Los Angeles Kings Recall Rasmus Kupari
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they have recalled young forward Rasmus Kupari from the Ontario Reign, their AHL affiliate. Having 22 out of a maximum 23 players on its NHL roster, no corresponding move had to be made to bring Kupari up. The former first-round pick by Los Angeles has yet to play in the NHL this season.
After the Kings announced forward Alex Iafallo had been placed on LTIR, the team in turn recalled forward Austin Wagner from Ontario, but sent him back the next day, leaving them with 22 players. Due to their tight salary cap situation, the team had to place Iafallo on LTIR in order to make space for an additional call-up in his absence. Being at home this week, with nearby Ontario playing just one game on the road in San Jose, and having 13 forwards and seven defensemen already on the roster, the team was able to go without the additional player for a few days. Now, set to hit the road after today’s home contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Kings opted to bring in a familiar face.
Kupari, who Los Angeles selected 20th overall in 2018, has yet to live up to expectation, but at the same time, has shown he belongs as an NHLer. The forward made his NHL debut during the shortened 2020-21 season, recording just a point in seven games, but played a significant amount last season, getting into 57 games with Los Angeles, chipping in five goals and eight assists in the process. The organization opted to have the 22-year-old begin this season in Ontario, but perhaps his impressive start to the season, which includes three goals and three assists in six AHL games, forced the Kings’ hand in calling the forward up.
Columbus Blue Jackets Place Nick Blankenburg On IR, Activate Joonas Korpisalo
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Nick Blankenburg on IR retroactive to October 23rd and in a related move, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo has been activated off of IR. Korpisalo will not immediately join Columbus, however, as he’s been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Columbus next plays tomorrow afternoon in Newark against the New Jersey Devils. Cleveland plays this evening, but doesn’t play again until next weekend.
Blankenburg, 24, suffered an upper-body injury last Sunday in a game against the New York Rangers, appearing to injure his left arm. The defenseman tried to play through the injury, but left early in the second period. Blankenburg is considered day-to-day, and was practicing today in a non-contact jersey, reports BlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda. Undrafted by an NHL team, Blankenburg spent four seasons at the University of Michigan, capped off by a stellar senior season in which he scored 14 goals to go with 15 assists in just 38 games. After the season, he turned pro, signing with Columbus and making his NHL debut on April 13th of this year. To date, he has two goals and three assists in 11 career games, all with Columbus.
Korpisalo has yet to play this season while recovering from season-ending hip surgery on March 24th. The 28-year-old has made his mark with the Blue Jackets, establishing himself as one of the league’s best backup goaltenders. However, he did struggle last year, recording an .877 save-percentage and 4.10 goals-against average in 22 games. Despite the struggle, Columbus showed their faith in the veteran by signing him to a one-year $1.3MM contract extension this spring. Once healthy, Korpisalo can look to rebound from his poor performance and injury issues of 2021-22 while fighting for playing time alongside starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins, who has struggled himself to start this season.
Sean Couturier, James Van Riemsdyk Have Surgery
As reported by Giana Han of The Philadelphia Inquirer, a pair of Philadelphia Flyers forwards underwent surgery recently. Center Sean Couturier underwent back revision surgery and will require three to four months of recovery. Winger James van Riemsdyk also had surgery on his left index finger and will miss six weeks. As reported, van Riemsdyk’s surgery was expected to have surgery earlier this week, however Couturier’s comes as a bit of a surprise. At the end of September, it was reported that Couturier would not require surgery on his back. Still, given the recent news that Couturier was not ready to start skating, today’s news gives some context as to why.
Generally, a star player having major back surgery that causes them to miss significant time would come as bad news, however for Couturier and the Flyers, this may be the start of bringing the star’s injury saga to a close. The former Selke winner missed significant time the last two seasons, playing in just 74 out of 138 possible games, including just 29 of 82 last season. His production hasn’t suffered in that time, recording 58 points in those 74 games while chipping in superb defense. Even if Couturier were to miss the maximum four months, it would put him on track for an early March return date which would be, all things considered, fantastic considering rumors that the 29-year-old could miss the entire 2022-23 season.
Van Riemsdyk, like his Flyers, had been off to a strong start to the season, but suffered an injury and left Sunday’s game against the San Jose Sharks early with an apparent injury. Though the surgery had been expected, a timeline for recovery remained unclear heading into the procedure, but with it complete, six weeks appears to be the magic number. Considering the 33-year-old’s status as a pending UFA, this injury is a tough blow not only for the team, but for the player. The veteran doesn’t seem to be the perennial 60-point player he was in his prime with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but has still shown the ability to get to tough areas to score all while being a team leader, two valuable assets to bring into free agency. Should Van Riemsdyk recover as expected and finish the season strong, he should be able to preserve his value in free agency.
