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Canadiens Recall Rafael Harvey-Pinard

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Montreal has added some extra forward depth in advance of their game tonight against New Jersey.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard from AHL Laval.

The 26-year-old started the season on injured reserve, missing the first 22 games with a leg injury.  Following a conditioning stint with the Rocket, he then cleared waivers at the beginning of December and has been with them ever since.  Harvey-Pinard has played in 24 games with Laval this season, recording four goals and seven assists.

Harvey-Pinard has seen extensive NHL time in the last two years.  In 2022-23, he impressed as a midseason recall, ultimately collecting 14 goals and six assists in 34 games.  That helped earn him a two-year, $2.2MM contract in the 2023 offseason.  But things didn’t go as well for him last year as he was limited to just two goals and eight helpers in 45 appearances while also missing time due to injuries.

Montreal hasn’t had much success filling Emil Heineman’s spot on the fourth line since he was struck by a car in Utah last week.  Veteran Michael Pezzetta has been given several looks but has failed to clear five minutes of playing time in any of his last seven games.  Prospect Owen Beck received a two-game look but has since been returned to the minors and now it appears Harvey-Pinard will get a chance to reclaim his spot from last season on that line.

With the recall, Montreal’s active roster is now full.  Jayden Struble remains on the roster while on a conditioning loan to Laval while despite Heineman’s injury, they’ve elected not to place him on injured reserve just yet.

Maple Leafs Place Connor Dewar On Injured Reserve, Recall Nikita Grebenkin

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The Maple Leafs have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s Battle of Ontario against Ottawa.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have placed center Connor Dewar on injured reserve.  Taking his place on the roster is winger Nikita Grebenkin who was recalled from AHL Toronto.

Dewar was acquired by the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline last season in a move intended to add some extra depth down the middle and help on the penalty kill.  He wound up with 11 goals and eight assists in 79 games between Minnesota and Toronto while suiting up in six of their seven playoff contests.  That helped earn him a one-year, $1.18MM deal from the Maple Leafs this past summer.  He’ll be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent at that time.

But things haven’t gone as well for the 25-year-old this season.  Dewar, who is dealing with an upper-body injury at the moment, missed 14 games with a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has even been healthy scratched periodically as well.  When he has played, Dewar has been quite limited as he has just three assists in 29 games while his playing time is just over ten minutes a night compared to nearly 13 down the stretch with them last season.  The placement is retroactive to January 20th so he’ll be eligible to return as soon as Wednesday against his former team in Minnesota.

As for Grebenkin, he’s in his first season in North America after putting up 41 points in 67 KHL games last season.  He has spent the bulk of the campaign with the Marlies, posting eight goals and eight assists in 29 games.  He did get into seven games with the Maple Leafs earlier in the season and was held off the scoresheet while recording 13 hits in 8:45 of playing time per night.

Lightning Acquire Ryder Korczak From Rangers

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired forward prospect Ryder Korczak from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward prospect Lucas Edmonds. Both players are in the midst of their third AHL season, after third-round selections in the 2021 and 2022 drafts respectively.

Neither player has managed much scoring in their early pro careers. Korczak has spent slightly longer in an NHL system. He was originally selected 75th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, after a season of being heralded as a second-to-third round pick. He was admired for his hard-working two-way play, high scoring, and leadership abilities through four years with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He worked his way up to a staggering 69 points in 48 games in 2022-23, his final WHL season, before joining the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack for five games at the end of the year. Korczak has since worked his way through a middle-six role in Hartford. He scored 20 points in 67 games last season and is currently riding 11 points in 35 games this year. It’s commendable depth scoring, but far from what New York was hoping for from their gritty third-rounder.

After not landing a draft selection in 2019, 2020, or 2021 – the early-birthday Edmonds finally earned the 86th-overall selection in 2022 after posting 113 points in 68 games with the Kingston Frontenacs. He moved to the AHL in the following season and posted a commendable 15 goals and 27 points in 49 games as a rookie. But Edmonds has struggled to match those numbers since, totaling just 21 points in 71 games through the last two seasons.

Korczak and Edmonds share a lot of parallels – and will now get a chance to use a change of scenery to try and return to the heights of their junior scoring.

