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Utah HC Expected To Activate John Marino

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The Utah Hockey Club could have top-four shutdown defender John Marino in the lineup for the first time this season tonight against the Canadiens. Head coach André Tourigny told Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune that he’ll be a game-time decision and could come off injured reserve after warmups.

Winger Dylan Guenther was placed on injured reserve to create the necessary roster spot to activate Marino, according to the NHL’s media portal. The 21-year-old was diagnosed with a lower-body injury last week and is out indefinitely.

Utah acquired Marino, 27, from the Devils on the second day of the 2024 draft in exchange for the No. 49 pick. The Massachusetts native had been a top-four fixture on New Jersey’s blue line for the past two seasons and had averaged over 20 minutes per game through his first five NHL seasons, but the Devils needed cap space to pursue unrestricted free agents Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce.

Marino, now in the fourth season of a six-year, $26.4MM contract he signed with the Penguins in 2021, was projected to serve as a top-four anchor in Utah’s first season to complement the more offensively inclined Sean Durzi and Mikhail Sergachev. Instead, he sustained a lower back injury shortly before training camp and eventually went under the knife in October.

Durzi underwent surgery to repair his right shoulder at the same time after just four games, leaving Utah without two of its best defensemen for the vast majority of the season. They’ve managed to stay in the playoff hunt, going 18-17-7 through 42 games to sit six points out of a playoff spot, but they’re fading fast with a 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games.

Marino’s imminent return and Durzi’s being on the horizon should help aid the club in the lengthy absence of Guenther, their leading goal-scorer this season with 16 through 40 games. The former joins a defense that’s done as well as could be hoped for while shorthanded, ranking 17th in the league with 2.39 expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck. Netminder Karel Vejmelka, who’s exploded for a .916 SV% and 14.1 goals saved above expected, has kept Utah’s actual goals against per game to 2.93, 13th-best in the league.

He won’t do much to aid a bottom-10 offense, but Marino’s return will eventually allow for easier matchups for overmatched role players like Ian Cole, Michael Kesselring, and Olli Määttä. Utah will ease him back in, though, and the righty will start in a third-pairing role alongside Juuso Välimäki if he can play, per Brogan Houston of Deseret News.

Marino enters his Utah era with 18 goals, 89 assists, 107 points, and a +38 rating in 328 career NHL games with the Devils and Penguins.

Wild’s Ben Jones, Devin Shore Clear Waivers

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Jan. 14: Jones and Shore cleared waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Minnesota can now assign them to Iowa at will, although they haven’t done so yet.

Jan. 13: The Wild have placed forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on waivers with the intent to assign them to AHL Iowa, the team announced.

It’s good news for the Wild, who are likely freeing up roster space to activate star winger Kirill Kaprizov from injured reserve and depth piece Jakub Lauko from LTIR ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Oilers. Kaprizov has been skating on his own for the past few days, and general manager Bill Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic on Sunday that he was a possibility to play against Edmonton. Lauko has also been skating away from the team as he rehabilitates a lower-body muscle issue, Guerin said.

Jones and Shore have been on the Wild roster for the better part of the past two months, playing fill-in duty with Joel Eriksson Ek, Yakov Trenin and Mats Zuccarello all missing significant chunks of the schedule in addition to Kaprizov and Lauko. Both cleared waivers en route to beginning the season in Iowa, although Shore was also waived last month to give Minnesota roster and salary cap flexibility around the holiday break.

Those injuries have allowed Jones to become something of a fourth-line fixture in the second quarter of the season, but that experiment hasn’t gone particularly well. The 25-year-old had only two games of NHL experience prior to his November call-up, and that’s shown in his play.

Through 25 appearances, Jones has yet to get on the scoresheet and has a minus-three rating with 10 PIMs. He’s averaged just 8:29 per game and has posted gnarly possession numbers, only controlling 39.9% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s been a physical factor, posting 11 blocks and 49 hits, but hasn’t shown upside elsewhere in his game.

The former seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights will return to a more comfortable role on the farm, where he had 12 points in 14 games with Iowa in the early going. The 6’0″, 187-lb pivot is coming off a 21-goal season with the Calgary Wranglers while under contract with the Flames, the second time in his professional career that he’s hit 20 goals in an AHL season.

Shore, the far more experienced of the duo, hasn’t been much better. He’s got one assist and a minus-four mark through 24 appearances, averaging 8:18 as Minnesota’s usual fourth-line left wing over the past couple of months.

Now in his 10th NHL season, Shore has 140 points in 467 career games but hasn’t hit double-digit points in a season since recording 11 in 49 games with the Oilers in 2021-22. He began the season as an alternate captain in Iowa, posting a pair of goals and eight assists for 10 points through 14 games.

