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Valeri Nichushkin Suffers Setback, Landeskog Not Dealing With Swelling

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Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin’s timeline to return might be getting pushed back as he was forced to slow down his progress after skating a couple of times (as per Corey Masisak of The Denver Post). The 29-year-old has already missed six games with a lower-body injury and seems likely to be placed on the injured reserve in the not-too-distant future. Nichushkin reportedly has quite a way to go before he can get back in the lineup which is bad news for an Avalanche team that has dealt with a litany of injury issues this season.

The former 10th overall pick has been effective when available this season, posting 11 goals and six assists in 21 games while averaging 19:38 of ice time per game. However, his game has shown signs of rust, particularly when it comes to protecting the puck. Nichushkin has turned the puck over at an alarming rate this year, something that was uncharacteristic in previous seasons.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar denied a previous report on Gabriel Landeskog that said the injured forward couldn’t skate on back-to-back days due to swelling (as per Aarif Dean of Colorado Hockey Now). Bednar was asked by the media if there was any truth to previous reports of the swelling and answered with a simple “no.” He didn’t give any additional details about the 32-year-old’s recovery as he tries to get back into game action for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in June 2022.

Kraken Listening To Offers On Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andre Burakovsky

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After knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and taking the Dallas Stars to Game Seven in Round Two of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s been a downhill ride for the Seattle Kraken. The team finished 17 points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference last season and is currently nine points back through the halfway point this year.

That said, it comes with little surprise that in the latest episode of Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman’s ’32 Thoughts’ podcast, he reported the Kraken are expanding their horizons beyond just selling away their pending unrestricted free agents. Friedman specifically notes Oliver Bjorkstrand and André Burakovsky as available trade candidates.

Trading either player won’t be simple, but it would help expand the prospect pool for an organization that’s had little time to do so, as Friedman notes. Bjorkstrand and Burakovsky are signed through the 2025-26 season, with an additional year for the latter, and their contracts include 10-team modified no-trade clauses.

Bjorkstrand should have the most value of the two given that he’s on pace for his third-straight 20-goal season in Seattle. He’s been one of the most consistent middle-six players for the Kraken over that stretch scoring 53 goals and 132 points in 206 games averaging 15:49 of ice time per game. He’s a strong possession player with a relatively affordable $5.4MM salary who can help on most team’s second power-play unit if not their first.

Burakovsky is on a much different trajectory. After scoring 22 goals and 61 points en route to a Stanley Cup ring in 2021-22 with the Colorado Avalanche, Burakovksy signed a five-year, $27.5MM contract with Seattle to give the team much-needed scoring.

He missed 66 games due to injury in the first two years of the deal and has missed three this season. The Klagenfurt, Austria native had decent production in limited action in the first year of the contract with 13 goals and 39 points in 49 games but has struggled since.

Since the first game of the 2023-24 NHL season, Burakovsky has scored 11 goals and 32 points in the following 90 regular season contests making his $5.4MM salary somewhat of a sunk cost. It’s reasonable the Kraken want to move on from Burakovsky and his contract but they shouldn’t expect to get much in return.

Seattle may listen to other players signed beyond this season should they receive adequate returns for Bjorkstrand and/or Burakovsky. Players such as Jamie Oleksiak, Jaden Schwartz, and Jared McCann could all become expendable with the latter likely having relatively high trade value across the league.

Islanders Reassign Grant Hutton

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The Islanders reassigned defenseman Grant Hutton to AHL Bridgeport on Monday, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News and NHL.com. The demotion indicates that rookie Isaiah George will likely be back in the lineup tomorrow against the Senators after he was a full participant in today’s practice, Rosner adds.

Hutton, 29, was summoned from Bridgeport last week in the wake of upper-body injuries on the blue line to George and Alexander Romanov. He was scratched for the Isles’ shutout win over the Golden Knights but entered the lineup Saturday against Utah, playing just 5:07 in the team’s 2-1 win.