Hurricanes Acquire Mikko Rantanen And Taylor Hall In Three-Team Swap

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Blackhawks winger Taylor Hall was a late scratch from their game tonight against Tampa Bay.  His absence wasn’t injury or illness-related, however, as he was traded to Carolina.  He wasn’t the only one on the move, however, as the Hurricanes also picked up Mikko Rantanen as part of a three-team swap.  The full deal, which has now been announced by all three teams, is as follows:

To Carolina: Taylor Hall, Mikko Rantanen (Chicago retains 50% of his contract), Nils Juntorp
To Chicago: CHI 3rd-round pick in 2025 (via Carolina)
To Colorado: Martin Necas, Jack Drury, 2025 second-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick

Hall was widely speculated as a trade candidate going back to the start of the season.  Now in the final year of his contract (one that carries a $6MM AAV), the veteran recently indicated that he’d be open to remaining with the Blackhawks but admitted that a trade was the likeliest outcome.  That departure came a bit sooner than expected with the trade deadline still six weeks away.

The 33-year-old is in his second season with Chicago after being acquired in a cap-clearing move from Boston back in 2023.  He was limited to just ten games in 2023-24 though due to a torn ACL but he has remained healthy so far this season.  However, production has been difficult to come by this year as he has just nine goals and 15 assists in 46 games and was even made a healthy scratch earlier in the season.

In his prime, Hall was a legitimate top-line winger and even won the Hart Trophy back in 2015-16 while with New Jersey.  He has been a 20-goal scorer seven times in his 15-year career, most recently coming in 2021-22 with Boston.  While he’s no longer playing at that type of level, he should still be able to give Carolina a boost in their middle six.  A potentially long playoff run could also help him rebuild some value heading into free agency this summer.

As for Rantanen, he’s also in the final year of his contract, a deal that carries a $9.25MM price tag, one that the Blackhawks will eat half of to help facilitate the swap, leaving them with just one remaining retention slot for this season.  While Rantanen’s camp and the Avs were involved in recent extension discussions, the two sides were still well apart as of last week and clearly, they weren’t able to bridge those to either side’s satisfaction, resulting in Colorado deciding to move him now instead of run the risk of having him walk for nothing in free agency.  It was believed that the Avalanche preferred to keep Rantanen’s price below Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6MM while Rantanen’s side was eyeing Leon Draisaitl’s $14MM AAV (starting next season) as a benchmark.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (Twitter link) that there is no extension in place with Carolina at this time.

Rantanen has consistently been one of the NHL’s top scorers in recent years.  Only three players have more points than him since the start of the 2020-21 season, Connor McDavid, MacKinnon, and Draisaitl, certainly lofty company to be in.  The 28-year-old has recorded more than 100 points in each of the last two years and is well on his way toward extending that streak.  Rantanen has 25 goals and 39 assists in 49 games this season, good for sixth in NHL scoring.  He’ll undoubtedly be a big boost to a Carolina attack that’s already among the best in the league, checking in at fourth overall in goals scored.

Necas, like Hall, had been in a lot of trade speculation, especially over the summer.  At one point, it looked as if he’d be moved back at the draft amid reports that he had indicated that he’d welcome a change of scenery but that didn’t materialize.  Instead, the two sides ultimately settled on a two-year, $13MM deal in July, a deal that gave him a fair-sized raise but also didn’t give Carolina any extra team control.

Two years ago, Necas had a breakout year, posting 28 goals and 43 assists in 82 games.  Unfortunately for him and the Hurricanes, those numbers dropped last season to 24 and 29 respectively.  However, things have been much better for the 26-year-old this season, as he has 16 goals and 39 assists in 49 games; his 55 points lead the team in scoring.  But even with that, GM Eric Tulsky has decided that a significant shakeup to his forward group is required and these two moves certainly count as a significant shakeup.

Necas will likely slot in where Rantanen was on Colorado’s top line and a chance to play with MacKinnon could allow his individual production to flourish.  That would certainly be an ideal situation to be in considering he’ll become extension-eligible on July 1st when he’ll have some more leverage only being a year away from hitting the UFA market.

Drury’s first full NHL campaign came last season and it was a good one as he had eight goals and 19 assists in 74 games while winning over 55% of his faceoffs.  That helped earn him a two-year, $3.45MM contract over the summer.  However, production has been harder to come by for him this season as the 24-year-old has just three goals and six assists through 39 games although his faceoff win percentage is up to 58.8%.