Both may remain on the NHL roster if they clear waivers and Kaprizov and Lauko aren’t yet ready to return, but if they’re sent down within 30 days and play fewer than 10 games, they won’t need waivers again upon doing so.

Multiple Canadian Teams Interested In John Klingberg

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The Maple Leafs, Oilers and Senators are among the five to seven teams that have expressed interest in signing unrestricted free agent defenseman John Klingberg, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Tuesday.

Klingberg, 32, has not played since hip resurfacing surgery capped his 2023-24 campaign with Toronto at 14 games. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported last month that Klingberg was set to resume skating in Toronto after the holiday break and hoped to sign with a team for the rest of the season once he got back up to speed.

According to Dreger, Klingberg’s rehabilitation over the past couple of weeks has gone as planned. He still has a ways to go and needs another couple of weeks before he’ll be medically cleared to sign anywhere, but all signs point to him resuming his NHL career and doing so north of the border. The Canucks have also expressed interest in signing Klingberg but have done so to a lesser degree than their Canadian rivals, Dreger added.

Once one of the top power-play weapons in the league, the past few seasons have been tough on Klingberg. After operating at least at a 45-point pace in each of his first eight NHL seasons with the Stars, Klingberg wanted more money than Dallas was willing to offer him due to the emergence of Miro Heiskanen and he tested the open market in 2022 after completing a team-friendly seven-year, $29.75MM deal in Texas.

Klingberg severely misgauged his market, though. After sitting unsigned for weeks and changing his agents, he came to terms with the Ducks on a one-year deal worth $7MM.

Since doing so, Klingberg hasn’t been a reliable top-four option. He did average nearly 21 minutes per game in Anaheim, recording 24 points in 50 games before he was dealt to the Wild at the trade deadline, but did so on one of the worst defensive teams in league history. His even-strength minutes were slashed, although the Maple Leafs bet on him rebounding into at least a fringe top-four option when they signed him to another one-year deal the following summer.

Klingberg didn’t have a chance to prove very much, recording five assists and a minus-seven rating in 14 games before his hip issues shut him down for the remainder of the campaign. He underwent his resurfacing surgery in early December, and now over 13 months later, he’s back on the ice.

The Oilers have the biggest need for Klingberg’s services out of the three, and Edmonton is also where Klingberg’s stock stands to benefit the most. He would presumably remain relegated to a bottom-pairing role at even strength, but he would be an upgrade on their second power-play unit, at least offensively, over current point men Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse. The chance to even sniff first power-play minutes and join a unit that’s clicking at nearly 25% would also boost his point totals and his market value heading into free agency again this summer, assuming he can stay healthy.

Canucks To Activate Filip Hronek From Long-Term Injured Reserve

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Jan. 14: Hronek will indeed come off LTIR and enter the lineup tonight against the Jets, Tocchet told Dan Murphy of Sportsnet. He’ll play in his usual spot alongside Hughes but will have his minutes “monitored.” Depth defender Guillaume Brisebois, who skated 16:56 and had two shots on goal in Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs, comes out of the lineup. Vancouver has an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to formally activate Hronek.

Jan. 13: The Vancouver Canucks are potentially only one day away from a fully healthy blue line. As expected, the team has recalled defenseman Filip Hronek from his LTIR conditioning loan without him having played a game for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Hronek practiced with the team but there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to suit up tomorrow night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman passed along a note from head coach Rick Tocchet indicating Hronek is being listed as a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Vancouver hasn’t had their entire defensive core intact since American Thanksgiving since Hronek went down with a lower-body injury on November 27th. In Hronek’s absence, and a brief four-game absence of captain Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have produced an 8-6-7 record and have fallen to the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club breathing down their necks.

Hronek’s return is perfectly timed for Vancouver for a few reasons. First, the organization is dangerously close to falling out of the playoff race and Hronek should help stabilize the back end for the most part. He’s only scored one goal and nine points in 21 games this season but he’s still second on the team in CorsiFor% at even strength and third in on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Secondly, the Canucks are expected to be one of the increasingly active teams leading up to the trade deadline and have already been linked to Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson. The team should still be in the market for a left-handed shooting defenseman but a fully healthy blue line should give them a better vision of who they should ultimately target.

Bruins Recall Matthew Poitras, Place Charlie McAvoy On IR

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Bruins center prospect Matthew Poitras is at the team’s morning skate on Tuesday, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, indicating he’s been recalled from AHL Providence. The team quickly made Poitras’ recall official, announcing that they’ve also recalled defenseman Michael Callahan from Providence and placed No. 1 blue-liner Charlie McAvoy on injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment. Center Mark Kastelic, who’s already missed a game with an upper-body injury, landed on IR to create a necessary roster spot. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who’s been out since Nov. 12 with a lower-body injury, was moved from IR to LTIR to open up the required salary cap flexibility.

