Morgan Barron To Undergo Wrist Surgery
Nov 4: Barron has been placed on injured reserve, allowing the Jets to turn Jansen Harkins‘ emergency recall into a regular one.
Nov 3: Winnipeg Jets forward Morgan Barron is scheduled to have wrist surgery tomorrow according to team reporter Mitchell Clinton. The procedure will keep him out for four to five weeks.
Barron, 23, was part of the return for Andrew Copp last season and quickly made an impact with his new team. With four points in nine games this season he was well on his way to setting a career-high (five, last year) and looked like he would grow into a reliable contributor for the Jets.
A five-week absence will throw a wrench into that development and set back the 6’4″ forward quite a bit. Wrist surgeries are notorious for impacting a player’s scoring ability long after they are cleared to return but hopefully, given his youth, he’ll be able to bounce back quickly.
Mason Appleton – who was sick yesterday – is expected to play tonight, but there is no update on Nikolaj Ehlers, whose recovery is coming along slowly.
The Jets are in action against the Montreal Canadiens in the first of a three-game homestand.
Boston Bruins Sign Mitchell Miller
The Boston Bruins have signed former Arizona Coyotes draft pick Mitchell Miller to a three-year entry-level contract. After being selected in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, Miller’s rights were renounced by the Coyotes following the public controversy regarding a 2016 assault conviction for bullying and abusing a Black, developmentally disabled classmate.
In the release from the Bruins, Miller released a statement:
When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely. I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual. Since the incident, I have come to better understand the far-reaching consequences of my actions that I failed to recognize and understand nearly seven years ago. I strive to be a better person and positively contribute to society.
As a member of the Bruins organization, I will continue to participate in community programs to both educate myself and share my mistakes with others to show what a negative impact those actions can have on others. To be clear, what I did when I was 14 years old was wrong and unacceptable. There is no place in this world for being disrespectful to others and I pledge to use this opportunity to speak out against mistreating others.
After being dropped by the Coyotes, Miller was also cut loose by the University of North Dakota hockey program, which he had been recruited by. He went on to play for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, where he scored 83 points in 60 games last season and was named USHL Defenseman and Player of the Year. He led the league in goals with 39, even as a defenseman.
Bruins president Cam Neely, knowing that this announcement will come with quite a bit of public backlash, also released a statement:
Representing the Boston Bruins is a privilege we take seriously as an organization. Respect and integrity are foundational character traits we expect of our players and staff. Prior to signing Mitchell, our Hockey Operations and Community Relations groups spent time with him over the last few weeks to better understand who he is as an individual and learn more about a significant mistake he made when he was in middle school.
During this evaluation period, Mitchell was accountable for his unacceptable behavior and demonstrated his commitment to work with multiple organizations and professionals to further his education and use his mistake as a teachable moment for others. The expectation is that he will continue this important educational work with personal development and community programs as a member of the Bruins organization.
The Coyotes did not select Miller without knowledge of his past. He had issued a letter to all 31 teams prior to the draft explaining the incident. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported at the time that at least ten teams had removed him from their draft board completely. Once considered a potential first-round talent, he ended up dropping to 111th overall, the Coyotes’ first selection after losing earlier picks due to combine violations.
That report from Portzline details the abuse, which included rubbing a candy on the inside of a urinal and then enticing his developmentally disabled classmate to put it in his mouth. It also included repeated racial slurs and other bullying.
Miller, now 20, is eligible to play in the AHL for this season.
Minnesota Wild Re-Assign Steven Fogarty
With the Minnesota Wild off until Tuesday, the team has returned Steven Fogarty to the minor league. The move will save some additional cap space and salary, while also suggesting they could be getting healthy bodies back soon. Michael Russo of The Athletic tweets that Jordan Greenway is expected back in time for the game against the Los Angeles Kings but also notes that two forwards could be recalled if Marcus Foligno and Brandon Duhaime are still unavailable.
Fogarty, 29, was up on an emergency recall and played two games for the team, seeing limited ice time in both. The minor league veteran failed to record a shot on goal and registered three hits. That’s about what is expected of him at this point, given his rare appearances in the NHL. Since turning pro in 2016, he has just 32 games at the highest level and has recorded three points.
Greenway, who started the year on injured reserve, returned for just six shifts in late October before ending up on the shelf once again. The 6’6″ forward is a key part of the Minnesota forward group but needs to find a way to stay on the ice. Last season he had ten goals and 27 points in 62 games but was part of one of the best defensive lines in the NHL, alongside Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek.
After the team was blown out of the building by the Seattle Kraken last night, they certainly could use a bit of that added defensive identity back in the lineup.
Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Bernard-Docker
The Ottawa Senators lost again last night, despite outshooting the Vegas Golden Knights 46-32, and have decided to shake up their roster. The team has recalled prospect Jacob Bernard-Docker from the AHL, giving them a new look on defense.
