Five Players Clear Waivers
Dec 9: All five players have cleared, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Rooney, Benson, Kaut, and Carpenter can now be assigned to the minor leagues, while Berglund’s contract will be terminated.
Dec 8: It’s a busy Thursday on the waiver wire, as Kevin Rooney of the Calgary Flames, Tyler Benson of the Edmonton Oilers, Martin Kaut of the Colorado Avalanche, and Ryan Carpenter of the New York Rangers are all available for claim, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Boston Bruins defenseman Victor Berglund has also been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination.
Rooney, 29, has not worked out quite as well as the Flames had hoped when they signed him to a two-year, $2.6MM contract in July. After scoring six goals and 12 points in 61 games last season for the New York Rangers, the depth forward has just a single assist in 17 matches for Calgary.
With today’s recall of Matthew Phillips, it appears as though the Flames will go in a different direction for their bottom six. Rooney’s contract will likely keep him from being claimed, though, meaning he can stay with the organization and try to get his game back on track. By moving him to the minor leagues, $1.125MM of his $1.3MM cap hit would come off the books.
For Benson, it’s not quite so rosy. The 24-year-old has played two games with the Oilers this season, barely seen the ice during them, and has no contract security past this year. The 32nd overall pick from 2016 has never been able to stick in the NHL despite strong numbers in the minor leagues, and appears to be a potential non-tender candidate next summer as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent.
Kaut, 23, already cleared waivers at the beginning of this season, but had landed a regular spot in the Colorado lineup since and needed them again to go back to the minor leagues. The 2018 first-round pick has three points in 18 games this year, and was on the ice for multiple goals against in last night’s 4-0 loss to the Bruins.
The Avalanche haven’t been able to find any mix of depth forwards they are happy with, and continue to make changes on a near-daily basis. Kaut’s waiver placement doesn’t necessarily mean he’s headed back down, given all of the injuries they have. He also could be claimed, given his relatively young age and draft pedigree.
Carpenter, like Rooney, hasn’t been able to find the same level of play he had last season with his new team. The Rangers forward has just three points in 21 games and has become a fringe option, moving in and out of the lineup. Even with his familiarity with head coach Gerrard Galant, the Rangers can’t keep putting Carpenter out there without some more consistent play.
Berglund, 23, was picked 195th overall in 2017 and signed his entry-level deal in 2020. It is set to expire at the end of the year and he has barely played this season, meaning the two sides are just splitting a little early so he can chase a job somewhere else. The Swedish defenseman will be an unrestricted free agent and is likely headed back to Europe.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Brad Hunt
The Colorado Avalanche continue their daily roster changes, recalling Brad Hunt from the minor leagues. The veteran defenseman (who is no relation to Avalanche forward Dryden Hunt) will slot in on defense while Jacob MacDonald moves back to forward. After clearing waivers, Martin Kaut was sent down to make room.
Hunt, 34, has shown he’s still too good for the minor leagues this year, racking up six goals and 20 points in 22 games. This is his first time playing in the AHL since 2016-17, when he forced his way up to the NHL despite being an undersized, undrafted defenseman. There was no stopping Hunt in the minors; he has 229 career points in 309 AHL games, including 63 goals. Last season with the Vancouver Canucks, he added 17 points in 50 games, showing he could still be a capable offensive piece at the highest level.
This likely won’t be a long-term fix, though, as the Avalanche are close to getting two impact forwards back. Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin are both very close to getting back into the lineup, with the latter even being a game-time decision this evening. The defending champs are just 13-10-1 this season thanks to a huge number of injuries, and will try to start turning the corner as they get players back.
Alexandar Georgiev will get the start against his former team.
David Booth Re-Signs In Norway
If they want to, an NHL player’s professional career can continue long after he leaves the league. David Booth, who has played just 28 NHL games since 2014-15, has signed another contract in Norway for the rest of the season. He’ll move to Storhamar, after suiting up for Manglerud in 2019-20 and Valerenga in 2021-22.
Booth, 38, was once a solid top-six player in the NHL, scoring 31 goals in the 2008-09 season for the Florida Panthers and totaling 236 points in his career. In 2015, he left for the KHL, before making a short comeback with the Detroit Red Wings in 2017-18.