It’s quite a lot of gameday news for Boston, which risks falling out of playoff position with a loss to the Lightning tonight. They’ve already dropped to 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage after a 3-6-1 skid in their last 10, but they remain ahead of their competitors in the standings because they’ve played two or three more games than each of their challengers. They could be leapfrogged by the Blue Jackets and Senators if both those clubs win their games tonight against the Flyers and Islanders, respectively.

Poitras is expected to center the third line in his first NHL game in over two months, per Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic. Veteran Charlie Coyle will likely sit but is a game-time decision due to illness, head coach Joe Sacco told Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal.

Selected 54th overall in 2022, the 20-year-old Poitras unexpectedly forced his way onto the Bruins’ roster last season with a standout training camp and emerged as a legitimate top-nine option, recording 15 points in 33 games before surgery on his right shoulder ended his season in January. This year, he dealt with an undisclosed injury for much of camp and managed four points in 14 games upon his return before Boston sent him down to Providence for additional development.

Poitras has been quite good in his first taste of AHL action, logging eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 23 games with the P-Bruins. It’s unclear if Boston intends to keep him around after Coyle and Kastelic are healthy again, but nonetheless, it’s a strong sign that the Ontario native is still on track to be a long-term contributor at the NHL level.

Callahan, 25, is expected to serve as a healthy scratch while Parker Wotherspoon enters the lineup, but he’ll be on hand as an extra if anyone sustains a last-minute injury. The 6’2″ lefty has no NHL experience to his name but is now in his fourth season with Providence, where he has six points and a plus-one rating in 35 showings while serving as an alternate captain.

Selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by the Coyotes, Boston acquired his signing rights in a 2022 trade shortly before the Massachusetts native was set to wrap up his collegiate career at Providence. He’s set to test the open market this summer as he’s due to be eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.

Kastelic’s and Lindholm’s moves are purely procedural, but McAvoy’s IR placement is a surprise. Sacco told Haggerty that the star blue-liner has been “dealing with a nagging injury” and will be shut down for at least a week to see how it responds. He’ll be eligible to return next Monday against the Sharks, ruling him out for two games at least.

McAvoy, 27, is having the worst season of his career offensively, with 20 points through 45 games. His 0.44 points-per-game rate is the first time he’s tracking under 0.5 through his eight-year career, although his even-strength possession numbers have improved to a 51.2 CF% after last year’s underwhelming 48.6% mark.

His offensive regression has come hand in hand with Boston’s limping power play, which is finishing at just a 13.2% clip more than halfway through the season. That’s third-worst in the league, ahead of only the fledgling Ducks and Islanders.

Canadiens’ Emil Heineman Out Three To Four Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

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Canadiens forward Emil Heineman sustained an upper-body injury on Monday when he was struck by a car in Salt Lake City, the team said in a statement. As a result, he’ll be sidelined from game action for three to four weeks.

Montreal provided no other details on the 23-year-old’s condition, but thankfully, the news isn’t any worse than it is. That brief return timeline suggests he may not have needed surgery as a result of his injuries – if he did, it was likely minor.

A 2020 second-rounder by the Panthers, he was traded to the Flames in the 2021 Sam Bennett trade and again to Montreal in 2022 as part of the return for Tyler Toffoli. After a four-game trial with the Habs last season, he’s cracked the roster in earnest in 2024-25 and is tied for eighth on the team in scoring with 17 points (10 G, 7 A) through 41 games.

Heineman managed that production despite averaging 10:06 per game at even strength, which is the least of any Habs regular. He’s received some fringe power-play usage but has been most effective as the left wing on one of the league’s most effective fourth lines this season with Jake Evans and Joel Armia, who control 56.9% of expected goals when used together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.

The 6’0″, 202-lb Heineman has also been Montreal’s most physical skater, leading the team with 101 hits. It’s been an abundantly successful rookie campaign for the pending restricted free agent by all accounts, putting himself in line for a decent raise this summer and a guaranteed roster spot moving forward, barring any unexpected regression.

Expect enforcer Michael Pezzetta to see his most regular usage this season in Heineman’s absence. The 26-year-old was a healthy scratch for all of November and December but has played in four games since the New Year, bringing his total on the campaign to seven. He’s still looking for his first point of the campaign and has a minus-two rating while averaging 6:25 per game.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Heineman in his recovery.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Hurricanes Place Frederik Andersen On IR, Recall Ty Smith

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The Hurricanes have kept goaltender Frederik Andersen on the active roster since he sustained a knee injury in late October. Today, the team announced they’d finally moved him to injured reserve. His roster spot goes to defenseman Ty Smith, who they recalled from AHL Chicago just two days after he cleared waivers and headed to the minors.

