Ottawa Senators Place Colin White In COVID-19 Protocol
The Ottawa Senators announced that forward Colin White was placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol ahead of tonight’s game at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Defenseman Victor Mete will take his place in the lineup for tonight. It’s not immediately clear whether White tested positive or if he is in protocol for other related reasons.
The NHL has seen a vastly decreased number of players in COVID protocol in the past couple of months due to several factors, however White’s absence is a reminder that these protocols are still in place and can still creep up on teams when they don’t necessarily expect it. As of right now, White appears to be the only player affected for Ottawa, with no further announcements on other players or staff thus far.
White has been somewhat of a disappointment this year for Ottawa, with just 10 points in 24 games. The forward spent the majority of the season on IR, making his season debut on February 26th. Though his numbers are not too far off from his career averages, White signed a lucrative six-year, $28.5MM contract, carrying an AAV of $4.75MM, prior to the 2019-20 season. Despite the contract, White is still waiting for the true breakout season that Ottawa has seen from the likes of Joshua Norris, Brady Tkachuk, and Drake Batherson.
Snapshots: Orlov, Toropchenko, Athanasiou, LaCombe
6:03 pm: Orlov will be in the lineup tonight for the Capitals.
4:36 pm: According to the Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov could return to the lineup tonight in Montreal against the Canadiens (Tweet Link). Capitals’ Head Coach Peter Laviolette told El-Bashir that he hopes Orlov will be in the lineup tonight, but did not appear certain on the issue. Orlov has missed two games with a lower-body injury, last playing on April 10th.
Getting the veteran Orlov back in the lineup will certainly be a boost for the Capitals as they look to finish their season strong, and potentially catch the Boston Bruins in the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, or the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division, five points back of either, and with three games in hand on Pittsburgh. Orlov has long been a staple of Washington’s defense and locker room, and his presence could have a strong impact as the team plays important games from here on.
- As the Capitals may get Orlov back, the Blues are going to be without forward Alexey Toropchenko, at least for today’s game against the Minnesota Wild, reports Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Toropchenko was injured Thursday when he took a puck in the leg in the Blues’ game against the Buffalo Sabres. Fortunately for St. Louis, Toropchenko appears only to be day-to-day, so he should be able to return soon for the Blues down the stretch of the season. Forward Dakota Joshua took Toropchenko’s place in the lineup against Minnesota Saturday.
- The Los Angeles Kings announced that they have activated forward Andreas Athanasiou ahead of tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at home. Athanasiou’s return to the lineup is impactful for the Kings, as they deal with injuries while trying to hang on to playoff position in the Pacific Division. The forward has played in just 22 games this season, dealing with injuries, last playing March 10th, but he does own an impressive nine goals and five assists in that time.
- The University of Minnesota announced that All-American defenseman Jackson LaCombe would be staying with the Gophers for next season, his fourth and final of NCAA eligibility. LaCombe was the Anaheim Ducks second round selection, 39th overall, in 2019, and would be eligible to become a free agent after this coming season if he chooses not to sign with Anaheim. While that is clearly of-note on LaCombe, it’s not yet apparent if that is of concern to Anaheim. LaCombe’s return could easily be a bit of unfinished business with Minnesota, much the same as it is for Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Matthew Knies, who is also returning to the Gophers. Minnesota lost in the semifinals of the Frozen Four to Minnesota State, who was then defeated by the University of Denver in the final. In three years on Minnesota’s blueline, LaCombe has 10 goals and 54 assists in 103 games.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni
The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have signed forward Wyatt Bongiovanni to a two-year, entry-level contract that is set to begin next season. According to Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe, Bongiovanni has also agreed to an amateur tryout with the Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate, for the remainder of this season (link). The contract carries an average-annual value of $802.5K.