Last season playing in Norway he dominated, scoring 15 goals and 29 points in 15 games, before putting up a similar pace in the playoffs.
Playing in a league several levels below NHL hockey isn’t for everyone, obviously, but Booth has long been described as a “different cat” who enjoys living in more remote areas. Hamar, where the team is located, has fewer than 30,000 people and is located on the largest lake in Norway.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Joey Anderson
With Nick Robertson out with a shoulder injury and Pierre Engvall facing a potential suspension, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Joey Anderson from the minor leagues. It’s the first call-up of the season for the minor league forward, who cleared waivers at the start of the year.
Anderson, 24, does have 58 games of NHL experience under his belt, but only six of those have come since he was acquired by Toronto in 2020. A third-round selection of the New Jersey Devils, he has spent most of his time with the Toronto Marlies the last three seasons, where he continues to produce as a top-end AHL player. In 21 games this season, Anderson has 11 goals and 19 points.
A great example of a player who appears to be good enough to provide some value at the NHL level but who hasn’t received much of an opportunity, injury issues will likely be the only way Anderson finds his way into the Toronto lineup on a regular basis.
While these situations usually at least mean a bit of a pay raise for the recalled player, Anderson doesn’t have to worry about that. He is on a one-way deal, meaning he’ll earn $800K no matter which level he plays. The Maple Leafs are known for enticing a few players with the promise of NHL salaries in the minor leagues; Kyle Clifford and Adam Gaudette are two others on one-way deals in the AHL.
Tom Wilson Joins Capitals Practice
Morning skate for the Washington Capitals was rather encouraging today, as several injured players were on the ice. Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic reports that Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom, and Dmitry Orlov were all skating with their teammates, though none are ready to return just yet.
For Wilson, it’s the first time he’s joined the group since undergoing ACL surgery last spring. Coming off a career-best 24-goal, 52-point season, the physical winger is one of the most important players on the club, and has been sorely missed through the early part of the year. The Capitals are 12-12-4 on the year and have struggled to find much consistency from the lower half of their forward group, with Wilson, Backstrom, and Connor Brown all out.
Backstrom has joined the team a few times as he deals with his own rehab and is optimistic he will return at some point this season after hip surgery. There is no clear timeline for either player, but getting them around practice again will be sure to lift the team’s spirits, given how important a role they play on the ice and in the dressing room.
Orlov, meanwhile, has been out for more than a month with a lower-body injury. He too is coming off a career year, with 12 goals and 35 points, and had been averaging a ton of ice time through the early part of the season. If the Capitals are able to keep their head above water until they get these reinforcements back, they will still have a shot at the playoffs. As it stands right now, they are sixth in the Metropolitan Division, ahead of only the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Detroit Red Wings Activate, Re-Assign Elmer Soderblom
One of the interesting storylines for the Detroit Red Wings this season has been the emergence of Elmer Soderblom, who went directly from the SHL to the NHL and didn’t look out of place. After suffering an injury, though, he has missed the last several weeks, and will now have to face the grind of the AHL to get back on track. After activating him from injured reserve, the Red Wings have loaned Soderblom to the Grand Rapids Griffins to get back into game action.
Standing 6’8″ and towering over most of his opponents, the 21-year-old forward was part of the biggest line in the NHL earlier this year, along with Michael Rasmussen and Oskar Sundqvist. It was an impressive trio to see move around the ice, even if it failed to result in a ton of offensive production. The Swedish rookie scored just two goals in his 13 games before going down and is still looking for his first NHL assist.
Now healthy again, he’ll get his first taste of the AHL and try to replicate the scoring touch he had for Frolunda last year. In 52 games, Soderblom managed to score 21 goals at the SHL level, good enough for seventh in the league. As the rest of the hockey world marvels at a hulking, lanky forward in Buffalo that relies more on skill than physicality and is setting the NHL on fire, Red Wings fans can only dream about the flashes of potential that Soderblom has shown. While he will likely never match the kind of all-world production that Tage Thompson is providing, there should be a lesson of patience to be learned from the Sabres superstar.
Often, very large players take a little while longer to develop, as they figure out how to best utilize their massive frame against NHL opponents. Soderblom is just at the very beginning of his professional journey, and will be back with the Red Wings before long.
