Senators Recall Jacob Larsson
The Senators have brought up some extra defensive depth, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Jacob Larsson from Belleville of the AHL. Ottawa had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made.
The 25-year-old is in his first season with the Senators after coming over in free agency following his non-tender by Anaheim last summer. Larsson has played in three games with Ottawa so far this season during a recall last month, logging a little under 13 minutes per game while being held off the scoresheet. Meanwhile, he has suited up in 16 contests at the minor league level, picking up four assists.
The move comes on the heels of Artem Zub and Travis Hamonic both taking pucks up high last night against the Rangers, the former to the face and the latter to the throat. Zub has already been ruled out for tonight per Postmedia’s Ken Warren (Twitter link) and Nick Holden will return to the lineup in his place. Meanwhile, Larsson will suit up if Hamonic is unable to play tonight against San Jose.
East Notes: Atkinson, Lundell, Bardreau, Lysell
It appears as if the Flyers could soon have winger Cam Atkinson available as the winger indicated to reporters including NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman (Twitter link) that he has been medically cleared to return to the lineup. The 33-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury and at this point, it appears that simply getting into game-level conditioning is what’s holding him back from making his season debut. Whenever he does return, Atkinson will be a welcome addition to a Philadelphia team that sits 30th in the NHL in goals scored so far this season as he finished second on the team in scoring in 2021-22 with 50 points in 73 games.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- The Panthers announced (Twitter link) that center Anton Lundell will not play tonight due to an upper-body injury. This means that once again, Florida will be forced to play short a player as they do not have enough cap space to call anyone up. While they’d become eligible for a cap-exempt recall after today’s game, Lundell’s absence appears to be a short-term one as he’s expected to play against Winnipeg on Tuesday. The sophomore middleman has 13 points in 24 games so far this season.
- Cole Bardreau’s latest stint with the Islanders didn’t last long as the team announced (Twitter link) that the winger has been returned to Bridgeport of the AHL. The 29-year-old did make his season debut last night, his first NHL action since the 2019-20 campaign. Bardreau, for now at least, returns to the minors where he has nine goals in 19 games with Bridgeport but with Cal Clutterbuck still not skating, it’s possible that Bardreau is brought up again in the coming days.
- With the World Juniors fast approaching, Sweden has approached the Bruins about winger Fabian Lysell, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 19-year-old is playing with AHL Providence this season and is off to a nice start to his first professional campaign as he sits third on the team with 14 points in 17 games. While some teams hesitate to loan their players from the NHL, it’d be a little surprising if Boston wasn’t amenable to loaning the 19-year-old for his final opportunity to play in that tournament.
Isac Lundestrom To Miss Six Weeks
It has been a tough season for Anaheim’s Isac Lundestrom and things just got a little worse for him as the team announced (Twitter link) that the center will miss the next six weeks due to a fractured finger. The injury was sustained during Thursday’s loss to Dallas.
The 23-year-old had a breakout year last season that saw him put up 29 points in 80 games after putting up just 15 over his first three NHL campaigns in limited action. That was enough for Anaheim to hand him a two-year bridge deal this summer, one that carries a cap hit of $1.8MM. However, Lundestrom has struggled through the first quarter of this season as he has just a goal and five assists through 24 games although he is among the team leaders in shorthanded ice time.
While Pavol Regenda is likely to take his place in the lineup for the time being as the only extra forward with the team on their current road trip, Lundestrom’s absence creates an opportunity for Mason McTavish to play down the middle more frequently for the time being. Anaheim has deployed the rookie on the wing at times this season as teams often do with young centers to ease them in but McTavish is anchoring the fourth line this afternoon against Minnesota.
Philippe Myers Clears Waivers
Saturday: Myers has cleared waivers, Friedman reports. He has been sent to the minors, creating enough cap space for Cirelli to be activated from LTIR.
Friday: The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed defenseman Philippe Myers on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The team is expected to get Anthony Cirelli back soon, and will need cap space to activate him from long-term injured reserve.
It surprised many when the Lightning decided to keep Myers on the books this summer after acquiring him from the Nashville Predators in the Ryan McDonagh trade. A buyout would have actually given the team a cap credit of more than $616K, for the cost of a $633K penalty in 2023-24. Instead, they decided to not only keep his current deal in place but sign him to a one-year extension. Myers will make $1.4MM next season, after his current $2.55MM cap hit expires.
That kind of money likely means he clears waivers tomorrow, even if he has played okay this year. The Lightning are barely using him, but in his limited minutes, the 6’5″ defenseman does have three points and excellent possession numbers.
