Vancouver Canucks Place Tucker Poolman On LTIR
4:37 pm: Just a few hours later, Poolman has now been moved to long-term injured reserve, according to the team. Hughes, who was listed as week-to-week earlier in the day, has been moved to injured reserve so the Canucks can recall another defenseman from the AHL – Noah Juulsen, who has a -1 rating in two games this year with the Canucks. Assuming the LTIR placement is retroactive to October 18, Poolman is ineligible to return until November 11.
12:50 pm: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tucker Poolman has been moved to injured reserve, and the team has recalled Guillaume Brisebois in his place. Poolman was listed as a game-time decision for the team’s game on Saturday but didn’t end up playing. His IR placement can be retroactive to the last time he did play (Oct 18), meaning he can be activated in just a few days if deemed healthy.
The 29-year-old just can’t seem to stay healthy and has played in just 43 games since signing a four-year, $10MM contract in 2021. Poolman has just four points in those games and has averaged fewer than 17 minutes a night as a Canuck. With the team in the midst of a firestorm of criticism after an 0-4-2 start (that has included blowing several multi-goal leads), his absence certainly won’t help things.
In his place is Brisebois, a 25-year-old that has just ten NHL games to his name. The third-round pick from 2015 is still looking for his first point at the highest level, but does at least bring some of the same defensive attributes that Poolman offers. With Quinn Hughes also missing today’s morning skate, the Canucks are potentially icing a defense group that looks anything but imposing. Thomas Drance of The Athletic reports that Brisebois is skating with Luke Schenn, Kyle Burroughs is with Jack Rathbone, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers make up the veteran portion of the blue line.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Gavin Bayreuther
According to a team release, the Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled defenseman Gavin Bayreuther from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
The move comes after rookie defenseman Nick Blankenburg left last night’s game with an upper-body injury, speculated to be an injury to his left arm. The 24-year-old undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Michigan had two points through his first four games this season and had even earned a look on the team’s top pairing alongside Zach Werenski. His brief emergence pushed another young defender, Adam Boqvist, out of the lineup. Boqvist had been held off the scoresheet in three games this season and averaged just a few ticks over 16 minutes per game, though.
Bayreuther comes up from Cleveland to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman, suggesting Blankenburg may miss some time. Blankenburg has not been placed on injured reserve, but there’s no pressing need to as the team was carrying 22 out of a maximum of 23 players anyways. The 28-year-old Bayreuther has three assists in his first three games in Cleveland and is in the second year of a two-year, $750,000 cap hit deal which is a one-way contract for 2022-23. Bayreuther spent the majority of the 2021-22 season on the Jackets’ active roster, usually as a healthy scratch, registering eight assists in 43 games.
Alex Iafallo Moved To LTIR, Austin Wagner Shuttled
October 24: The Kings have now loaned Wagner back to the Reign, according to the team. The Kings did not have a game yesterday, and Wagner’s recall was likely just a paper transaction to optimize LTIR relief.
October 23: The Los Angeles Kings announced a series of roster moves this afternoon, headlined by forward Alex Iafallo, who has been moved from regular IR to LTIR. In addition to Iafallo, the Kings have loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to the Ontario Reign of the AHL and recalled forward Austin Wagner. The move gives Los Angeles 14 forwards to go along with seven defensemen on its active roster.
Iafallo had already been out and on IR since October 18th with a lower-body injury which he suffered in a game on October 17th against the Detroit Red Wings, but placing him on LTIR will create additional cap space that allows the Kings to call up Wagner, who carries a $1.133MM cap hit while sending down Moverare and his $762.5K cap hit. Prior to the transaction, Los Angeles had $521K in cap space. Of note, due to Iafallo’s $4MM cap hit, his trip to LTIR will give the organization more than enough room to work with on the salary cap front while he’s out. Despite the injury, Iafallo has had a tremendous start to the season, contributing two goals and three assists in four games.
