Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Overseas Notes: Martinsen, Hartikainen, Jaskin

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After clearing unconditional waivers on Saturday, veteran forward Andreas Martinsen is already well on his way to the next stage of his career. Martinsen has signed a contract with EV Zug of Switzerland’s NLA for the remainder of the season, the team announced. The Norwegian winger is no stranger to the European pro ranks, having played in Norway, Sweden, and Germany before making the leap to the NHL. Martinsen, 29, was somewhat of a late bloomer, going undrafted and not making his North American debut until 2015-16. However, he was an effective role player once he did arrive in the NHL, contributing 23 points but more importantly 446 hits in 152 NHL games between three teams. Although Martinen’s NHL opportunities have dried up in recent years, he can still be a difference-maker for Zug. The team has specifically been on the hunt for a physical forward, and will get that and more from Martinsen, who flashed 40-point potential in previous European stops. Zug currently leads the NLA and look like the favorites to win the championship this year, especially after adding an experienced forward like Martinsen. If everything works out, the two sides could be headed toward a title and possibly even an extended relationship beyond this season.

  • A European standout who won’t be making a return to the NHL any time soon, if at all, is KHL forward Teemu Hartikainen. A late round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2008, Hartikainen developed into a player beyond what many expected and looked like he could be an impact player in the NHL. The Finnish winger made his NHL debut in 2010, yet by 2013 he was out of the league. Hartikainen was a productive player in the AHL, recording 111 points in 164 games, but less so in the NHL, where he notched just 13 points in 52 games. Still, many felt that Hartikainen’s departure from North America was based more on his desire to play a major role for a major league team than it was on his lack of NHL ability, making him a candidate for a possible future return. However, Hartikainen is now 29 and in his seventh season with the KHL’s Salavat Yulaev Ufa, where he has been one of the club’s most consistent and well-rounded contributors. Hartikainen seems content to remain as a core member for Ufa rather than try his hand at an NHL comeback, as the team has announced a three-year extension with their star. In all likelihood, this means we saw the last of Hartikainen in the NHL back with the Oilers in 2013.
  • One player who could be primed for a return though is Dmitrij Jaskin. Jaskin, who spent the past two seasons on Stanley Cup winners in St. Louis and Washington (just not in the right order), was a free agent this off-season and held out nearly all summer for an NHL deal. He begrudgingly accepted a one-year pact with the KHL’s Dynamo Moscow in late August and has made the best of his year outside of North America. The two-way winger is currently tied for second in the league in scoring with 51 points in 49 games and has been a dominant force all season. Granted, the one player ahead of him in the scoring race is teammate Vadim Shipachyov, but the two have been the only consistent contributors on a shallow Dynamo roster. In fact, the team may not even make the playoffs despite the output from their top scorers. A poor team result, even if he has excelled personally, alongside an obvious desire to be in the NHL, could push Jaskin back to North America this summer. NHL clubs have seen him play a strong defensive game, but now have witnessed his offensive upside in the right situation as well. Jaskin certainly seems like a player who is worthy of a second chance.

Jake Muzzin Would “Love To Stay” In Toronto

at CDT | by 9 Comments

While the focus right now for the Toronto Maple Leafs has to be on how they can improve their defense for this season, general manager Kyle Dubas also has to keep one eye on the future. The team has four key defensemen scheduled for free agency at the end of the season, with Jake Muzzin, Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci all unrestricted. The team apparently is looking for players that aren’t just pure rentals in trade, but at least one of their free agents might want to stick around. Muzzin spoke to reporters at today’s morning skate after he was recalled from a recent conditioning stint (via TSN):

The organization, the way they look after us. The guys here the buzz in the city about hockey is huge. Being close to home is always a nice touch, especially with a little one around now. There’s lots of good things here and I’d love to stay.

Muzzin, 30, is from Woodstock, Ontario, just a couple of hours down the highway from Toronto. He played most of his career to this point about as far away as you can possibly get with the Los Angeles Kings, but came to the Maple Leafs last season. A stabilizing presence on the blue line, his current five-year, $20MM deal will expire at the end of June.