The Indiana native has been recalled a handful of times this season due to rashes of injuries among their more established NHLers, playing 13 contests this season as a result. The stay-at-home defender has two assists and a plus-one rating while averaging 13:28 of ice time per game, laying the body 13 times and adding 12 blocks. He’s struggled to limit shot attempts against, though, and his 41.8 CF% at even strength ranks dead last among Isles defensemen.

Hutton passed through waivers unclaimed last month. Since he’s only been on the roster for six days since then and played once, he doesn’t need them again for today’s transaction.

Meanwhile, George had missed the last three games with an upper-body injury but never landed on injured reserve. The Isles didn’t need to reassign Hutton to open a roster spot as a result but did so anyway. The 20-year-old has been a pleasant surprise, posting five points in 25 games with an even rating while logging over 16 minutes per game.

Bruins’ Marc McLaughlin Clears Waivers

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Jan. 13: McLaughlin cleared waivers, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Expect him to head to Providence at some point on Monday.

Jan. 12: The Boston Bruins have placed forward Marc McLaughlin on waivers, per PuckPedia. He’ll be assigned to AHL Providence if he clears.

The Bruins successfully waived McLaughlin ahead of the start of the season. He began the year in the minors but earned a quick call-up after posting 10 points in 15 AHL games to start the season.

McLaughlin bounced between the NHL and AHL lineups through late November, ultimately earning a full-time role with the Bruins before December. He’s since rotated into Boston’s fourth line, appearing in 12 games and scoring two goals.

McLaughlin has sat atop Boston’s call-up sheet since he joined the team as an undrafted college free agent at the end of Boston College’s 2021-22 campaign. He immediately stepped into the NHL, appearing in 11 games and scoring his first career goal before the season ended.

McLaughlin spent the next two years primarily in the minor leagues, combining for 44 points in 134 AHL games and adding one goal in three NHL spot starts. He was a healthy scratch in every game since the calendar turned over but earned a spot start on Saturday with Mark Kastelic out with an undisclosed injury.

In the overtime win, McLaughlin recorded four hits and two blocked shots in just five minutes of ice time. The Bruins will now attempt to pass him through waivers and reassign him to the minors less than a day later.

Teams will have until 1 p.m. CT on Monday to claim McLaughlin, though his role of menial fourth-liner makes a change of scenery hard to envision.

Canucks’ Erik Brännström Clears Waivers

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Jan. 13: Brännström cleared waivers on Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He may now be assigned to AHL Abbotsford at will.

Jan. 12: The Vancouver Canucks have placed defenseman Erik Brännström on waivers, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK. Brännström hasn’t appeared in Vancouver’s lineup since Dec. 31.

Vancouver successfully waived Brännström before the start of the regular season and moved him between the NHL and AHL four times during the month of the waiver exemption he received. He became waiver-eligible once more in early November and has served as Vancouver’s seventh defenseman ever since.

Brännström has been under scrutiny for the past few seasons. The Golden Knights drafted him 15th overall in 2017, taking him just a few picks before players like Joshua Norris, Robert Thomas, and Jake Oettinger, and quickly flipped him to Ottawa in a deal for Mark Stone.

Brännström played one more year in Sweden’s SHL after his draft selection, posting 15 points in 44 games – impressive for a 19-year-old defender – and moved to the AHL in 2018-19. He continued to score well in North America, posting a collective 53 points in 77 games between his first two years in the AHL.

But he’s struggled to carry that productivity to the top flight. It took Brännström 40 career games before he managed his first NHL goal and five full seasons before he reached 20 points.

He finally hit that mark in 76 games with Ottawa last season, the most he’s played in one NHL campaign. That boost in scoring suggested that Brännström was a bright gem in a muddy role, sparking the Colorado Avalanche to sign him to a one-year, $900K contract this summer – and then trade him to the Canucks for a fourth-round pick in October.

Brännström worked his way up from Vancouver’s bottom pair to start the season and even managed a few games on the top pair in November and December. But he’s again struggled to score, with just eight points in 28 games this season.

Having already cleared waivers once this season, Brännström doesn’t seem a likely candidate to land somewhere new with this move. Instead, he’ll likely pass through clean and return to bouncing between the major and minor rosters.