Colorado’s bottom six group has been an area of some concern for a couple of years now with the team churning through numerous players with varying degrees of minimal success.  While Drury isn’t producing much more than many of those players, he’ll give the Avs some desired stability down the middle while his faceoff prowess will fit in well on a team that has a success rate at the dot of just 44.5%.  They also get some club control over Drury who isn’t UFA-eligible until 2028.

Juntorp was a sixth-round pick by Chicago in 2022 and is included in the swap as the Blackhawks had to send something out beyond Hall to make the three-team element of the deal work.  He has 20 points in 25 games with HC Dalen in the Hockey Ettan along with three appearances with Vasteras in the second-tier Allsvenskan.

In the end, Carolina has clearly signaled its intentions to go all-in this season and managed to upgrade its roster without touching any of its future assets.  They’ll dip into LTIR for the time being to afford the swap.  Colorado, meanwhile, ensures that they’ll get a top-line talent and some other pieces in exchange for Rantanen, giving them an extra year of club control along the way.  They also free up a bit of cap space in the process which they’ll likely put to use in the coming weeks.  As for Chicago, their return is certainly underwhelming as Hall is effectively given away in this deal while only receiving a third-round pick for eating half of Rantanen’s contract.  However, they were able to clear the full freight of Hall’s contract, giving them one more retention slot to utilize before the deadline.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic first reported the three-team element and Chicago’s acquisition of the third-round pick.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report Colorado’s involvement in the deal.  The Athletic’s Arthur Staple first reported that Necas was part of the swap.  ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was first with Drury’s inclusion and the two picks going to Colorado.

Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.

Snapshots: McLeod, Huska, Hughes, Daws

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The Sabres will welcome back Ryan McLeod back to their lineup on Saturday.  Team reporter Jourdan LaBarber indicates that the center will be activated and return after missing just three games with what was described as a nagging upper-body injury.  The 25-year-old is in his first season with Buffalo since being acquired from Edmonton over the summer and has fared pretty well, notching 10 goals and 15 assists in 45 games while winning over 52% of his draws.  He’ll likely line up on the second line against his former team.  Buffalo has a full roster at the moment so they will need to make a corresponding roster move in order to officially activate McLeod before the game.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Flames have been one of the biggest surprises around the league this season. Expected to struggle by many, they instead find themselves in the second Wild Card spot in the West.  Despite their success, GM Craig Conroy acknowledged to Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that there have not been any discussions on an extension for head coach Ryan Huska yet.  He’s in the second season of a three-year deal and with coaches rarely working with only one year left on their contracts, this sounds like something that will get done by the summer at the latest.
  • While Devils center Jack Hughes was held out of practice today, it appears he won’t miss any game action. Team reporter Amanda Stein relays (Twitter link) that Hughes is dealing with a swollen finger so they opted not to take the risk of infection by putting his glove on for a practice.  However, he is expected to play on Saturday against Montreal.  Hughes leads New Jersey with 56 points in 50 games and is tied for the team lead in assists (38) with Jesper Bratt.
  • Still with the Devils, while Isaac Poulter was recalled earlier today to serve as the interim backup to Jake Allen, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll be up for too long. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now that the plan is for Nico Daws to play with AHL Utica over the weekend and then be recalled.  Daws has been limited to just two appearances in the last four weeks due to injury so the extra game action is needed before he can be considered to suit up in New Jersey when Allen needs a night off.

Atlantic Notes: Cernak, Stolarz, Brown, DiPietro

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The Tampa Bay Lightning will once again be without defenseman Erik Cernak, who was announced as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury short before puck-drop, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. He has missed Tampa Bay’s last three games since suffering an undisclosed injury on January 16th. Cernak left that game after just one shift but didn’t seem to suffer a clear injury.

Cernak has returned to the Lightning’s top four this season. The 27-year-old has scored 10 assists and averaged 18:15 in ice time through 41 games, putting him on pace to narrowly pass his career-high of 18 points set during the shortened 2020-21 campaign. He has been replaced in the lineup by rookie Maxwell Crozier, who’s still searching for his first point of the season after three NHL games. Crozier has also scored nine points in 22 AHL games this year. Cernak’s absence will likely return Crozier to the team’s second pair next to Ryan McDonagh, while Darren Raddysh’s role on the top pair will go unchallenged for at least one more game.