It very well may have been the emergence of another right-handed defenseman that could spell the end for Myers in Tampa Bay. Nick Perbix has gone from sixth-round afterthought to full-time NHL option in short order, racking up six points in 17 games so far this season. Those 17 NHL appearances match the total number of professional games he had played before this season, after signing out of St. Cloud State down the stretch. The 24-year-old is waiver-exempt and may still need to be bounced down at some point because of cap concerns, but looks like a piece to keep in Tampa Bay.
Sending Myers to the AHL would not clear his entire contract off the books. Only $1.125MM of the $2.55MM cap hit would be buried. If he is claimed, it would give them enough room to activate Cirelli without making an additional move.
Colorado Places Josh Manson On IR
The injury list continues to grow for the Avalanche as the team confirmed to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link) that defenseman Josh Manson has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to Thursday. He has left the team to be re-evaluated and is listed as week-to-week.
The 31-year-old is in his first full year with the Avs after being acquired in a trade near the deadline from Anaheim last season. After being a top-four defender with Anaheim, Colorado has opted to use Manson in a bit of a lower role so far as he’s logging just shy of 17 minutes per game (a career low) through his first 21 contests. Despite that, he has chipped in with six points while averaging more than two hits per contest.
Andreas Englund, who was recalled from AHL Colorado yesterday, is taking Manson’s spot on the active roster.
The defending Stanley Cup champions have been hit hard by the injury bug this season. Gabriel Landeskog and Darren Helm are on LTIR while Valeri Nichushkin, Kurtis MacDermid, and Shane Bowers will join Manson on injured reserve. Meanwhile, Evan Rodrigues and Bowen Byram are also currently injured but remain on Colorado’s active roster. In spite of all the injuries, the Avalanche enter tonight’s game against Boston with 27 points in 21 games, good enough to place them third in the Central Division.
Lightning Activate Anthony Cirelli From LTIR
As expected, the Lightning will get a big boost to their lineup as head coach Jon Cooper confirmed to reporters including Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link) that they will activate center Anthony Cirelli from LTIR and he will make his season debut tonight when they host Toronto.
The 25-year-old has missed all 23 games of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery back in June following their loss to Colorado in the Stanley Cup Final. He suffered an AC joint sprain at some point in the postseason. At the time, it was expected that he’d miss between four and six months; Cirelli will wind up missing a little more than five as a result of the procedure.
Cirelli signed an eight-year, $50MM extension back in July that will run from 2023-24 through 2030-31, meaning he will be a go-to two-way center for Tampa Bay for the long haul. Last season, he picked up 17 goals and 26 assists in 76 games for the Lightning, the third time in four years that he has picked up between 39 and 44 points. On top of that, he finished in the top five in Selke Trophy voting for the second time in three seasons; that award is given to the league’s best defensive forward. Cirelli logged over 18 minutes a game last season but is going to be eased back into the lineup as he’ll play on the third line tonight against the Maple Leafs.
To create the cap room that’s required to activate Cirelli, the team sent winger Cole Koepke to AHL Syracuse earlier today while they waived Philippe Myers on Friday. If Myers clears, Tampa Bay will be able to clear $1.125MM off their books which will give them just enough room to bring Cirelli onto the active roster. The Lightning will continue to be in LTIR as Brent Seabrook is on their books through next season with his playing days already having come to an end.
Rangers Assign Zac Jones To AHL, Recall Jonny Brodzinski And Ben Harpur
December 4: Just a day after they recalled him, the Rangers announced they’ve re-assigned Brodzinski to the Hartford Wolf Pack, their AHL affiliate. While the Rangers did play last night, hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, Brodzinski did not play in the game.
December 3: The Rangers have decided to make a few roster moves in advance of their game tonight against Chicago as the team announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned defenseman Zac Jones to Hartford of the AHL while recalling winger Jonny Brodzinski and defenseman Ben Harpur from the Wolf Pack.
Jones has been regarded as one of New York’s better defensive prospects and has played somewhat of a regular role this season, suiting up in 16 games with the Rangers. He has just a goal and an assist in those contests while logging 15:37 per game, good for fifth on the team among their blueliners. This move will give him a chance to play a much bigger role with Hartford which they’re hoping will be better for his development in the long run.
Replacing him on the depth chart in New York is Harpur, a veteran who is no stranger to being an extra on an NHL roster. The 27-year-old had his AHL deal converted to an NHL contract back in late October and has five points and 24 penalty minutes in 17 games with the Wolf Pack this season. Harpur has played in 53 games with Nashville over the past two seasons in a role that’s similar to the one that Jones has held this year.