He has three assists in two AHL games this season. Maybe returning to that hot scoring could be enough to help the 25-year-old defender finally find his footing as an NHL hopeful.

Lightning Place Gage Goncalves On Waivers

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The Lightning placed forward Gage Goncalves on waivers on Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. If he clears, he’ll be assigned to AHL Syracuse.

Goncalves, 23, started the season in the minors but was recalled in early November after an injury to Brayden Point. After being bounced between leagues a couple of times, he was recalled again from Syracuse on Nov. 19 and hasn’t been back since.

In his first extended look at the NHL level, Goncalves had a goal and an assist in 26 games. The British Columbia native averaged 11:45 per game, posting a minus-one rating with eight blocks and 22 hits. He was a drag on their possession play, controlling 47.1% of shot attempts at even strength. In comparison, the Bolts controlled 51.4% of shot attempts without Goncalves on the ice during his time in the lineup.

The Lightning have plenty of roster and salary cap space with no players on the verge of returning, so it’s purely a performance-based demotion for Goncalves today. He had six assists in five games for Syracuse before being recalled in November, building on a strong 58-point showing in 69 games last season.

Goncalves, a second-round pick by the Bolts in 2020, does still carry a bit of upside and faces a reasonable risk of being claimed. He’s a pending restricted free agent and will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer.

Sharks Reassign Shakir Mukhamadullin

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The Sharks returned defense prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin to AHL San Jose on Monday, per a team announcement. The club now has an open roster spot, which could be used to activate Klim Kostin, Nikolai Kovalenko, or Vítek Vaněček from injured reserve in the coming days.

Mukhamadullin, 23, had been on the Sharks’ roster since Dec. 10. It was his first recall of the season after he sat out the first couple of weeks on season-opening injured reserve with a lower-body issue.

Selected 20th overall by the Devils in the 2020 draft and traded to San Jose in the Timo Meier deal in 2023, Mukhamadullin is the second-best defense prospect in the Sharks’ system behind 2024 first-rounder Sam Dickinson and checked in at 82nd in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s league-wide prospect ranking last summer. A well-rounded left-shot talent checking in at 6’4″, the Russian native had a goal and an even rating in 10 appearances over the last few weeks while averaging 15:24 of time on ice per game.

While it’s a small sample and limited minutes, Mukhamadullin has arguably been the Sharks’ most defensively competent blue-liner this season. His 1.2 goals against per 60 minutes at even strength is the lowest on the team, and his 48.6 CF% trails only Jake Walman among San Jose defenders with double-digit games played.

That’s a promising result for Mukhamadullin after it took him a while to get off the ground in the minors. He had six assists and a minus-three rating in 14 AHL games, diminished play in both ends after he recorded 34 points and a plus-three rating in 55 games last season.

Things are looking up for the youngster, who will now get some more runway in the AHL before his next opportunity in the Show. He’s set to be a restricted free agent this summer but won’t be eligible for arbitration.

Avalanche Recall Jere Innala, Jason Polin

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The Avalanche recalled forwards Jere Innala and Jason Polin from AHL Colorado on Monday, according to a team announcement. Their active roster is now full with the AHL’s transactions log reflecting that Tye Felhaber was returned to the minors yesterday after a week-long call-up.

Polin, 25, is the fresh face among the two. He made his NHL debut for the Avs last year, skating in seven games in January and recording a goal with a plus-one rating while averaging a paltry 7:25 of ice time per game.

The Michigan native is now in his third season with the organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan in 2023. The 6’0″, 198-lb right-winger ranks seventh on the AHL club with seven goals through 21 games, adding a pair of assists for nine points.

Despite potting 30 goals in 39 games at WMU in his senior season and being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, Polin hasn’t been much of a factor offensively yet in his professional career. He’s been limited to 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 70 AHL games, so it’s a tad puzzling to see his name in the NHL lineup, even as a fourth-line fill-in piece while Valeri Nichushkin nurses his lower-body injury.