Tampa Bay visits Chicago on Friday, and Detroit on Saturday. Cernak will be at risk of missing both outings.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz is ahead of schedule in his recovery from his knee injury, relays David Alter of The Hockey News.  He has missed nearly six weeks due to the injury but head coach Craig Berube believes the goalie won’t be out for much longer.  Before getting hurt, Stolarz was off to a very strong start to his season, putting up a 2.15 GAA with a .927 SV% in his first 17 starts; that save percentage still leads the league among qualifying netminders.
  • The Bruins announced that forward Patrick Brown and goaltender Michael DiPietro were assigned to AHL Providence. Both players were brought up earlier this week to cover injuries.  Brown has done well in the minors with 25 points in 37 games but has made just two appearances with Boston so far.  As for DiPietro, he has a stellar 1.95 GAA and a .930 SV% in 22 AHL outings but with Jeremy Swayman expected to return Saturday, his stint with the big club was short-lived.

Three Kraken Listed As Game-Time Decisions

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The Seattle Kraken could face major last-minute changes to their lineup ahead of Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Forwards Chandler Stephenson and Jared McCann, and defenseman Ryker Evans, have all been listed as game-time decisions per Mike Benton of the Kraken Audio network. Stephenson and McCann are out with upper-body injuries, while Evans’ injury is undisclosed.

Stephenson didn’t return for the third period of Seattle’s Thursday loss to the Washington Capitals. He skated at full speed through the end of the second and didn’t appear to suffer a clear injury. Even less is known about the absence of McCann and Evans, who both played through Thursday’s game but missed Friday morning’s practice. Neither player managed much in Seattle’s scoreless outing, though Evans did lead the team in “game score” per Cole Palmer.

The trio have stood as three of Seattle’s most utilized players all season long. McCann has scored 14 goals and a team-leading 36 points in 49 games, even despite ranking fourth in average ice-time among the team’s forwards. It’s actually Stephenson who stands as Seattle’s most-used centerman, averaging 19:35 in ice time each game. He has 25 assists and 33 points in 48 games to show for it. Stephenson is on pace for a career-high 43 assists, and 56 total points, through 82 games this season. Evans is averaging just north of 20 minutes of ice time each game of his own, finding a comfortable role on the team’s second-pair in his sophomore season. He has 16 assists and 21 points in 47 games, over double the nine points he scored in 36 games as a rookie last season.

Replacing the three players would be a whole-team effort, should they all sit. Seattle is currently only carrying one extra player on their roster – winger Tye Kartye, who hasn’t played since January 16th. He’ll be an easy fill-in in the face of injury, giving Kartye a chance to improve on his mere six points in 42 games this season – a number far below the 20 points he scored in 77 games last year.

But the Kraken will still need another forward and defender to ice a full lineup. Their best bets for the former will be Ben Meyers and top prospect Jani Nyman – the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ top two scorers. Meyers has 11 goals and 27 points in 32 games, while Nyman has 16 goals and 25 points in 39 games. Of the two, Meyers seems like the safer bet – having already played 73 games in the NHL. For help on defense, Seattle will likely turn towards one of Cale Fleury or Maxime Lajoie. Both have plenty of NHL experience, and their respective 16 and 20 points on the season are commendable. With roster space to spare, Seattle is likely to call at least one of these options up in advance of Saturday’s game, in the event that the majority of their game-time decisions are forced to sit.

Penguins’ Bryan Rust Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will once again be without top-line winger Bryan Rust, who head coach Mike Sullivan listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, per Josh Yohe of The Athletic. Rust left the team’s Thursday matchup against Anaheim in the second period, after taking a big hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas. Rust has already missed seven games this season. He was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury two separate times in October.

Rust has continued to stand as one of Pittsburgh’s top forwards, and a fantastic compliment to superstar Sidney Crosby, this season. He has 19 goals and 38 points in 43 games, putting him on pace for 36 goals and 72 points. Both marks would be career-highs for Rust, who so far hasn’t managed more than 28 goals (set in 2023-24) and 58 points (set in 2021-22) in a single season.

