik Johnson would not return to tonight’s game due to a lower-body injury. Dater on Hockey’s Adrian Dater added that the “worry is it might be broken foot,” but no further information beyond that has been released. A broken foot would obviously be a massive blow for the Avalanche as they look to climb the standings down the stretch, so all involved will likely be hoping that what knocked Johnson out of the game ends up being only a minor obstacle.
- The WHL announced that four Moose Jaw Warriors players have been indefinitely suspended pending an investigation into possible violations of team rules and the WHL’s Standard of Conduct policies. No further details beyond that were given in the league’s announcement. Of note is that one of the suspended players, Maximus Wanner, is an Edmonton Oilers 2021 seventh-round pick who signed his entry-level deal with the team in September.
Jakob Chychrun To Be Healthy Scratched
8:00 PM: The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman tweeted that it “doesn’t sound like” Chychrun will be headed to the Edmonton Oilers or Los Angeles Kings, a sentiment that was echoed (at least on the Oilers’ side of things) by TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, who tweeted that “any sense of urgency” happening with Chychrun and tonight’s choice to healthy scratch him does not involve the Oilers.
Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek also added on the 32 Thoughts segment of tonight’s Sportsnet broadcast that the Toronto Maple Leafs are not believed to be a team currently aggressively pursuing a possible trade for the Coyotes star.
6:37 PM: The Arizona Coyotes have announced that star defenseman Jakob Chychrun will be a healthy scratch tonight for what the team calls “trade-related reasons.”
It’s commonplace for teams to hold players out of games in order to ensure they’re able to be traded, so this move signals that the Coyotes are gearing up to deal Chychrun in the relatively near future. A trade may not be coming immediately, though, as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports that he does not believe “a trade is imminent” but that it could come before the Coyotes’ game Monday versus the Nashville Predators.
In addition to the Chychrun news, the team has also announced that forward Liam O’Brien is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and defensemen Victor Soderstrom and Dysin Mayo have been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
This move with Chychrun should not come as a complete surprise. Yesterday, we covered reports that the Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings had “taken things up a notch” in their Chychrun trade talks. Tonight’s healthy scratch is the firmest confirmation we’ve gotten that the Coyotes intend to trade Chychrun throughout his entire lengthy trade saga. While it is unknown whether a deal is imminent, it’s highly uncommon for teams to hold players out of the lineup for “trade-related” reasons only to not trade those players.
With the Bo Horvat trade, the first domino of the trade deadline fell. Next, it was Vladimir Tarasenko‘s trade to the Rangers. Now, Chychrun seems to be next.
In Chychrun, his acquiring team will receive a talented blueliner on a valuable contract that costs only $4.6MM AAV until 2025. He’s scored 28 points in 36 games this season and is a well-regarded defender, especially against the rush. He’s likely to be the top defender traded at this deadline, and the Coyotes should expect a hefty return in exchange for his services.
Beyond this Chychrun news, the Coyotes announced two recalls from the AHL and an injury update for O’Brien. In recalling Soderstrom and Mayo, the Coyotes seem to be reinforcing their blueline in advance of Chychrun’s expected departure.
Soderstrom is projected to feature on the team’s top pairing next to Patrik Nemeth tonight, and it’s likely that once Chychrun is firmly out of the picture the 2019 11th-overall pick will get an extended chance to show what he can do at the NHL level.
Minor Transactions: 02/11/23
It’s been a packed day on the NHL schedule, with seven games already completed. The Montreal Canadiens took home a late comeback win against the New York Islanders, while the Tampa Bay Lightning triumphed in a 2020 Stanley Cup Final rematch that was nationally televised in the United States. As fans continue to enjoy today’s wealth of NHL action, teams in minor and foreign leagues are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll track those moves here.
- 2011 first-round pick Joe Morrow, who was part of the infamous trade that sent Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars, had his contract terminated with KHL club HK Sochi today. The 162-game NHL veteran had a difficult 31-game run in Russia, potting just nine points for the worst team in the KHL, and will now look elsewhere to continue his professional career.
