Scott Perunovich To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
It is another lost season for Scott Perunovich, who will undergo surgery on a fractured left shoulder later this week. The St. Louis Blues have announced a six-month timeline before Perunovich is even re-evaluated, meaning he will miss most, if not all of the 2022-23 campaign.
This is the second major shoulder injury that Perunovich has suffered since turning pro, though Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic tweets that it is unrelated to that torn labrum that kept him out the entire 2020-21 season. Still, it is the same shoulder, and means another surgery to correct a serious injury before he ever really gets his career off the ground.
Now 24, Perunovich was the 2020 Hobey Baker winner with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he racked up 105 points in 115 games. The smooth-skating defenseman was a second-round pick of the Blues in 2018 and showed he could dominate the minor leagues when he recovered from that first shoulder injury, racking up 22 points in 17 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Nineteen NHL regular season games resulted in six points, and Perunovich managed to add another four assists in seven playoff games.
It appeared as though there was an opening for him with the Blues this year but instead, questions will now arise over whether he’ll even be with the organization for very long. He will be a restricted free agent again after this season and at some point, St. Louis will have to ask whether or not they believe he’ll ever be healthy enough to contribute on a regular basis. There’s obvious talent, but another serious injury like this will not only put him behind but allow other young players to move up the depth chart in his place.
It’s a brutal blow for a talented young defenseman and one that he can hopefully overcome. A six-month timeline puts the re-evaluation at the start of April, meaning there is at least an outside chance that he could return for a Blues playoff run if needed.
Ottawa Senators Recall Kevin Mandolese
With the recent injury to Cam Talbot, the Ottawa Senators are down a bit of goaltending depth. They claimed Magnus Hellberg off of waivers yesterday but with Antoine Bibeau now dealing with a non-COVID illness, the team has recalled Kevin Mandolese to serve as the third goaltender.
While a third netminder in the preseason doesn’t mean very much in the grand scheme of things, this does shine a light on how important it is for teams to have reliable depth at the position. The Senators actually have more goaltenders under contract than most, with Talbot, Helberg, Bibeau, Mandolese, Anton Forsberg, Mads Sogaard, and even prospect Leevi Merilainen signed to NHL deals.
They learned the value of depth last season when they needed four different goaltenders throughout the year. Forsberg, who started the most for them in 2021-22, figures to take most of the starts while Talbot is out. Mandolese, 22, only has 26 appearances at the AHL level to this point and is likely only ahead of Merilainen -who has already been loaned back overseas – in the organizational depth chart.
Ryan MacInnis Signs In KHL
Oct 4: It appears as though MacInnis has changed his mind. Adler Mannheim of the DEL has now announced a contract with him, replacing injured forward Tyler Gaudet. He will no longer be headed to the KHL.
Sep 15: After failing to get much of an opportunity at the NHL level, Ryan MacInnis has decided to try his luck overseas. The minor league forward has signed a contract with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL.
MacInnis, 26, became a Group VI unrestricted free agent (for the second time) this summer after his one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres came to an end. The 2014 second-round pick has only played in 27 NHL games to this point, just one of them coming last season. In 49 games with the Rochester Americans, where he spent most of the year, he scored 11 goals and 27 points.
The son of NHL legend Al MacInnis, Ryan was an excellent junior player and has shown at least flashes of the ability to fill out a fourth-line role in the NHL. But with basically zero production – he has just a single assist in those 27 games – it’s hard to justify putting him in the lineup.
In the KHL, he should find quite a bit more playing time and the chance to see a more offensive role. It seems likely that we’ll see him in North America again some point down the line, though another NHL chance may be out of the picture.
Evening Notes: League Business, Vegas Injuries, Pesce, Forward Market
After seeing the NHL’s record-breaking revenue for the 2021-22 season, the financial state of the league, a little over two years after being forced to shut down temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is as healthy as ever. Because of that, teams have been told to prepare for a large cap increase, and one that could potentially come sooner than expected. With the rise in revenue, a rise in prominent advertisements has become apparent too, one which many fans are not too thrilled about. Earlier today, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discussed several topics related to the state of the league and its finances with Alex Silverman of the Sports Business Journal. In the interview, Bettman discussed revenue, new digital advertising on boards, jersey advertisements, the Arizona Coyotes arena situation, TV deals, growing the game internationally, and the future of the World Cup of Hockey.