That’s largely thanks to a perennial challenge with the injury bug. Through his 11 years in the NHL, Rust has only managed to appear in more than 65 games three times. He was still finding his way to top-end scoring for the first two occurrences – the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, when Rust only scored 38 points in 69 games and 35 points in 72 games respectively. He scored a bit more in his healthiest season: the 2022-23 campaign, when he scored 46 points in 81 games – but that year still stands out as a cold spell amid Rust’s string of 50-point seasons. This season could be Rust’s chance to finally couple top-end scoring with routine ice time, but those odds are waning as he approaches 10 absences on the year.

Blake Lizotte will likely draw back into the lineup in Rust’s absence when the Penguins visit the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Lizotte has rotated into the team’s fourth line throughout January, but he hasn’t recorded a point since the holiday break. His last point came via a goal in Pittsburgh’s December 23rd win over Philadelphia, giving Lizotte a 13-game scoreless streak headed into the weekend. The Penguins will have to spread time around with a top-line option unavailable, which could be the setup Lizotte needs to get this monkey off his back.

Hurricanes’ William Carrier Out Long Term After Surgery

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1/24: After receiving a second opinion, Hurricanes forward William Carrier has moved forward with surgery to address his lower-body injury. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour has shared that the forward will be out “long term” after the procedure, per Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News and Observer – at least two months, per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. The team is hoping that he’ll return this season.

1/16: Hurricanes winger William Carrier is seeking a second opinion on how to proceed in his recovery from the lower-body injury that’s kept him out for nearly two weeks, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.

It’s an inauspicious start to Carrier’s tenure in Carolina after he inked an eye-popping six-year, $12MM deal with heavy trade protection in free agency last summer. The 30-year-old grinder hasn’t returned to the heights of his 16-goal, 25-point campaign in 56 games with the Golden Knights in their Stanley Cup-winning 2022-23 campaign. He’s been limited to four goals and nine points through 39 appearances with the Canes, similar production to the injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign that, in part, led Vegas not to pursue re-signing him aggressively.

Regardless of whether or not he undergoes surgery to address the issue, it’s likely he’s facing another lengthy stay on the shelf. Carrier was on IR for nearly half the campaign last year with upper-body issues, so while his current problem isn’t related, it still indicates a rapidly growing proneness to injury. It’s not unsurprising for how the gritty Quebec native plays, already racking up 136 hits to lead Carolina by a huge margin with 18.01 per 60 minutes.

Before landing on the shelf, Carrier had been ridiculously effective, even if he wasn’t scoring. He’s replaced the injured Jesper Fast on the Canes’ third line alongside Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal for much of the campaign, with the trio controlling 65.8% of expected goals at even strength, per MoneyPuck.

His and Tyson Jost’s continued absence will provide increased opportunities for depth wingers like call-up Juha Jaaska, who has an assist and a plus-one rating through his first seven NHL games over the past couple of weeks.

Ducks Reassign Nikita Nesterenko

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The Ducks reassigned left winger Nikita Nesterenko to AHL San Diego on Friday, per a team announcement. Their active roster count drops to 22.

Anaheim gave the 23-year-old his first call-up of the season on New Year’s Day. He appeared in seven of the Ducks’ 12 games since the calendar flipped, recording a goal and an assist while averaging a limited 9:33 per game. He did not dress for Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Penguins.

Acquired from the Wild in 2023’s John Klingberg trade, Nesterenko now has three goals and an assist in 19 appearances for Anaheim, dating back to his debut shortly after the swap. The 2019 sixth-rounder remains waiver-exempt for the remainder of the campaign, so he can be moved between leagues at will.

Nesterenko, who has five goals and 12 points in 29 AHL games this season, is on track to be a restricted free agent this summer for the second time in as many years. He’ll be arbitration-eligible after inking a two-way deal equivalent to his qualifying offer in mid-July.

The 6’2″ New York native certainly did what was asked of him in a fourth-line role in his latest NHL audition. He recorded three blocks and 16 hits, pairing that with an on-ice 1.8 GA/60 that ranks tops among active Ducks at even strength.

A strong finish to the season in San Diego should put him in consideration for an opening-night roster spot as a bottom-six piece or extra forward in 2025-26, assuming Anaheim tenders him a qualifying offer.

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