Evening Notes: Robertson, Maenalanen, Cotton
Just after getting an important veteran defenseman back from injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs may have lost another player due to injury. The Maple Leafs have announced that forward Nicholas Robertson will not return to tonight’s contest against the Los Angeles Kings due to a shoulder injury. Robertson sustained the injury after taking a hit from Kings defenseman Michael Anderson. Anderson’s hit drove Robertson into the corner, and Robertson remained on the ice for some time before heading straight to the dressing room.
Robertson has dealt with significant injury troubles recently, injuries that limited him to just 38 games played last season. Robertson has five points in 14 games so far this season, and ideally his being taken out of this game would be more of a precautionary measure than anything else. But until we get more details on the injury, any speculation on a timeline is just that, speculation. At this point, all Toronto can do is hope that Robertson’s injury is less severe than it initially seemed to be.
Some other notes from across the hockey world:
- The Winnipeg Jets announced that forward Saku Maenalanen would not return to tonight’s contest against the St. Louis Blues. Maenalanen was driven into the boards taking a hit from Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola and immediately went to the locker room with a shoulder that appeared to be in discomfort. Maenalanen, 28, returned to the NHL with the Jets this season after a successful year in 2021-22 for Karpat in Liiga, and has six points in 24 games so far.
- The San Diego Gulls, the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, announced that they have acquired forward David Cotton from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate, in exchange for future considerations. Cotton was signed by Coachella Valley in September, and heads to San Diego having played two games for the club. Cotton is a former captain of the Boston College Eagles who scored 21 points in his first 26 AHL games with the Chicago Wolves in 2020-21.
Toronto Maple Leafs Activate T.J. Brodie
For the last few weeks, it seemed as though every headline revolving around the Toronto Maple Leafs was devoted to a new player heading to injured reserve. Today, the script flips. As first told to the media by head coach Sheldon Keefe (relayed by Sports Illustrated’s Mike Stephens) and confirmed by CapFriendly, Maple Leafs blueliner T.J. Brodie has been activated off of injured reserve.
Brodie, 32, landed on injured reserve nearly a month ago after suffering an oblique injury. The blueliner’s absence became part of a growing trend of the Maple Leafs losing defensemen due to injury. Even after Brodie’s activation today, the Maple Leafs still have Morgan Rielly, Jordie Benn, and Jake Muzzin (who is out indefinitely) on the injury list.
As a result, Brodie’s return to the ice is a welcome development for Toronto. Keefe has been relying on Mark Giordano as the team’s number-one defenseman in the face of all the blueline absences. While Giordano has performed admirably, it’s certainly fair to wonder if the 39-year-old will be able to handle such heavy usage as capably as he once did.
Brodie has averaged over 21 minutes of ice time per game in each year he’s played in Toronto, so even if Brodie’s offensive game remains in its diminished state his ability to weather significant minutes will be highly valuable.
So, while Brodie himself wasn’t off to the best start this season (he has just two points in fifteen games), he gives the Maple Leafs an experienced, capable veteran blueliner to help ease Giordano’s workload.
The Maple Leafs (4th in the NHL without a regulation loss in their last 10 games) haven’t missed a beat despite their beleaguered blueline, so adding Brodie back to the mix will only help Toronto remain the regular season juggernaut they have proven to be in recent years.
Snapshots: Guenther, Barkov, Toporowski
With World Junior camps opening, many expected a handful of NHLers such as Shane Wright, Brandt Clarke and Dylan Guenther to leave their NHL teams for a short time to compete for gold. All three of those players will join their native Canada, making an already formidable squad just that much better. Although Wright and Clarke struggled to find consistent playing time and production with their NHL teams, both ultimately sent to the AHL on conditioning loans, the same cannot be said for Guenther. The 19-year-old, who was selected by the Arizona Coyotes ninth-overall in 2021, has 11 points in 21 games already, playing just over 12 minutes per game.
While Guenther’s loan to Team Canada wasn’t exactly shocking news, it also wasn’t the lock that Clarke and Wright’s loans appeared to be. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan had a chance to discuss Guenther with Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong, who said he wanted to see how prospects performed “under fire.” Armstrong continued, “[y]ou like to see them in those pressure situations because you find out a lot about them and they really tend to grow for them.” The GM cited two of his former St. Louis Blues players, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, who were sent to the World Juniors, and the impact the experience had on their development.