Notably, Bettman detailed how the league plans to continue growing its revenue, specifically by utilizing technology, especially when it comes to advertising, engaging with fans more on social media, and using their television platforms to grow the game. On the new digitally enhanced dasherboards (“DED’s”), Bettman noted that the technology was not cheap to develop, but sees potential revenue growth from this alone to be in “the hundreds of millions.” In regards to the recent addition of jersey advertisements that have been met with it’s fair share of public criticism, Bettman appeared to understand the public’s distaste, calling himself a traditionalist, but cited the immense revenue growth as a reason to press on. The Commissioner added that although the market is “vibrant” for the jersey advertisements, the league has urged clubs to take their time picking a sponsor, urging them to find the “right partner” and get full value.
The entirety of Bettman’s answers, as well as his discussion on several other topics, can be found in the full discussion with Silverman.
- The Vegas Golden Knights have injury updates on a pair of key players. According to Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy, as reported by Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, forward William Carrier is unlikely to play in preseason games this upcoming week as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury he suffered a week ago. On a more positive note, goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who is recovering from hip surgery, was able to skate on his own, however he still has yet to be cleared to join the rest of the team. Even without star goaltender Robin Lehner for this season, after acquiring Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks and having breakout netminder Logan Thompson in the fold, Vegas can afford to be patient with Brossoit as he makes his way back.
- There’s some reason for concern for the Carolina Hurricanes with the team announcing defenseman Brett Pesce would not return to tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets after suffering a lower-body injury. It’s unclear what caused the injury or how severe it is, but losing a key piece such as Pesce for any stretch of time surely puts Carolina in a difficult position.
- On today’s 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman touched on a pair of teams who could be in the market for additional help up front if the opportunity should arise: the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild. Friedman mentions the Flames as a team who may want to add another scorer into the mix if they don’t believe the players in camp with them now can be that player. In addition to several intriguing prospects, Calgary has veterans Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin in camp on PTOs with the team having $1.487MM in available cap space. Worth considering, the Flames did claim forward Radim Zohorna off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier today. Also mentioned were the Wild, who dealt star winger Kevin Fiala, knowing their cap situation would likely prevent them from signing him long-term. Ultimately, they’re left with $5.738MM in cap space and needing to recover at least some of what they lost in Fiala, who posted 85 points in 82 games last season.
Snapshots: Ferland, Coyotes Injuries, Maple Leafs, Brassard
There’s really no way around it: expectations are high for the Vancouver Canucks this season. After a slow start to the 2021-22 season, the team fired head coach Travis Green and replaced him with Bruce Boudreau and proceeded to go on a sensational run that took them from the NHL’s basement to the fringes of a playoff spot. This offseason, the organization made moves to build upon the core they had and solidify it in the long-term, adding forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev, then extending J.T. Miller. After all is said and done, the team finds itself $2.75MM over the salary cap ceiling. However, that is without factoring in injured forward Michael Ferland, who holds a $3.5MM cap hit for this season. While the team could utilize LTIR for Ferland and be alright, Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff says Vancouver prefers not to go that route.
Instead, Seravalli says, the Canucks are actively looking to move Ferland’s contract. The reason for doing so is two-fold: one, Vancouver would prefer not to operate in LTIR, and two, because Ferland is injured, the insurance on the contract will not kick-in and whatever team has Ferland will have to pay the entirety of the $2.75MM in salary remaining on his deal. Though there are some teams that would actually benefit from taking on Ferland’s contract for salary cap purposes, similar to the Vegas Golden Knights acquiring Shea Weber this summer, Seravalli says the $2.75MM of real money owed is likely acting as a barrier to getting a deal done and would force the Canucks to give something up to move Ferland. The 30-year-old wing signed a four-year, $14MM deal with the Canucks during the 2019 offseason, but has managed to play just 14 games in that span, all coming in the first half of the 2019-20 season.