- 2014 sixth-overall pick Jake Virtanen was released by EHC Visp, a club that competes in the second division of Swiss Hockey. Emmanuel Favre of the Swiss newspaper Le Matin reported that Virtanen’s release comes after he allegedly had an altercation with a teammate. On paper, Virtanen’s numbers were solid this year (25 points in 21 games) but he’ll now need to find another home to continue his pro career as his time with Visp has ended.
- Former Arizona Coyotes prospect Jens Looke has reportedly transferred to IF Bjorkloven, according to Johan Svensson of SportExpressen. The move takes Looke from the Finnish Liiga to the Swedish second-division, the HockeyAllsvenskan, where he has starred in the past. The last time Looke, who has 29 points in 37 games in Liiga this season, was in the HockeyAllsvenskan he scored 62 points in 52 games, helping lift Timra to promotion to the SHL. That’s exactly what he’ll hope to do with Bjorkloven this season.
- The ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays have released netminder Mario Culina. The team lost their top scorer, Carter Turnbull, yesterday, and now augments their situation in the crease with the release of the 25-year-old Culina. Culina made his professional debut last season with 13 games played for the Fort Wayne Komets and had played two games for the Stingrays since signing with them on February 6th.
- The exodus from SaiPa has begun. Per an announcement from his new club, SaiPa Lappeenranta’s starting netminder Niclas Westerholm has signed a contract with rival Liiga side Karpat. SaiPa currently sit last in the Liiga standings, and with their fate looking increasingly dire Westerholm has chosen to make an exit. The 25-year-old has played 40 games this season and has an .884 save percentage. He’ll compete with Ottawa Senators prospect Leevi Merilainen and Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Joel Blomqvist.
- Former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nicolas Mattinen has reportedly signed a contract to leave his current team, the ICEHL’s VSV EC at the end of the season to join the DEL’s Straubing Tigers for the 2023-24 campaign, according to Martin Quendler of Kleine Zeitung. Mattinen, 24, has been VSV’s top blueliner this season, scoring 37 points in 44 games in what has been a successful first season playing overseas professional hockey for the two-time OHL champion.
- Adam Lapsansky, a veteran of Slovakia’s top professional league, is transferring from HC Dukla Michalovce to HC Nove Zamsky. Through this transfer Lapsansky, who has nearly 500 Slovak Extraliga games under his belt, moves up one spot on the league table. Lapsansky has scored just eight points in 25 games this season, and will hope that this transfer serves as a productive change of scenery.
- 38-year-old Marek Hovorka, a longtime veteran of the Central European pro hockey circuit and an Olympian who represented his native Slovakia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongchang, has signed with Slovak club HC Kosice. Hovorka has played in Slovakia’s second division this season, scoring 14 points in 12 games for Vlci Zilina, and will now look to help Kosice as they attempt to gain ground on HKM Zvolen and HC Slovan Bratislava in the league table.
This page will be updated throughout the day
Jets Activate Mason Appleton, Place Dylan DeMelo On IR
The Jets will welcome back one of their injured forwards tonight as they announced (Twitter link) that winger Mason Appleton will return to the lineup tonight against Chicago. To make room for him on the active roster, defenseman Dylan DeMelo has been placed on injured reserve.
The 27-year-old had gotten off to a nice start to his season, picking up a goal and five assists in 14 games before suffering a wrist injury back in mid-November. Appleton had been logging 16:34 per contest which was considerably above his career average of 13:00. With his return, this will be pretty much as close to Winnipeg having their full complement of forwards with fourth liner David Gustafsson being the only one left on IR.
That is of particular importance to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. Not only does Appleton’s return give him a chance to assess what his full forward group looks like to help determine their needs heading into the trade deadline, it also has allowed them to get back to banking cap space. At one point not that long ago, they were nearly in a spot where they had to dip into LTIR. Now, per CapFriendly, their current roster sits about $2MM below the cap with Winnipeg projecting to have more than $9MM in cap room before next month’s trade deadline. Not many buyers will have that type of financial flexibility to work with.