Sending Moverare down simply gives the Kings more flexibility when setting a lineup by subtracting their eighth defenseman for another forward, flexibility they’ll continue to need in Iafallo’s absence. The defenseman had yet to play a game this season in the NHL, but does have a pair of AHL contests under his belt in 2022-23, prior to his call-up on October 18th. Wagner on the other hand, is receiving his first call-up of the season after starting the year with Ontario. There, he has two points in three games to start.
Injury Notes: Chytil, Danforth, Carlo
The New York Rangers will be without one of their young forwards for the next little while, telling reporters including Mollie Walker of the New York Post that Filip Chytil will be out for at least a week. While they called it an upper-body injury, Larry Brooks of the New York Post tweets that it is believed to be a concussion keeping Chytil off the ice.
The injury likely occurred on a hit from Cole Sillinger at the very beginning of yesterday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which left Chytil on the ice for several moments. The 23-year-old had been one of the team’s best players through the first part of the year, with Vince Mercogliano of USA Today noting that he is the only regular who hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against to this point.
- Justin Danforth is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, though there is also no clarification on his timeline. The Blue Jackets forward left Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed yesterday’s tilt against the Rangers. The 29-year-old had two goals and three points in his first five games, even playing a whopping 20:23 in the second game of the year.
- Brandon Carlo was back on the ice today practicing in a regular jersey, and head coach Jim Montgomery said he was “getting close” to a return. He also said that he’ll be cautious with the big defender though, as Carlo confirmed he suffered another concussion – his fifth since entering the NHL in 2016 – against the Arizona Coyotes last week. He’s been out since then, and the Bruins will do everything they can to make sure he is at no further risk before he re-enters the lineup.
Quinn Hughes Out Week-To-Week
The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have Quinn Hughes on the ice this morning and won’t for a little while longer. The team has announced Hughes is out week-to-week. Travis Dermott is too, while Brock Boeser and Riley Stillman are out on a day-to-day basis.
The Hughes news comes after Tucker Poolman was moved to injured reserve earlier today, with Guillaume Brisebois recalled to fill in tonight. When Brisebois hits the ice, he’ll already be the tenth defenseman that the Canucks have used this season.
Without Hughes (who is tied for second in scoring despite playing only five of the team’s six games) the Canucks were torn apart by the Buffalo Sabres. That included Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kyle Burroughs, and Tyler Myers all playing at least 21 minutes, something that will have to continue for the next while.
Vancouver had the ominous jersey toss from fans in that loss to Buffalo, and as Farhan Lalji of TSN tweets, J.T. Miller had a choice quote about this situation. Things aren’t going well with the Canucks, and now they will be without their most dynamic defenseman for at least another several games.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Gurianov, Kessel
The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin taking the top spot. While he was good through the first few years of his career, Dahlin has really taken another step under Sabres head coach Don Granato. Last season he set career highs with 13 goals and 53 points, and he’s off to an incredible start this year with five goals and eight points in five games. Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to score in the first four games of a season and then broke his own record by scoring again on Saturday night.
Brady Tkachuk and MacKenzie Blackwood take home the second and third spots, after having their own impressive weeks. Blackwood’s was especially impressive because of the poor start that the New Jersey Devils goaltenders got off to. In three starts, Blackwood posted a .932 save percentage and silenced some of the chatter over the future of head coach Lindy Ruff. Tkachuk, meanwhile, had seven points in three games, recording at least two in each contest.
- Denis Gurianov figures to be a healthy scratch when the Dallas Stars take on Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators tonight, as his inconsistencies have once again pushed him out of the lineup. Head coach Peter DeBoer spoke with Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News, explaining that Gurianov is “not a young player anymore” and will be held to the consistency standard that other veterans are expected to maintain. The 25-year-old Gurianov doesn’t have a point through his first five contests.
- Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel will tie the NHL consecutive games streak tonight, when he takes on his old club the Toronto Maple Leafs. The veteran forward will play his 989th straight game, matching the record set by Keith Yandle. The last time Kessel missed a game was his first year with the Maple Leafs, back in 2009-10. He is also just 43 points away from 1,000 for his career.
Carey Price Not Retiring, Focused On Recovery
Carey Price hasn’t considered retirement, at least not yet. While meeting the media this morning, he explained that he is focused on getting pain-free and will take things day-by-day from there. Price explained that he is still having trouble climbing stairs or with other activities, but hasn’t closed the book on his NHL career.