Just this week, head coach D.J. Smith explained that Bernard-Docker’s development in the minor leagues was important, even as the team was dealing with an injury to Artem Zub. Today, after watching the team give up five goals in the first half of last night’s game, he has been recalled.
Whether he ends up in the lineup right away is unclear, but the two most likely candidates to come out are Nikita Zaitsev and Erik Brannstrom. Both played fewer than 18 minutes last night, with Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, and Travis Hamonic taking the brunt of the responsibility.
Bernard-Docker, 22, has 13 games of NHL experience under his belt since signing out of the University of North Dakota, including eight last year. In eight games for the Belleville Senators this year he has just one point. The right-shot defenseman was selected 26th overall in 2018.
Columbus Blue Jackets Activate Nick Blankenburg
Ahead of today’s game in Finland, the Columbus Blue Jackets have activated Nick Blankenburg from injured reserve. The move meant Gavin Bayreuther has been assigned to the AHL, though he took morning skate with the team overseas so won’t be playing for the Cleveland Monsters tonight.
Blankenburg, 24, missed several games with an elbow injury and will go directly back into the lineup. He was skating next to Vladislav Gavrikov on the second pair yesterday. The undrafted defenseman had two points in his first three games of the season before exiting early in number four, and appears to be a nice find for the club. Signed out of the University of Michigan, he now has five points in his career and will look to build on that number in Finland today.
The club takes on the Colorado Avalanche as part of the Global Series, allowing Patrik Laine to suit up in his hometown of Tampere. Bayreuther, 28, won’t get a chance to experience that and will have to go back to the Monsters when they return to North America. The minor league veteran was scoreless in his one NHL appearance this season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Wayne Simmonds
The Toronto Maple Leafs have made another roster change, recalling Wayne Simmonds from the minor leagues and assigning Filip Kral back to the AHL. The move comes in advance of Timothy Liljegren‘s expected return tomorrow night.
It also follows an incident against the Philadelphia Flyers where Auston Matthews was involved in a scrum. When Travis Konecny tried to fight the Maple Leafs superstar, Michael Bunting and (especially) Mark Giordano stepped in to defend him. Simmonds, of course, is known more for his physicality than his offensive prowess at this point in his career, and could be inserted back into the lineup to give Toronto a little more bite.
Kral, 23, made his NHL debut and appeared in two games during his recall, averaging just under ten minutes of ice time. The fifth-round pick might be a decent depth piece for the team but it is obvious that head coach Sheldon Keefe didn’t trust him to play a regular shift, meaning Liljegren’s return will be a welcome sight for Maple Leafs fans.
Montreal Canadiens Exploring Trade Options
When the Montreal Canadiens placed Evgenii Dadonov on injured reserve yesterday, there were quite a few smirks going up around the hockey world. It was “kicking the can down the road” as Eric Engels of Sportsnet put it, opening up a roster spot by moving out a forward that wasn’t playing anyway. It avoided having to waive a player like Dadonov but doesn’t fix the root of the problem – Montreal has too many forwards.
Yesterday on TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun explained that the Canadiens have been trying to “create a trade market” by calling around to several teams in the league. One of those is the Washington Capitals, who lost Connor Brown to ACL surgery, but nothing is imminent between the two as the Capitals look at internal options first.
LeBrun lists Dadonov, Jonathan Drouin, and Mike Hoffman – three players who have all been healthy scratches recently – among the names that could be on the move.
Each of those three, it should be noted, come with relatively hefty contracts. Dadonov carries a $5MM cap hit this season, Drouin a $5.5MM hit, and Hoffman is at $4.5MM through next season.
With Dadonov on injured reserve, the team is currently carrying 14 forwards. Of that group, only Brendan Gallagher and Hoffman are over the age of 30, and many are 25-and-under. The team is obviously focused on moving toward their youth and away from the older generation of players, but whether they will be able to actually pull off a trade remains to be seen.
Ottawa Senators Initiate Process Of Sale
Over the last few days, reports had emerged that indicated the Ottawa Senators would be the next NHL team up for sale. While that discussion quickly turned to potential buyers — especially when actor Ryan Reynolds’ name was included – the team had not actually confirmed anything.
Today, that changed, as the Senators announced that a process has been initiated for the sale of the team. As reported, they have hired Galatioto Sports Partners to assist in the transaction. Sheldon Plener, chairman of the team, released a statement:
Galatioto Sports Partners has been retained as financial advisor and a process has been initiated for the sale of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club.
This was a necessary and prudent step to connect with those deeply interested parties who can show us what their vision is for the future of the team. A condition of any sale will be that the team remains in Ottawa.