Meanwhile, although the Jets moved DeMelo to IR, he’s making progress in returning to the lineup, per Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun. The veteran has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but is skating on his own. He won’t obviously play tonight but hasn’t been ruled out for Tuesday’s contest against Seattle. Once DeMelo is cleared to return, Winnipeg will have to open up another roster spot and their only three waiver-exempt players are forwards Cole Perfetti and Morgan Barron along with blueliner Dylan Samberg.
Ducks Recall Lukas Dostal
The Ducks have decided to swap out their backup goaltenders, announcing that they’ve recalled Lukas Dostal from San Diego of the AHL. In a corresponding move, Olle Eriksson Ek was returned to the Gulls.
Dostal got into seven games with Anaheim on his first recall earlier this season, posting a 3.53 GAA along with a team-high .909 SV%. The 22-year-old has spent the bulk of the year in the minors, playing in 34 contests with San Diego where he has a 2.97 GAA with a .912 SV%, earning himself an appearance at the AHL All-Star game which was earlier this week.
As for Eriksson Ek, he backed up John Gibson last night with Anthony Stolarz dealing with a lower-body injury that has him listed as day-to-day. The 23-year-old has yet to make an NHL appearance and has struggled considerably in the minors this season with a 4.79 GAA and a .851 SV% in 13 games, numbers that are significantly worse than his first three seasons in North America.
Sharks Recall Aaron Dell
The Sharks have made a roster move in advance of their game tomorrow against Washington as they announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goaltender Aaron Dell from AHL San Jose.
The veteran has gotten into a pair of games for the Sharks this season, stopping 61 of 68 shots in a pair of losses. Those appearances make it that the 32-year-old has seen NHL action in each of the last seven years. That’s not bad for an undrafted goaltender who turned pro at the age of 24.
Dell has spent most of the season with the Barracuda, posting a 3.23 GAA and a .898 SV% in 21 appearances as he splits time with prospect Eetu Makiniemi. Those numbers are a bit weaker than his performance from a year ago when he was in Buffalo’s system.
It’s unclear which goaltender Dell is being called up to cover for. Kaapo Kahkonen has played in both games since the All-Star break while James Reimer served as the backup. It would appear one of them is either injured or sick for this recall to be needed. San Jose had an open roster spot available so no corresponding move needed to be made to bring Dell up.
Los Angeles Kings Make Multiple Roster Moves
The Los Angeles Kings are getting a pair of forwards back from the injured list. The team announced today that Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore were activated from injured reserve, and defenseman Jacob Moverare has been recalled from the AHL’s Ontario Reign.
It’s been more than a month out of the lineup for Moore, who signed a five-year contract extension in December. Placed on injured reserve in early January with an upper-body injury, he actually last played before Christmas. All told, it’s been a 16-game absence for the 27-year-old.
The late bloomer has had another successful offensive campaign in SoCal, recording seven goals and 19 assists in 37 games. One of the Kings’ most important secondary scorers, they’ll be ecstatic to have Moore back in the fold as they try to hang in the Western Conference playoff race.
Kaliyev exited the lineup just days before Moore with an undisclosed injury. The 21-year-old forward has been extremely productive in limited ice time, recording nine goals in 19 points in 34 games despite largely sitting in a bottom-six role. The 33rd overall selection in 2019, Kaliyev has incredible scoring potential and could fight for more minutes as the season progresses.
Moverare comes up from the minors to give the Kings an extra defenseman on the roster. The 24-year-old Swede has been shuttled up and down multiple times this season but has played just two games with the Kings. In 35 games with the Reign, he has two goals, 10 assists, and 12 points.
Kieffer Bellows Clears Waivers
Feb 11: Bellows has cleared waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Philadelphia is cleared to assign him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Feb 10: The Philadelphia Flyers have placed Kieffer Bellows on waivers today, according to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets. This is his third stint of the season. Bellows cleared on December 2 but has spent enough time on the NHL roster to need them again before being assigned to the minor leagues.