Polin is expected to replace Felhaber in the lineup tomorrow when the Avs host the Rangers. Innala, who was papered down yesterday to help the Avs save a bit of cash, remains in the lineup in search of his first NHL point. The 5’9″ Finn has averaged 7:29 through his first 10 NHL games, recording three shots on goal and a minus-one rating.

Blue Jackets Extend Zach Aston-Reese

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The Blue Jackets have signed forward Zach Aston-Reese to a one-year extension, general manager Don Waddell announced Monday. He will earn the league minimum of $775K next season, presumably on a one-way contract.

Aston-Reese, 30, was set to become an unrestricted free agent in July. He’s played in all but one of Columbus’ 43 games this season after being claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights on the eve of the regular season, posting four goals, seven assists, and 11 points with a minus-six rating.

The waiver placement by Vegas was a blessing in disguise for Aston-Reese, who’s re-established himself as an NHL regular with the Blue Jackets. Once a fourth-line fixture with the Penguins and was regarded as one of the more defensively adept wingers in the league, he’s had a tumultuous past few seasons – including spending nearly all last season in the minors while in the Red Wings organization.

That meant Aston-Reese had to settle for a two-way deal with the Knights in free agency last summer, the second year in a row he’d done so after catching on in Detroit late in training camp last year after a failed tryout with the Hurricanes. The structure hasn’t affected him this season since he’s spent all of it in the NHL, so while his extension doesn’t represent a raise, it does represent added financial security if he ends up back in the minors at some point in 2025-26.

Aston-Reese is averaging 13:09 of ice time per game this season, his highest usage since the 2020-21 campaign with Pittsburgh. He’s bounced between third-line and fourth-line roles, usually on either Justin Danforth or Cole Sillinger’s wing, while seeing around a minute per game on the penalty kill.

A league-minimum salary next year looks to be a bargain for Aston-Reese’s services if he keeps up his current level of play. He’s provided enough offense to remain effective in a bottom-six role while also serving as one of the Blue Jackets’ most physical forwards, ranking third on the team with 94 hits. Somewhat surprisingly, he also ranks eighth on the club with 56 shots on goal, and his 8.6 goals against per 60 minutes while on the penalty kill are the fewest among the Jackets’ regular PKers.

Half of the forwards on Columbus’ active roster are now under contract for next season or beyond. Key pending UFAs still include fellow bottom-six fixtures Sean Kuraly and Mathieu Olivier, who could be in play on trade deadline day if the Jackets can’t reach extensions with them and if they’re no longer in the playoff picture.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Flyers, Comcast Spectacor Announce Plans For New Arena

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9:39 a.m.: Comcast Spectacor has officially announced the plan, a joint venture between them and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, to see a new arena for the Flyers and 76ers open in 2031 at the latest. They’re also investing “in the revitalization of Market East in Center City,” where the 76ers were previously set to construct a new home.

8:33 a.m.: The Flyers, along with ownership group Comcast Spectacor, are expected to announce plans to construct a new arena in South Philadelphia later today in conjunction with the NBA’s 76ers, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.

After recently completing major renovations of theirs and the 76ers’ current home, the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers’ future in the South Philly district was somewhat murky after the latter announced plans to build a new home downtown. Our sister site, Hoops Rumors, relayed a report from Jake Blumgart and Sean Collins Walsh of the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday that the 76ers had reversed course and reached a deal with Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center, to remain in the complex.

The Flyers have called the South Philadelphia Sports Complex for the entirety of their 58-year existence, playing at The Spectrum from their inaugural season in 1967-68 until moving into the newly-constructed, nearby Wells Fargo Center (then the CoreStates Center) in 1996.

After nearly 30 years in their second home, the Flyers’ third home will remain at 3601 S. Broad St. A new arena would come in conjunction with a $2.5B renovation of the entire complex that Comcast Spectacor announced in conjunction with MLB’s Phillies in March 2024, following in the footsteps of many other NHL markets with non-downtown arena in creating more living and retail space immediately adjacent to arena property.

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