- After it was reported yesterday that Aleksander Barkov was expected to return today from a bout with pneumonia, the Florida Panthers confirmed their captain would play tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Adding the superstar back into the lineup will no doubt give Florida, who went 2-3-2 in his absence, a big boost. Still, illness will continue to hold them back. The team announced that goaltender Spencer Knight and forward Anton Lundell are both missing tonight’s game with non-COVID illnesses.
- NHL.com’s Mark Divver wonders if the Boston Bruins termination of Victor Berglund‘s contract could pave the way to an NHL contract for forward Luke Toporowski. As Divver points out, this will leave the Bruins with 47 contracts, perhaps enough flexibility to add one back in that of Toporowski. NHL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 50 contracts within the organization, but generally prefer to stay away from having 50, or even 49, in order to give them flexibility in certain situations. Divver adds there is interest from other teams in Toporowski, but Boston has exclusive rights with him until January 1st, and even thereafter can match any other offer Toporowski accepts. A product of both the WHL and USHL, Toporowski went undrafted but signed on with the Providence Bruins this offseason after scoring 35 goals in just 49 games between the Spokane Chiefs and Kamloops Blazers last season. The 21-year-old has 17 points in 21 AHL games so far this season.
Injury Notes: Avalanche, Rielly, Klingberg, Stone
If the playoffs began today, the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche, would be on the outside looking in. Colorado’s fall isn’t for a lack of talent and granted, losing Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky to free agency wasn’t exactly helpful, but instead the primary issues seem to fall squarely on injuries. The team has lost more than it’s fair share of man games to injury as they approach the one-third mark of the season and just when things couldn’t seem to get worse, Nathan MacKinnon was ruled out for four weeks.
There could be some help coming soon though, reports Brennan Vogt of Colorado Hockey Now, who spoke with Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar during his media availability earlier today. According to Bednar, forwards Darren Helm and Valeri Nichushkin could be available to play in tomorrow’s game. Nichushkin, one of the team’s premier players, was off to a blistering start with 12 points in seven games before an injury sidelined him for 17 games. Helm, a veteran utility player, has yet to suit up for Colorado this year, but given the injuries the team has dealt with, getting his versatile presence back in the lineup could pay bigger dividends than it might seem. Also of note, Bednar disclosed that forward Artturi Lehkonen, who was injured in Colorado’s game on Saturday, is currently going through concussion protocol.
- During today’s Leafs Lunch radio program on TSN Radio, Sports Illustrated’s David Alter called in to discuss a number of Toronto Maple Leafs notes, including the status of injured defenseman Morgan Rielly. Alter acknowledged an earlier report by TSN’s Darren Dreger, who believed Rielly’s timeline to be somewhere around four-to-six weeks, but added that when he caught up with Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas recently, Toronto’s timeline was only to the extent of the LTIR minimum duration: 24 days and 10 games. Alter adds that Rielly, who has been working out with the team, has not yet resumed skating and thus the earliest return date from LTIR, which would be on December 17th, seems very unlikely. Rielly has been dealing with an MCL injury suffered in a collision with New York Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri, who was also injured on the play, back on November 21st.
- The Athletic’s Eric Stephens writes that Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Klingberg will return to the lineup tomorrow after missing the previous seven games with a lower-body injury. Much like his Ducks, Klingberg has struggled to start this year. The offensive-minded defenseman has recorded just eight points in 20 games thus far to go with a -12 rating, which itself isn’t too out-of-line compared to his recent seasons. Klingberg had signed a one-year, $7MM deal with Anaheim this offseason with the idea that he could be dealt to a contender at the trade deadline perhaps, and test the free agent market again next summer, two things which are still on the table most likely.
- Vegas Golden Knights winger Mark Stone was notably absent from practice today, however as Jesse Granger of The Athletic reports, this was simply a maintenance day. These sorts of absences are normal throughout the NHL, especially for veterans and players who are recently back from injury or dealing with a nagging issue, but given the extent of Stone’s recent injuries and his unrelenting style of play, it makes sense that an absence even like this one would sound an alarm for some. Since returning full-time for Vegas, Stone is back to his old ways, chipping in 21 points in 28 games to go with stellar defense.