It just hasn’t worked out for the 24-year-old Bellows, who has 12 goals and 26 points in 83 career games. Those have been spread out across parts of four seasons, with just 16 appearances this year. The 19th overall pick from 2016 got just a handful of shifts in the last two games with Philadelphia, and isn’t doing enough at either end of the rink to warrant consistent playing time.
The thing is, with a $1.2MM contract, he also will likely go unclaimed for the second time this season. Roster spots are valuable, even with rebuilding clubs, and the fact that he’s a restricted free agent at the end of the year likely actually decreases his value. Bellows would need a $1.2MM qualifying offer and is arbitration eligible, something no team will want to pay after this season.
It’s not that his time in the NHL is over. The Flyers could sign him for a more reasonable deal and keep trying to develop him into an asset. But right now, he’s just not getting it done. Through 15 games with Philadelphia, he has one goal on 23 shots and hasn’t seen a single second of penalty-killing time. That’s not the recipe for a regular fourth-liner, especially under John Tortorella’s effort-and-defense system.
Logan Thompson Out Week-To-Week, Vegas Recalls Laurent Brossoit
Vegas Golden Knights All-Star netminder Logan Thompson is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, reports Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun. The team announced Saturday morning that Laurent Brossoit has been recalled from the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights to stand in.
Thompson, 25, has been one of the best feel-good stories in the NHL over the past calendar year. Taking over the starting role late last season, Thompson played exceptionally well as the injury-stricken Golden Knights battled to make the playoffs but ultimately failed. It’s a different story this year, as Thompson, now the full-time starter, has the Golden Knights in the Pacific Division lead with a .914 save percentage and a 20-13-3 record in 36 games.
Thompson was credited with winning Vegas’ 5-1 win against the Wild Thursday but left the game early in the third period. Moving to his left, attempting to make a save on a flurry of plays, he appeared to strain something in his left leg and was helped off the ice.
In the interim, the starting role now falls to Adin Hill, who’s had an inconsistent first year in Vegas. He’s been on the upswing lately, though, a good sign for a Golden Knights team that can’t fall back in a tight Pacific race. Hill has a .909 save percentage and an 11-5-1 record in 20 games.
Brossoit comes up from Henderson after slipping to third on Vegas’ goalie depth chart after backing up Robin Lehner for most of last season. Injured to start the 2022-23 season, he was waived and assigned to Henderson after the strong play of Thompson and Hill. Now in his potential first NHL opportunity this season, Brossoit has two shutouts, a .909 save percentage, and an 8-11-3 record in the minors.
Injury Notes: Slavin, Brodin, Raymond
Carolina Hurricanes top defender Jaccob Slavin is returning to the lineup tonight against the New York Rangers, according to Hurricanes content producer Walt Ruff.
Slavin had missed the past six games before the All-Star break with a lower-body injury. His last game was on January 19, leaving late in a matchup against the Minnesota Wild. Carolina has won all six games in Slavin’s absence, three of them in regulation, and they’ll look to continue a seven-game winning streak tonight in Raleigh. Slavin, averaging over 22 minutes per game this season, is expected to return to his spot on the top pairing alongside Brent Burns.
- Another important shutdown defenseman is returning to the lineup: Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild. The Athletic’s Michael Russo notes he’s set to return to the lineup tonight against the New Jersey Devils alongside Matt Dumba on the second pairing. Brodin missed the team’s last two games with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old has two goals and eight points in 43 games this season, posting a +6 rating and 22:32 average time on ice.
- Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond is absent from today’s game against the Vancouver Canucks with a lower-body injury, ending his 132-game iron man streak. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press notes that Raymond suffered the injury in a collision with teammate Ben Chiarot yesterday during practice. Raymond’s status is day-to-day. The sophomore forward has 15 goals and 33 points in 50 games this season.