Price, 35, is still signed through the 2025-26 season, earning at least $7.5MM in each season. That will stay on the books for the Canadiens, though it will be moved to long-term injured reserve every year he isn’t able to play, essentially allowing the team to spend that money elsewhere if needed.
Selected fifth overall in 2005, Price was always touted as the next great Canadiens goaltender. Though he didn’t step directly into the NHL, going back to the WHL for two full seasons, he quickly showed why he was drafted so high upon his arrival. As a rookie in 2007-08, Price posted a .920 save percentage, going 24-12-3 and finishing ninth in Vezina Trophy voting. By the time he was 23, he was leading the league in wins and finishing as a top-10 Hart Trophy finalist.
In 2014-15, both those trophies ended up in his possession, after one of the best seasons the NHL has ever seen from a goaltender. Price led the league with 44 wins, a .933 save percentage, and a 1.96 goals-against average. He added the Jennings and Lindsay to the trophy case as well, but that peak wouldn’t last long. The netminder would end up playing just 12 games the next season, and injuries would start to shape the narrative of his career.
His regular season performance since the start of 2017-18 has continued to decline, registering a save percentage of just .908 over that stretch. Even still, he showed a flash of peak Price in the playoffs, taking the Canadiens all the way to the Stanley Cup final in 2021.
Now, with retirement not on the table, Price says he is hoping to recover from a knee injury without undergoing another surgery – one that he suggests could risk his quality of life down the line. When asked if he’s been told when the knee issues started, Price laughed and said “about eight years old.” He listed off several other injuries he’s experienced – referencing his back, hip, and ankle – explaining that as he got older, it was harder to bounce back from these things.
Whether Price is focused on it or not, the end of his playing career seems closer than ever. He suggested that the surgery on the table – OATS, a procedure that takes cartilage from one area of the knee and grafts it into a damaged area – has a chance of causing further issues, both for his performance and quality of life. Without it, he is not able to train at a high level, meaning he’s just waiting to see if his knee responds to time and rehab instead.
If it is the end, Price would go down with 712 regular season appearances in his career, 28th all-time. His 361 wins put him even higher on the NHL leaderboard, sitting 21st, just ahead of Jonathan Quick.
When asked if he is at peace with the idea that he may have played his last game, Price used the word “miracle” to describe the possibility of a return.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Juraj Slafkovsky Undergoing Tests On Upper-Body Injury
There was a big absence at Montreal Canadiens practice today, as Juraj Slafkovsky was nowhere to be seen. The team released some information on the situation, noting that the first-overall pick is undergoing testing on his upper-body injury. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports tweets that there is expected to be an additional update Wednesday on “how long he’ll be out.”
It has been an up-and-down start for the top prospect, as he at times looked completely overmatched by the speed of the NHL game. His only point came during his last game when he released a brilliant shot after getting hit hard by Josh Brown. He would end up seeing his highest amount of playing time in the game against the Arizona Coyotes, but missed Saturday’s match and now appears headed for the shelf.
Given there was already some debate over whether Slafkovsky should receive some time in the minor leagues to continue his development, an injury at this point in the year isn’t going to help things. There’s no doubting his talent, but in two of his five games on the year Slafkovsky failed to receive even ten minutes of ice time.
Should he end up out long-term, or even if it is more of a day-to-day thing, the Canadiens could still send him to the AHL when he is ready to return. For now, we’ll wait to see what kind of diagnosis is coming down the pipe.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Martin Kaut
Oct 24: While earlier today the Avalanche announced that both Kaut and Megna were recalled, that tweet has now been deleted. The AHL transaction portal has Kaut and Mikhail Maltsev recalled, though the team has not yet confirmed it.
Oct 23: The Colorado Avalanche did some roster tweaking late last night, announcing that they’d sent down forwards Martin Kaut and Jayson Megna to the AHL. The move comes just after the Avalanche concluded a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, their third win of this young season.