Andersen’s IR placement is inconsequential aside from opening a roster spot for Smith. He hasn’t played since Oct. 26, missing 37 games with knee issues that eventually required surgery in November.

The team gave Andersen an eight-to-12-week return timeline from his procedure, a window he’ll enter this weekend. He skated on his own last week, according to the team’s Walt Ruff, indicating that while a return isn’t imminent, he’s still on pace to get back into game action during his previously issued timeline.

Andersen, 35, had a sparkling .941 SV% and 1.48 GAA through four starts before being shelved. The pending unrestricted free agent has a 72-28-4 record with a .919 SV% since arriving in Raleigh-Durham in 2021 but has missed an incredible 129 regular-season games during that time due to injury or illness, outpacing his 104 starts and two relief appearances.

His replacement in the starter’s crease, 25-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov, has been adequate with a .901 SV% and 2.54 GAA in 28 starts. Those numbers are down from his career averages of .907 and 2.42, but he’s still managed to stop 5.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, placing him 21st in the league among netminders with at least nine games played.

Removing Andersen from the active roster until he’s ready to return allows the Canes to carry an extra defenseman again. He was the only accessible option to open a roster spot quickly. Forward call-up Juha Jaaska’s services remain required with William Carrier and Tyson Jost sidelined with lower-body injuries on a day-to-day basis.

Smith has held the role of Carolina’s extra defender for most of the season, routinely alternating days on the roster with Riley Stillman for much of the early going. The 24-year-old got an extended run in the lineup over the past few weeks while Shayne Gostisbehere was injured, posting a goal and assist in eight games while playing minimal even-strength minutes but seeing top-unit power-play usage.

There were no takers for Smith, who the Devils selected 17th overall in the 2018 draft, on waivers over the weekend, so he remains as Carolina’s next man up on the blue line for now. He has 10 points and a +11 rating in 13 AHL games this season, his first full one in the Hurricanes organization after they acquired him from the Penguins in last year’s Jake Guentzel blockbuster.

Avalanche Activate Ivan Ivan, Assign Him To AHL

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The Colorado Avalanche announced that they’ve activated forward Ivan Ivan off the injured reserve and are assigning him to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. The 22-year-old was a nice story for the Avalanche earlier in the season, making it to the NHL in his second professional season and filling in as a replacement while Colorado was dealing with significant injuries.

Ivan was undrafted out of the QMJHL after spending three seasons with the Cape Breton Eagles and was able to turn a productive final season into an AHL contract with Colorado back in August 2023. He spent his first professional season with the Eagles, posting 12 goals and 19 assists in 67 games.

The Avalanche saw enough of the Ostrava, Czech Republic native to reward him with a two-year ELC last March, and it didn’t take long for him to see NHL action. He made his NHL debut on October 9th against the Vegas Golden Knights and picked up his first NHL point a few days later with an assist against Columbus. Overall, Ivan dressed in 37 games, picking up five goals and three assists.

Ivan could return to the NHL at some point this season if the Avalanche run into further injury issues, however, at this point in the season Colorado has been getting healthier, although they do still have some concerns with several injured forwards.

Sharks Don’t Intend To Demote Will Smith

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The San Jose Sharks have no intention to demote former fourth overall pick Will Smith to the American Hockey League despite the slow start to his rookie season (as per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News). Smith joined his teammates today as they boarded a charter flight to Detroit to kick off a five-game road trip against the Red Wings.

It’s been a tale of three wildly different seasons for the 19-year-old after he started the year with no points in his first eight games, then he turned the corner and posted 11 points over a run of 14 games, but then he slumped again, adding just three points in his last 15 games. Smith’s up-and-down offensive contributions have followed a very similar pattern to San Jose’s win/loss record. The Sharks were winless in their first nine games, then went on to win 10 of their next 19 contests before slumping to a 3-13-1 record in their last 17 games.

While the fate of an entire team can’t be attributed to a single rookie, the correlation is stunning. Smith’s bumpy rookie season is not uncommon for highly touted rookies, and every team uses different tactics to assist the player. San Jose has used “development days” throughout the first half of the year as a means of managing Smith’s workload so he has time to work on improving his game. The Sharks also have Smith living with Sharks legend Patrick Marleau, which should also aid in his development.

Smith is in the unenvious position of trying to become a two-way professional hockey player on a team that is likely to be at the bottom of the NHL standings at the end of this season. Another difficult transition for Smith has been in board battles where the 6’0” 181lb forward has had to engage in battles with NHL forwards who outweigh him by a considerable amount.

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.

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