As for Brodzinski, his recall is to cover for an undisclosed forward whose presence is uncertain for tonight’s game, relays Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 29-year-old played in 22 games for the Rangers last season and has seen NHL action in each of the last six years. He has played exclusively with Hartford so far in 2022-23, picking up nine points in 17 contests.
Sharks Notes: Meier, Injuries, Riedell
One of the more interesting restricted free agents this summer will be Timo Meier. While he has an AAV of $6MM, his contract isn’t subject to the new qualifying rules that came into effect in the CBA (which is the lowest of 120% of the AAV or the same salary from the final year). That means that he will be owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer, one that would also give Meier salary arbitration and a path to accept a one-year deal that walks him to unrestricted free agency. Accordingly, many expect the Sharks to look into what an early extension might cost them. However, his agent Claude Lemieux told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that they’re open-minded to discussing such a deal and are waiting for an offer to come.
The 26-year-old had a career year last season with 35 goals and 41 assists in 77 games and is producing at a slightly lesser pace this year with 12 tallies and 11 helpers in 26 contests. That type of production isn’t quite worth $10MM in this market so GM Mike Grier will need to decide over the next couple of months if Meier is someone that they want to try to keep long-term and work on a deal now or if they should be looking into moving him before the March 3rd trade deadline.
More from San Jose:
- While they were hoping to have goaltender James Reimer back this weekend, that won’t be the case as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now relays that Reimer, center Nico Sturm, and defenseman Mario Ferraro have all been ruled out of the next two games. Sturm was also believed to be nearing a return from his suspected concussion but the Sharks will hold him out for a couple more days at least. Ferraro skated yesterday for the first time as he begins to work his way back from a foot injury.
- The Sharks have made a move at the AHL level as their farm team announced the signing of defenseman Will Riedell. The 26-year-old wrapped his college career last season with Ohio State where he had 10 points in 33 games before joining Philadelphia’s farm team for the stretch run. So far this season, Riedell has four assists in 15 games with ECHL Savannah.
Lightning Assign Cole Koepke To AHL
With Anthony Cirelli close to returning, the Lightning need to open up both salary cap and roster space to bring him back onto the active roster. They made one of those moves this morning as they announced that they’ve sent winger Cole Koepke to AHL Syracuse.
The 24-year-old didn’t have any NHL experience heading into this season but made the roster out of training camp and has played close to a full-time role to this point. Koepke has suited up in 17 games for Tampa Bay this season, logging a little over nine minutes a game on the fourth line while chipping in with a goal and 22 hits.
Last season, Koepke was a productive forward with the Crunch, notching 20 goals and 19 helpers in 69 contests and at this stage of his development, a chance to play a much more prominent role in the minors will likely be beneficial.
Tampa Bay will have to wait to find out the fate of defenseman Philippe Myers for a few more hours. He was placed on waivers yesterday and his potential demotion coupled with Koepke’s return will give the Lightning just enough cap space to be able to activate Cirelli.
Injury Notes: Demko, Glass, Hamonic
The Vancouver Canucks have had an extremely difficult start to their season, and those difficulties continued with starting netminder Thatcher Demko going down with an injury. Today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman issued an update on Demko’s injury timeline. Per Friedman, Demko is injured on a six-week timeline, and that timeline means the Canucks avoided a “worst-case scenario” with the injury.
The loss of Demko comes as a major blow to a Canucks franchise looking to build momentum and climb the standings. Like the Canucks as a whole, Demko has struggled so far this year. He has a .883 save percentage through 15 games, a significant decline from the .915 he posted in both 2021-22 and 2020-21. With a long recovery process in front of their starter, the Canucks will turn to backup Spencer Martin, who has a .900 save percentage in 10 games played.
Some other injury notes from across the NHL:
- The Nashville Predators announced in advance of tonight’s game against the New York Islanders that forward Cody Glass would not play due to injury. Per the announcement, Glass is dealing with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day. The 2017 sixth-overall pick has three points in 14 NHL games so far this year and scored 62 points in 66 AHL games last season.
- There was a scary scene at the New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators game tonight when veteran defenseman Travis Hamonic took a Vitali Kravtsov shot to his throat. As reported by NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Hamonic stayed down after taking the shot and left for the Senators’ locker room shortly afterward. Thankfully, though, it seems Hamonic is alright, as Rosen reports he was back on the ice to start the second period.