The 22-year-old Bongiovanni recently finished up his fourth season at Quinnipiac University, where he put up 16 goals and 18 assists in 42 games for the Bobcats. Before college, Bongiovanni played three seasons in the USHL, spending a season each with the Des Moines Buccaneers, the Tri-City Storm, and the Muskegon Lumberjacks, totaling 32 goals and 47 assists in 152 games over that span. Bongiovanni then began with Quinnipiac in 2018-19, where he would play four seasons. Not previously drafted in the NHL, the forward then chose the Jets as his destination.
One key detail for the Jets in Bongiovanni is his leadership, as he spent the 2021-22 season as Quinnipiac’s captain, a team that would go to the final eight of the Men’s College Hockey playoffs before being eliminated by Michigan.
East Notes: Joseph, Mikheyev, Kuraly
Mathieu Joseph has made an immediate impression on the Senators who acquired him before the trade deadline in a swap that sent Nick Paul to Tampa Bay. After being in a limited role with the Lightning, the 25-year-old has had a chance to play a bigger role in Ottawa and has made the most of it, notching 12 points in 11 games. However, his season may have come to an early end as head coach D.J. Smith told TSN’s Claire Hanna (Twitter link) that his injury is a little worse than they expected and will keep him out longer than anticipated. While Smith stated that the injury isn’t serious, with only two weeks left in the season, it’s possible that Joseph has played his final game of 2021-22. A restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility, Joseph appears to be in line to land considerably more than his $813K qualifying offer.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Maple Leafs won’t engage in contract discussions with winger Ilya Mikheyev until after the season, notes Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. The pending UFA is having a career year despite missing 29 games due to a thumb injury as he has 17 goals and nine assists in 45 games, including four shorthanded tallies. That has the 27-year-old in a good position to potentially double his current $1.645MM AAV on the open market this summer.
- Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly will return to the lineup after missing the last two games due to a stint in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). He’ll take the place of Brendan Gaunce in the lineup. Kuraly has set new career bests in goals (12) and points (28) in 72 games this season in his first year with Columbus.
Sharks Sign Thomas Bordeleau
Earlier this week, San Jose signed center Thomas Bordeleau to an AHL tryout agreement, allowing them to get his start in the pros with the Barracuda. He made quite the impression over his first two games as the Sharks announced that they’ve converted Bordeleau to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Interim GM Joe Will released the following statement:
Thomas is a skilled playmaker with a high hockey IQ at both ends of the ice. He consistently shows up in high-level competition and has a history of playing his best in crucial moments.
The 20-year-old was a second-round pick of the Sharks (38th overall) back in 2020 and he certainly impressed in his two seasons at Michigan. This year, he played in 37 games for the Wolverines, finishing tied for fourth on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 25 assists. Bordeleau played an important role as Michigan made it to the Frozen Four before falling to Denver, the eventual champion.
The timing of this deal is a little intriguing in that had Bordeleau stayed on his AHL tryout for the rest of the year and then signed his entry-level contract, San Jose would have had him for three years under entry-level restrictions. Instead, by converting him now (he’s on his way to Minnesota to meet up with the team tomorrow), he’ll burn the first year now but won’t accrue a season of service time towards UFA eligibility. San Jose is certainly battling injury issues – they’re expected to dress just 16 skaters tonight against Dallas, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) – so Bordeleau should have a chance to see a lot of playing time over the final two weeks of the season.
West Notes: Gaudreau, Hynes, Perunovich
The Flames are facing an interesting cap crunch for next season. Matthew Tkachuk is owed a $9MM qualifying offer, Andrew Mangiapane’s 31 goals plus arbitration eligibility has him looking at a sizable raise, and top scorer Johnny Gaudreau is set to become an unrestricted free agent. Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen tried to peg where Gaudreau’s price tag should be on his next deal, suggesting an $8.5MM AAV could be the right fit for him and Calgary which would represent a $1.75MM jump on his current cap hit. The 28-year-old is in the middle of a career year that sees him with 101 points in 74 games but with only mild salary cap increases coming over the next couple of seasons, it’s possible that it limits Gaudreau’s leverage if he tries to aim closer to the $10MM mark.