- The Arizona Coyotes received some relatively good news today on the injury front, as forwards Nick Schmaltz and Ben McCartney, as well as defenseman Cam Dineen have all been listed as day-to-day with lower body injuries says PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan. No team wants any of it’s players to be injured, however having all three be limited to just day-to-day status is a positive sign. The Coyotes play their next preseason game Tuesday in Vegas, and it’s unclear as of yet whether any of the three will be able to participate. For Schmaltz, who has a prominent roster spot secured, missing tomorrow night’s action wouldn’t be a major setback, but for Dineen and McCartney, who are both battling for roles in the organization, a missed opportunity in the preseason is far from ideal.
- Speaking of injuries, after the Toronto Maple Leafs found out that depth defensemen Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom would miss time, the former set to miss three weeks an the latter set to miss six months, the team was rumored to be in contact with several defensemen who were in NHL camps on PTO’s. Thus far, that has not come to fruition and in the past few days, several defenseman on PTO’s, including Nathan Beaulieu, Calvin de Haan, and Scott Harrington, signed with the teams they were trying out with. On today’s 32 Thoughts Podcast featuring Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, Friedman cleared the air on these rumors, believing that the Maple Leafs had not been in on any of these defensemen, as the team would also like to sign forward Zach Aston-Reese, who is in camp with Toronto on a PTO.. Still, Friedman adds that the team could instead try to move one of its depth forwards out in exchange for a defenseman who is either waiver exempt or has already cleared. Right now, Toronto sits just below $2.9MM over the salary cap ceiling after re-signing defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
- If Derick Brassard can catch on with the Ottawa Senators this season, it will mark his eighth different team since Ottawa dealt him to the Pittsburgh Penguins mid-way through the 2017-18 season. Once a dynamic offensive threat in the top-six group of the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and the Senators, Brassard has become a veteran journeyman capable of playing whatever role his team needs, anywhere in the lineup. Earlier today on TSN 1200 in Ottawa, Brassard mentioned that he would like to try to play a similar role to the one Jason Spezza played with the Maple Leafs the past few seasons, one which was to be deployed in a myriad of different situations as his team saw fit. The Hull, Quebec native added that when the offseason began, his primary focus was on joining the Ottawa Senators and hadn’t thought much about other options. Brassard has of course been playing that role for a few seasons now, but being able to do so with a team so close to home as they turn the corner from rebuilder to contender, just as Spezza did, seems like a no-brainer if he can secure the opportunity.
Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Filip Lindberg
Just a day after sending him down, the Pittsburgh Penguins are bringing goaltender Filip Lindberg back up to the active roster, per a team release. Lindgren will join the team in Detroit for tonight’s game against the Red Wings after spending the last 24 hours on the roster of AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Lindberg comes up to replace Tristan Jarry momentarily, who’s day-to-day with a non-COVID illness. Lindberg has a .933 SV% in the preseason, stopping 14 of 15 shots in a September 25 game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Originally a seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2019, the 23-year-old Finnish netminder opted not to sign after his college career ended with UMass in 2020-21, instead signing as a free agent with the Penguins. He was limited to just seven games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season but had a 4-2-0 record and respectable .915 SV%. He had an excellent senior year at UMass prior to that, winning an NCAA championship and All-Tournament Team honors after posting a .949 save percentage in 15 games.
Lindberg sits fourth on the team’s goalie depth chart behind veteran Dustin Tokarski.
Seattle Kraken Sign Daniel Sprong
Finally, a player has converted on his PTO, receiving an NHL contract. The Seattle Kraken today signed winger Daniel Sprong to a one-year, two-way contract for 2022-23 worth $750,000. PuckPedia adds that his minors salary is $325,000.
Sprong, 25, will get a second look in the Kraken lineup after playing in 16 games for them last season. Acquired from the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline (along with a 2022 fourth-round pick and 2023 sixth-round pick) for Marcus Johansson, Sprong had six goals and no assists down the stretch for the expansion Kraken. It was the third time Sprong had been traded in his young, yet bumpy career.
Hailing from Amsterdam, the Dutch forward was drafted 46th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. While he hasn’t been able to make it stick with one team, Sprong’s provided solid depth scoring wherever he’s gone. He’s scored 14, 13, and 14 goals in his last three full NHL seasons. He played just eight games with the Anaheim Ducks in 2019-20, instead spending significant time with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
Sprong will need to work hard to crack what’s a considerably deeper Kraken forward core this season, especially on the wing. The additions of Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky at the top make the Kraken’s top six more compelling, but it’s scorers like Sprong who will be relied upon to generate depth offense in The Deep this season.