These two reassignments should not come as a surprise to anyone closely watching the Avalanche’s moves this season. As The Athletic’s Peter Baugh notes, this transaction was likely made with the salary cap in mind rather than for any reasons related to Megna or Kaut’s performance. The Avalanche have precious little cap space to work with, so they choose to send players such as Megna or Kaut to the minors on off days in order to “accumulate” cap space—banked room that will be potentially more useful later in the season.
As can be seen here, both Kaut and Megna have been part of up-and-down transactions multiple times already this season, so it’s definitely reasonable to expect the team to bring one or even both of these players back to their active roster in time for their next game, which is on Tuesday against the New York Rangers. It’s also possible that they go in a different direction with their roster, by either calling different replacements up from their AHL affiliate or rolling with a few extra defensemen in their lineup (which would be a highly unconventional choice).
Both Kaut and Megna have split time this season between the Avalanche’s main squad and their AHL affiliate. The 32-year-old Megna is a longtime veteran depth player who has been on the NHL/AHL bubble since making his professional debut in 2012-13. Kaut, 23, is in a bit of a different situation at this time in his career, as he finds himself on the roster bubble just a few years after being selected 16th overall at the 2018 draft. Like Megna, Kaut is yet to score in his three NHL games this season although he has had some production at the AHL level.
Five Key Stories: 10/17/22 – 10/23/22
The regular season is in full flight and while things have predictably been quiet on the trade front, there has still been plenty of news of note around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.
Potential For Early Cap Increase? The expectation has long been that there will be at least one more season after this one where the salary cap increase would be limited to $1MM as the players continue to pay off the COVID-related escrow to bring the split back to 50/50. However, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman expressed some optimism that the balance could be paid off this season, allowing for an increase that could be closer to $4MM for next season. With 13 teams already needing LTIR to be cap-compliant and six others with less than $1MM in cap space at the moment, that extra bump would be welcome news for them.
Early Extension: Flames backup goaltender Daniel Vladar had a good first season with Calgary and would have been eligible for salary arbitration this summer. Instead, he took a pass on that, instead agreeing to a two-year, $4.4MM contract extension. The 25-year-old played his first full season in 2021-22, serving as Jacob Markstrom’s backup while getting into 23 games. Head coach Darryl Sutter has indicated a desire to have Vladar play once a week which could have boosted his value had the Flames decided to wait until the summer to work this deal out. However, Vladar will be eligible for unrestricted free agency when this deal expires in 2025.
Knee Surgery For Landeskog: It was known back in training camp that Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season. However, he was expected to start skating about a week and a half ago, providing some optimism that he’d be back soon. That idea was kiboshed quickly as the team revealed that the winger underwent knee surgery that will keep him out for roughly the next 12 weeks. It’s certainly a big loss for Colorado as the 29-year-old has been a key part of their attack for more than a decade and was coming off his best season in terms of points per game. Now, what looked like a short-term injury to start the year will now keep Landeskog out for at least the first half of the season.
More Key Injuries: The Panthers don’t have the deepest of back ends and their depth will be further tested for a little while as the team placed Aaron Ekblad on LTIR with a lower-body injury. Fortunately for Florida, it appears their top defender will be out somewhere from four-to-seven weeks although they’ll certainly miss him in the short term. Meanwhile, the Red Wings will be without winger Tyler Bertuzzi for four-to-six weeks due to an upper-body injury. Missing a top liner is hardly ideal for Detroit nor is it ideal for the 27-year-old who is eligible to reach unrestricted free agency next summer for the first time. On top of those, the Coyotes will be without one of their top scorers from last season as center Nick Schmaltz will miss six-to-eight weeks with an upper-body injury of his own. Arizona isn’t exactly a deep offensive team as they look to bottom out in the standings and now they’re without a top threat until sometime in December.
Vrana Enters Player Assistance Program: Bertuzzi isn’t the only key winger that the Red Wings are without as the league announced that Jakub Vrana has entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. No further details were provided and there is no set timeline for when the 26-year-old might be able to return. Vrana is in his third season with Detroit after being acquired back at the 2020 trade deadline but due to injuries, had only played in 39 games with them before this announcement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.