More from the West:
- Discussions on a new contract for Predators head coach John Hynes won’t begin until the season is over, reports Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link). Nashville has played to an 89-61-8 record since he took over partway through the 2019-20 season so there’s little reason to think a coaching change is on the horizon. The Preds have a team option for next season which would likely be exercised if the two sides are unable to reach an agreement on a longer-term deal.
- Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich has resumed skating, relays Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The youngster underwent wrist surgery in early March and is expected to be re-evaluated at the eight-week mark. We’re still a little more than two weeks away from that point so he’s still a long way from being cleared to return to the lineup for the playoffs. In 19 games this season, the rookie has six assists while averaging 15:27 of ice time per contest.
Tyler Motte Out For The Rest Of The Regular Season
Not long before the trade deadline hit, the Rangers sent a 2023 fourth-round draft pick to Vancouver to pick up winger Tyler Motte with an eye on deepening their bottom six and adding some more grit to their roster. Unfortunately for them, they haven’t been able to use Motte much so far due to injury, one that head coach Gerard Gallant acknowledged to Mollie Walker of the New York Post will keep him out at least for the rest of the regular season. A return for the playoffs is far from a guarantee either as Gallant indicated that “I just heard he’s out for quite a while”.
The 27-year-old played in nine games before suffering an upper-body injury last month and while he was held without a point, he averaged three hits a game while playing primarily on the fourth line while taking a regular turn shorthanded as well. With Vancouver, Motte had 15 points and 90 hits in 49 games and was in the middle of making a case for a decent-sized raise on his $1.225MM AAV as he gets set to reach the open market for the first time this summer.
Fortunately for the Rangers, they have a surplus of forwards at the moment as evidenced by the 16 healthy ones they have on their active roster. Alexis Lafreniere got the night off on Wednesday and Gallant indicated they’d be looking to get some regulars some rest over the final couple of weeks of the season (Ryan Reaves is sitting today). But most of those 16 don’t play the type of role that Motte does and New York will undoubtedly be hoping that he’ll be able to return at some point in the playoffs.
Blackhawks To Burn First Year Of Lukas Reichel’s Entry-Level Contract
Generally speaking, the nine-game threshold for junior-aged players only comes into effect at the beginning of the year when teams need to decide what to do with their prospects that are pushing to make the team out of training camp and can’t go to the minors. That wasn’t the case for the Blackhawks and winger Lukas Reichel as he was able to play in the AHL and has spent most of the season there.
However, the 19-year-old is in his third stint with Chicago this season and has played in nine games so far. Interim head coach Derek King indicated to reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago that he will play in his tenth this afternoon against Nashville. Reichel, the 17th pick in 2020, hasn’t recorded a point yet in the NHL but has played quite well with AHL Rockford, recording 21 goals and 28 assists in 49 games. He’s expected to return to the IceHogs at some point over the next couple of weeks as well to help in their playoff run.
Roumeliotis suggests that burning the first year this season may actually be more beneficial to the Blackhawks from a longer-term planning perspective. When he’s up for a new deal in the 2024 offseason, he’ll only have at most two full NHL seasons under his belt which should keep the AAV lower, giving Chicago a bit more short-term cap flexibility. Chicago will have some pricey contracts expiring by then – particularly those of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane at $10.5MM each – but having a core piece on a cheaper second deal certainly can’t hurt.
It’s worth noting that Chicago will not lose a year of team control by doing this. In order to receive a year of service time, Reichel would have needed to have gotten to 40 games on the active roster and that’s clearly not going to happen with the Blackhawks already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. As a result of this, Reichel will need his second contract a year sooner but Chicago will still have seven years of team control remaining.
Tristan Jarry Out Week-To-Week
Despite clinching a playoff berth on Wednesday, this week may finish as a disappointing one for Penguins fans. Goaltender Tristan Jarry, who was strong in that playoff-clinching win, is out with a lower-body injury, and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan stated that the team has designated Jarry’s status as “week to week.” Since the playoffs begin in just over two weeks, such a designation is highly concerning for the Penguins. Although it is definitely possible that Jarry returns in time for the team’s first playoff game, this recent development is not an optimistic one.