Central Notes: Blues Hall of Fame, Coyotes Hires, Lambert
This morning, the St. Louis Blues took a big step in honoring their storied franchise history. The team announced the establishment of the Blues Hall of Fame, created to “recognize franchise legends.” The inaugural class will be announced on Opening Night for the team; which is October 15, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The release notes that the Blues Hall of Fame won’t just be limited to players. The franchise’s internal upper echelon will also be open to coaches, managers, and broadcasters “that have made a profound impact on the franchise,” per the team. Members will be added to the Hall of Fame each season, with voting occurring during the offseason. Members of the Blues Hall of Fame committee, current and former members of the Blues organization, Blues alumni members, media members, and Blues fans will be able to nominate people for consideration each year. Eight players will be inducted automatically as their numbers have been retired by the team – Al MacInnis, Bob Gassoff, Bob Plager, Barclay Plager, Brian Sutter, Brett Hull, Bernie Federko, and Chris Pronger. Original owner Sid Salomon Jr. and broadcaster Dan Kelly will also be inaugural members.
- Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong announced today that the team is adding Kurtis Foster and Jeff Shantz to the team’s player development department as coaches. The duo of former NHLers will work under another former NHLer in Lee Stempniak, who remains the team’s director of player development. Foster played in 405 NHL games from 2002 to 2013 and served as an associate coach for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals last year. Shantz, 48, has only had coaching experience in U15 leagues and last played NHL hockey in 2003, with a career in Europe that extended to 2011.
- As reported by TSN’s John Lu, Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness today commented on 2022 first-round pick Brad Lambert, whose opening night spot “has yet to be determined.” He went on to say that Lambert’s skating and speed are NHL-ready, but is unsure about his ability to elevate his intensity and decision-making to NHL standards at this time. Lambert, who’s still just 18, slipped to the Jets at 30th overall after scoring 10 points in 49 Liiga games last season.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph Available For Trade
In early 2021, as the shortened 2020-21 season was getting underway, the Pittsburgh Penguins were dealing with a massive number of injuries on defense. The team was without Mike Matheson, Marcus Pettersson, and Juuso Riikola all at once, forcing them to recall 21-year-old Pierre-Olivier Joseph and put him in the lineup. A few days later Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang went down as well, meaning suddenly there were very few trusted names available.
The then-rookie Joseph stepped up, logging nearly 26 minutes and recording three assists in just his fifth NHL game. He followed that with a 26:14 performance two nights later, logging more ice time that night than even Sidney Crosby.
One would think that was the origin story for a key contributor, a player who is in the lineup every night thereafter. That wasn’t the case for Joseph, who played just 16 games total that season and just four in 2021-22. Instead of becoming the stud top-four option that many expected, the young defenseman now finds himself battling for a roster spot.
In fact, he could potentially even find himself on his way to a new organization in a few days. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that last week, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall reached out to all 31 other general managers and let them know that Joseph is available for trade.
That’s because the Penguins are facing a roster crunch on the back end and may have to waive the 23-year-old if they make it through the next week healthy on defense. With seven other defensemen signed to one-way contracts and Ty Smith locked into a spot, there may not be room for Joseph. His $825K cap hit may actually hurt his chances, as he costs slightly more than depth players like Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman.
Today, the Penguins lost forward Radim Zohorna on waivers to the Calgary Flames. Losing another player – especially one with the upside of Joseph – doesn’t make a lot of sense. Perhaps the team can work out a trade before it comes to that, or decide to risk one of the more veteran names instead.
Waivers: 10/03/22
The waiver wire is full as teams continue to get closer to regular season rosters. These are the players available today, after Radim Zohorna and Magnus Hellberg were claimed from yesterday’s list.
Anaheim Ducks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Trey Fix-Wolansky
Gavin Bayreuther
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Joe Hicketts
Joseph Cramarossa
Tampa Bay Lightning
Winnipeg Jets