With low expectations to start the season, Philadelphia’s strong start has been a welcomed surprise for the team and their fans, the team sitting at 5-2-0 coming into today. Losing one of its core veterans in Van Riemsdyk surely doesn’t help their cause, but a somewhat favorable timeline is a silver lining. With expectations that Couturier might be done for the season, the news that he could return later in the year is encouraging, especially if the team can remain in the playoff hunt. In the meantime, the absences will give opportunities to younger players to shine, as well as newcomers Lukas Sedlak and Kieffer Bellows, who were both claimed off of waivers recently.
Matt Bartkowski Signs AHL PTO
Veteran defenseman Matt Bartkowski has found a new home, at least for now. The Rochester Americans announced they’ve signed Bartkowski to an AHL PTO. The team expects Bartkowski to meet them for today’s game in Laval against the Rocket. Rochester is the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres.
The addition of Bartkowski appears to be the result of a chain reaction in the Sabres organization after a rash of injuries on Buffalo’s blueline. When the Sabres lost defensemen Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson in short order last weekend, the team recalled fellow defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Kale Clague from Rochester. Of course, that helped to repair the Sabres’ ailing defense-corps, but served to dismantle Rochester’s, stealing two of their best defenders. The Americans initially responded by recalling Zachary Berzolla from the ECHL, and earlier this week added another NHL veteran in Brandon Davidson on an AHL PTO.
A veteran of 256 career NHL games, Bartkowski last played in the NHL back in 2020-21, dressing for just one game with the Minnesota Wild. The 34-year-old hasn’t seen even semi-regular NHL time since he played 18 games as a member of the Calgary Flames all the way back in 2017-18. The defenseman did have some NHL interest this summer coming off of two exceptional AHL seasons with the Iowa Wild and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, signing a PTO with the New York Rangers back in September, who ultimately released him from that tryout. Bringing Bartkowski in should give the Americans a healthy, veteran presence to help patch the holes not only on their own blueline, but that of the entire NHL-AHL-ECHL organization.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Minnesota Wild
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2022-23 season and beyond. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Minnesota Wild
Current Cap Hit: $79,231,774 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
D Calen Addison (one year, $795K)
F Matt Boldy (one year, $880.8K)
F Marco Rossi (three years, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Addison: $82.5K
Boldy: $600K
Rossi: $850K
Boldy didn’t play a full season last year but if he had, he might have had a shot at the Calder Trophy. He has very quickly established himself as a legitimate top-six forward and has been on the front line for good chunks of this season early on. He’s the type of player that GM Bill Guerin would love to sign long-term but fitting that in could be difficult. If Boldy produces at a similar pace as last year over a full season, a bridge deal for him could be in the $4MM range. Rossi is just getting his NHL career started but is being eased in slowly so it’s unlikely that he’ll hit any of his ‘A’ bonuses this season.
Addison has shown some upside in limited NHL action and is off to a nice start this year as he looks to establish himself as a full-time regular. If he can do that, he’ll have a good chance of hitting most of his games played bonuses but with a limited track record and Minnesota’s cap situation next summer, he’s almost certainly heading for a bridge deal. A decent season offensively could have that contract in the $2MM range.
Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level
F Brandon Duhaime ($750K, RFA)
D Matt Dumba ($6MM, UFA)
F Frederick Gaudreau ($1.2MM, UFA)
G Filip Gustavsson ($787.5K, RFA)
F Tyson Jost ($2MM, RFA)
F Sam Steel ($825K, RFA)
Expectations for Jost have been high since he was drafted 10th overall back in 2016 but he hasn’t been able to live up to them. Last season, Colorado decided to move on from him but Jost hasn’t been much better with the Wild. Owed a $2.25MM qualifying offer, Jost will need to come close to his career high in points (26) if he wants a shot at being tendered. Gaudreau has been a nice example of perseverance paying off as he became a full-fledged regular for the first time last season at 28. He is coming off a career year offensively and even if he comes up a little short of the 44 points he had, he’s in a position to potentially double his price tag next summer. Steel had a pretty soft market this summer after being non-tendered by Anaheim but is still controllable for two more years through arbitration. It’s possible that he could be viewed as a replacement for Jost if he’s willing to stay around this price point. Duhaime provided some depth scoring with plenty of hits last season which is a combo that typically looks good in arbitration. Doubling his AAV is achievable if he puts up around 20 points this season.
Dumba’s future with Minnesota has been in question for several years now. First, there was speculation that he wouldn’t be able to reach a new contract but he did. Then, he was supposed to go to Seattle in expansion but the Wild found a way to protect him. Now, the question is can they afford to keep him? He’ll be 29 next season and hasn’t been able to come close to the 50 points he put up in 2017-18. The lower point total I think actually works in Minnesota’s favor if they want to try to re-sign him; between that and his age, his next contract shouldn’t check in too much higher than this one. Knowing the cap is going to go up in the not-too-distant future, there’s a path to extending this partnership if both sides are interested.