Goaltending is perhaps the single most important factor that can separate good teams from bad teams, and this season Jarry has greatly helped the Penguins distinguish themselves as firmly in the “good” category. Jarry, 26, has bounced back from the pessimism surrounding his play in the 2021 playoffs to post a strong .919 save percentage in 58 appearances this season. There have been many nights where Jarry’s heroics have given the Penguins a chance to win their game. Given Jarry’s struggles in last season’s playoffs, it is likely very important to both the team and the player that Jarry is able to carry over his regular-season performance into the playoffs, in order to wash away the stain some of last year’s mistakes have made on his reputation as a potentially elite goaltender.
While a week-to-week designation does leave room for Jarry to return in time for the playoffs, it still does do some damage to the Penguins’ outlook this season. Even if his return is quick and he manages to re-enter the lineup in time for the playoffs, he will have lost a few valuable starts that could help him ramp up for the increased intensity of playoff hockey. That being said, though, a return from injury with little time to ramp up did not seem to hurt Montreal’s Carey Price when he was in a similar situation last season. So, this injury is far from a death sentence for the Penguins’ season, but as of right now the team and its fanbase have to warm themselves up to the possibility of backup Casey DeSmith still manning the crease by the time the playoffs start. DeSmith has not been bad this season, with a .906 mark in 21 games, but he has not matched Jarry’s brilliance. With uncertain futures ahead for franchise icons Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, this injury development further clouds the near-term future of the Penguins.
AHL Shuffle: 04/16/22
Today features a major slate of games on the docket, highlighted by some quality contests between playoff teams. The Colorado Avalanche are taking on the Carolina Hurricanes in what very well could be a Stanley Cup Final preview, and in addition, the schedule features other matchups between quality teams such as Minnesota vs. St. Louis, Boston vs. Pittsburgh, and Edmonton vs. Vegas. As there always is in the NHL, there will be shuffling between the NHL and AHL, and we’ll keep track of that here.
Atlantic Division
- The Ottawa Senators have made a swap of backup goalies. The team announced that goaltender Mads Sogaard has been sent down to the AHL’s Belleville Senators, and in his place netminder Filip Gustavsson has been recalled. Sogaard, 21, returns to Belleville where has been for the majority of this season. He has a .906 in 31 games in the AHL and a .889 in two games for the big club. Gustavsson, 23, has been up and down from the NHL and AHL more often this season than Sogaard has, as he has appeared in 15 games for Ottawa and 18 games for Belleville. Gustavsson has a .913 save percentage this year for Belleville and an .886 mark for Ottawa.
- The Boston Bruins have returned defenseman Jack Ahcan to the Providence Bruins of the AHL. Ahcan has played in five NHL games this season for Boston, but did not play in this latest call-up, last playing March 10th. The 24-year-old has played more regularly for Providence, posting 22 points in 42 games this season in the AHL.
Metropolitan Division
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goaltender Felix Sandstrom from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms on an emergency basis. Sandstrom, 25, has appeared in 42 games for the Phantoms this season and has a .901 save percentage. He has also appeared in two NHL games this season and has a .924 save percentage there. Flyers coach Mike Yeo recently signaled that starting goalie Carter Hart may be out for the rest of the Flyers’ season, which would make Sandstrom’s recall necessary.
- The New York Islanders have sent goaltender Ken Appleby back to the Worcester Railers of the ECHL. It was a confusing call-up for some, selecting a goaltender from the ECHL, with the Islanders announcing that goaltender Semyon Varlamov would not be able to play or back-up last night in Montreal due to a non-COVID illness, however as the team explained, Appleby and the Railers were geographically close to the Islanders, playing in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.
Central Division
Pacific Division
- The San Jose Sharks have brought up winger Jasper Weatherby from the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. This will be the 24-year-old’s third stint with the Sharks this season. He has 14 points in 45 NHL games so far while being a bit more productive in the minors with 15 points in 25 games.
This page is updated throughout the day.