That last part will quell many uneasy hearts in Ottawa, who were worried that a sale could potentially take away their franchise. Even beyond Plener’s pledge, the NHL also includes standard clauses in sales which block relocation for a set period of time. If the sale does happen, which looks likely at this point, a new owner would not be allowed to simply pluck the team out of Ottawa.
Still, a change in ownership will be a huge shift for the Senators, who were owned by the late Eugene Melnyk since 2003. After his death earlier this year, control of the team shifted to his daughters, both in their early twenties.
A new owner, whether it is a group or an individual, will have some big decisions to make quickly. The Senators are in dire need of a new downtown arena, and the team has been intimately involved with the development plan at LeBreton Flats. They were approved as the preferred bidder for the site, though there are no shovels in the ground yet, meaning things could go south depending on how the sale is processed (Senators fans will be all too familiar with arena plans disappearing quickly).
The team was recently valued at $650MM by Sportico but some have indicated that a sale would be for much more than that.
Derek Forbort Out Week-To-Week
The Boston Bruins have lost another valuable contributor to a week-to-week injury. Per a team announcement, defenseman Derek Forbort underwent successful surgery on his right middle finger, and the expected recovery time is four to six weeks.
Forbort, 30, had played in all ten of the Bruins’ games this season up until tonight. He’s been an important cog in the Bruins’ blueline, handling 18:48 time on ice per game and leading the team in short-handed ice time per game. Forbort has three points as well so far this season and has been one of new coach Jim Montgomery’s most trusted defenders.
The Bruins are currently missing Charlie McAvoy, David Krejci, Jeremy Swayman, and Craig Smith due to injury, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting off to an NHL-best 9-1 start.
Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman, who earned a job in Boston after arriving on a PTO, will likely take Forbort’s defense-first role. The injury could also provide some opportunity for the Bruins to get a longer look at Jakub Zboril or Mike Reilly, who are both currently healthy scratches.
While this injury is far from an ideal development for Boston, the team has overcome all injury troubles they’ve faced so far this season. While this injury may hurt their penalty kill in the short-term, the Bruins have played well enough so far this year to give confidence that they can survive in Forbort’s absence.
Latest On Shane Wright
Just five games into his professional career, it seems as though Shane Wright‘s world has been turned upside down. The former exceptional-status OHL star was drafted fourth-overall by the Seattle Kraken at this past summer’s NHL draft, and from the moment he was drafted (and perhaps even before that as well) there had been the expectation that Wright would step immediately into an NHL lineup.
So far, Wright has been a healthy scratch for the majority of the Kraken’s contests, and when he does play he averages just under seven minutes of ice time per game. Wright has taken just a single shot on net in the games he’s played, and there seems to be significant confusion as to what the Kraken’s development plan exactly is with their top prospect.
On tonight’s Insider Trading program, TSN’s Darren Dreger shed some light on what the Kraken are planning to do with Wright this year. Per Dreger, it is “very likely” that Seattle will retain Wright rather than send him back to his OHL team, the Kingston Frontenacs. Due to the transfer agreement between the NHL and CHL, Wright must either be in the NHL or the OHL, and cannot be reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate the way other prospects can be.
That being said, though, Dreger notes that per the NHL-CHL agreement Wright would be permitted a one-time AHL reassignment if he is a healthy scratch for five-straight games.
That assignment would last a maximum of fourteen days, though, so it still wouldn’t be a long-term solution. What it would do is allow Wright to at least get some game action under his belt, and he may even be able to play a top-of-the-lineup role if that’s what coach Dan Bylsma would have in mind.
The Firebirds are 4-2 to start their first-ever season and have four players who are so far scoring at above a point-per-game rate. Perhaps the Kraken believe that a short stay in an environment more friendly to Wright’s offensive development could spark him to be more assertive upon his return to the NHL lineup.
Dreger reports that the short-term AHL route is “something the Kraken are considering,” and adds that Seattle is also considering loaning Wright to Team Canada so that he could take on a starring role in the World Junior Championships.
Those games begin in December, though, so in the more immediate term, the Kraken will need to settle on what exactly they plan on doing with Wright, because his current situation is far from ideal for his growth.
The Kraken are looking to have a more competitive season than they had last year, and coach Dave Hakstol could very well be on the hot seat after their disappointing first campaign.
On one hand, if he believes leaving Wright (who, to be fair, has not looked great in his limited NHL action) out of his nightly lineup gives him the best chance to win games, one can certainly respect that decision.
But on the other hand, Wright is one of the Kraken organization’s most important assets. He is a potential long-term solution down the middle, a possible future top-six center to pair with Matty Beniers for the next decade or longer.
His development into that sort of player would be a major step forward for the Kraken, meaning hindering Wright’s growth in order to win in the short term is something that could cost Seattle dearly in the future.
Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images