Gustavsson came over in an offseason trade from Ottawa and has yet to establish himself as a full-time backup. He’ll get that chance this season but chances are that his playing time will be limited enough that a multi-year agreement will be hard to come by. If he does well, a one-year deal in the $1.5MM range that buys both sides more time to evaluate would be a reasonable outcome.
Signed Through 2023-24
F Connor Dewar ($800K, RFA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Marcus Foligno ($3.1MM, UFA)
D Alex Goligoski ($2MM, UFA)
F Ryan Hartman ($1.7MM, UFA)
F Mats Zuccarello ($6MM, UFA)
Zuccarello had a career year last season and is off to an even better start this year as he is starting to make his cap hit look like a bargain. However, he’ll be 37 when this contract is up which won’t help his market value. If he stays around the 60-point mark, he could land a couple of years around this price tag but a big increase isn’t likely. Foligno has put up a particularly high shooting percentage in the last two years but even factoring in some regression, he can be counted on for third-line production, strong defensive play, and lots of physicality. He’ll be 33 when his next contract starts and a three-year deal could push him past the $4MM mark if he can hang around the 30-point plateau.
One player that appears to be well on his way toward a significant raise is Hartman. After bouncing around early in his career, he has secured a full-time role in the top six with the Wild and is doing so as a center which only helps his value. The market for second-line centers is well over $6MM and if Hartman has a couple more seasons like last year, that could certainly be attainable for him. As for Dewar, he’s trying to establish himself as a regular but if he continues with a limited role, he’s someone that shouldn’t get a whole lot more than his qualifying offer which checks in just below $900K.
Goligoski took a high-priced one-year deal to return home last season and then accepted this much cheaper two-year contract to stay there. He is more of a depth defender at this point and considering he’ll be 39 just days after this agreement expires, there’s a good chance that this is his last deal.
There were some questions about whether or not Fleury would want to stick around with the Wild after joining them late last season but then accepted this deal, one that gives Minnesota a veteran starter for the price of a high-end backup. He’ll be 39 when this contract is up and it’s difficult to see him signing another one after this.
Signed Through 2024-25
F Jordan Greenway ($3MM, UFA)
D Jon Merrill ($1.2MM, UFA)
D Jacob Middleton ($2.45MM, UFA)
Greenway has shown some signs of blossoming into an impact power forward but has struggled with consistency and staying healthy. If he’s able to turn that around and become a 20-goal player, he could see his price tag jump past the $5MM mark in 2025. Even if he hovers around the 30-point mark, a raise is almost certain with how sought-after physical wingers that can provide some secondary scoring are.
Middleton was brought in to help strengthen the depth of the back end after a breakout season last year that saw him become a regular for the first time at 26. That limited track record allowed Guerin to work out an extension that gave Middleton some stability while still being at a below-market rate for someone playing in the top four. Three more seasons with a similar performance to last year will make his market a lot stronger next time around when he could add more than a million to his current cost. Merrill didn’t generate much interest in his last two trips through free agency so he understandably jumped at a three-year extension offer last January. For a depth defender, it’s a fair cost but it’s unlikely he’ll land much more than that three years from now.
Snapshots: Sharks, Domi, Bruins
It appears that the Sharks have determined their list of untouchables and it’s a pretty small one. In the latest TSN Insider Trading segment, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported that San Jose’s list of players that they’re not open to considering trading starts and ends with Tomas Hertl who is just beginning an eight-year, $65.1MM contract. GM Mike Grier made one notable shakeup trade last summer with the move of Brent Burns to Carolina and will certainly be looking to continue to reshape his roster. As we start to see a bit of trade activity around the league, the Sharks could be a team to watch for over the next little while on that front.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- While Max Domi joined the Blackhawks early in free agency on a one-year deal, it appears as if that wasn’t his original preference. In his latest column for the Toronto Star, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports that Domi’s camp had approached the Maple Leafs to gauge their interest in a one-year deal at a significantly lower price than the $3MM he received from Chicago. Obviously, Toronto opted to go in a different direction, adding Nicolas Aube-Kubel on the opening day of free agency and Calle Jarnkrok two days later as forwards signing for more than the minimum.
- Bruins GM Don Sweeney met with the media (video link) on Thursday following their trade with Vancouver. Sweeney acknowledged that discussions with winger David Pastrnak about a contract extension continue on a regular basis but that they have not yet “found the endpoint”. The 26-year-old is off to a hot start with 15 points in eight games to start the season and is set to land a significant raise on his current $6.667MM AAV, one that could push his cap hit near or past the $10MM mark.
- Sweeney also indicated that they’ve not yet worked out where they will send goaltender Michael DiPietro who was acquired in yesterday’s swap. They have two netminders with AHL Providence already – Keith Kinkaid and Kyle Keyser – while they have Brandon Bussi at the ECHL level as well. As DiPietro is past his entry-level contract, he has the ability to block an assignment to the ECHL. Speculatively, if DiPietro wants to stay in the AHL, a short-term loan to another AHL squad could be a possible outcome with Sweeney suggesting they have a couple of options in the works for their new goalie at the moment.
Devan Dubnyk Retires
After trying his hand on the television side of things in the playoffs, veteran goaltender Devan Dubnyk has decided that it’s time to commit to that role. The 36-year-old confirmed to Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press that he has hung up his skates and has joined the NHL Network where he made his regular season debut with them on Thursday night.
Dubnyk was selected 14th overall back in 2004 by Edmonton with the hopes that he’d be their goaltender of the future. However, after some promising seasons early on (with a save percentage between .914 and .920 in his first three full years), things went off the rails in 2013-14, a year in which he wound up being traded twice and finishing up the season in the minor leagues.
But to his credit, Dubnyk bounced back the following year, starting strong with Arizona before being flipped to Minnesota where he spent parts of six seasons with the Wild, several of which as their starter. He last played in the NHL in 2020-21 with San Jose and Colorado and got into a handful of games with AHL Charlotte last season.
Dubnyk hangs up his skates with a 253-206-54 record in 542 appearances over parts of a dozen seasons with a 2.61 GAA, a .914 SV%, and 33 shutouts. His wins and games played total are second only to Pekka Rinne from that draft class. In the end, while it took him a while to make his mark, it was a pretty successful on-ice career for Dubnyk who now transitions to his off-ice career in hockey.
Ottawa Senators Recall Dillon Heatherington
The Ottawa Senators have announced that defenseman Dillon Heatherington has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. This recall comes after it was revealed earlier today that top-pairing defenseman Artem Zub will be out for one to two weeks with an upper-body injury.
Heatherington, 27, has become a bit of a journeyman since he was drafted 50th overall at the 2013 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a solid career with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos, Heatherington turned pro in the Blue Jackets organization and spent parts of three seasons playing for their AHL affiliates. He was then sent to the Dallas Stars in a trade for Lauri Korpikoski, and he made his NHL debut as a member of their organization.
After a 2019-20 season that did not include any call-ups to the main squad in Dallas, Heatherington left North America to continue his pro career with Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL. He spent year there before being signed by the Senators, and last season he played in a depth role, getting into 45 games at the AHL level and nine NHL games.
With this call-up, it seems that the well-traveled Heatherington is in place to get some more NHL games under his belt. It’s likely that veteran defenseman Nick Holden will enter the lineup in Zub’s place, but now that Heatherington is on the roster it’s possible he gets a look as well.
The Senators are 4-3-0 at the moment and are looking to endure some early injury troubles and keep pace in an extremely competitive Atlantic Division.
Boston Bruins Recall Jakub Lauko
The Boston Bruins have announced a roster move today, calling up forward Jakub Lauko from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.
Lauko, 22, was sent to Providence a few days ago and now returns having not played in a game for the AHL squad. Lauko has gotten into four games for the Bruins this season and has one assist.
A third-round pick at the 2018 NHL draft, Lauko has impressed so far this season and should be one of the Bruins’ depth forwards/priority call-ups this year.
Before this season, Lauko had spent parts of three seasons paying his dues as a hard-working two-way player in Providence. Lauko’s scoring numbers took a bit of a dive last season, going from 19 points in 23 games in 2020-21 to 16 points in 54 games in 2021-22. But his speed, energy level, and work ethic remained despite that drop in production. It’s those traits that have earned him this call-up, and will likely be the reason that he gets chances in the NHL moving forward.
Edmonton Oilers Activate Carter Savoie, Send Him To AHL
The Edmonton Oilers have announced that forward Carter Savoie has been activated off of the team’s injured non-roster list and been loaned to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.
Savoie, 20, has been out with a lower-body injury that has kept him from making his 2022-23 season debut. With this move, he’ll now head to Bakersfield to continue his young professional career.
One of the Oilers’ top prospects, Savoie turned pro late last season after an extremely successful collegiate career at the University of Denver. At Denver, Savoie was a star sophomore player, scoring 23 goals and 45 points, leading the Pioneers to the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship.
A fourth-round pick at the 2020 draft, Savoie’s college success has led to his fast rise in prospect rankings. The Condors are currently 2-2-1 and will certainly stand to benefit should Savoie’s scoring numbers translate from the NCAA level to the pro level.
While he might not be seen in Edmonton anytime soon with the Oilers 5-3-0 and free to be patient with Savoie’s development, the hope will surely be for him to eventually make his way to a scoring line on the big club. For now, though, he’ll continue his development in the AHL, a process that can now continue with his recovery from injury.