If the team wants to keep one of their pending UFA defensemen, Muzzin might make the most sense. While Barrie and Ceci are both right-handed—which has been the weaker side of the Maple Leafs’ group in recent years—the former may be too expensive while the latter has struggled. Muzzin meanwhile could be right in the sweet spot in terms of salary demands, though they already have three other left-handers—Morgan Rielly, Travis Dermott and Rasmus Sandin. With Muzzin’s return tonight the team will keep Sandin in the lineup, perhaps trying out what the group could look like in a year’s time.

The veteran defenseman was also asked about the potential availability of Alec Martinez, a former partner of his with the Kings:

Oh really? I mean he’s a great, great defender. I know him well, I played with him for a long time. You know whatever happens, happens, I don’t know.

Injury Notes: Benning, Maple Leafs, Heiskanen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Matt Benning from his conditioning stint with the Bakersfield Condors. Benning hasn’t played in the NHL since the beginning of December, after suffering two head injuries in short succession. He played three games in the AHL on his conditioning stint, scoring one point.

Benning’s return to full health would be a very interesting addition for the Oilers, who have come to rely heavily on some of their other young defenders in his absence. The 25-year old had played in more than 200 games for the team over the last several years and will give the team even more options to consider as the trade deadline approaches. Technically Benning is still on long-term injured reserve, though the team does have the roster room to activate him if they choose.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs are also getting some injured bodies back, activating Jake Muzzin and Trevor Moore from injured reserve today. The Maple Leafs are back in action tonight and are expected to keep young defenseman Rasmus Sandin in the lineup even with Muzzin returning, meaning the first year of his entry-level contract will kick in.
  • Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen is expected to return tonight after missing the team’s last game with a concussion. Heiskanen suffered the injury on January 16th, but with the bye week and All-Star break will apparently only be out a single game. In 47 games during his sophomore season Heiskanen has 24 points and is averaging more than 24 minutes a night for the Stars.

Colton Parayko Activated From Injured Reserve

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After nearly a month out of the lineup, Colton Parayko is ready to make his return to the St. Louis Blues. The star defenseman has missed seven games due to an upper-body injury, but was activated from injured reserve today. Parayko is expected to play tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.

The extremely durable Parayko had only missed six games through the first four seasons of his career, suiting up nearly every night for the Blues while logging big minutes in all situations. The 26-year old returns to a club fighting to stay ahead of the Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division. St. Louis sits six points ahead of the pushing Avalanche, but lost a head-to-head matchup in the final game before their bye week. The Blues now start a four-game road trip through western Canada made up of two back-to-back situations.

Getting Parayko back is huge for the Blues, who are trying to repeat as Stanley Cup champions and still look like the favorite to come out of the west. The team cleared some roster room by sending Troy Brouwer to the minor leagues and are also expected to get Sammy Blais back soon.

Snapshots: Penguins, Hockey Canada, AHL

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been actively looking for an upgrade at forward since Jake Guentzel was ruled out for the rest of the season, and GM Jim Rutherford told Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) that he is open to anything, including pure rentals that will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.

One thing Rutherford explained however is that he is happy with Pittsburgh’s defensive group and will likely not be pursuing an upgrade on the back end. The team will get Brian Dumoulin back at some point, who hasn’t played since November after ankle surgery.

  • Hockey Canada has named their management groups for the various junior age groups, while also announcing that Andre Tourigny will coach the u20 World Junior squad. Tourigny was an assistant coach with the team that recently won gold at the annual tournament, and serves as head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. A former NHL assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators, he has plenty of experience at the international level.
  • David Andrews will retire from his position as AHL President and CEO in a few months, but held a press conference today to discuss the state of the league. Patrick Williams of NHL.com tweeted out several of the biggest news items, including the fact that the Vegas Golden Knights are interested in buying an AHL franchise. The Golden Knights are currently affiliated with the Chicago Wolves. Palm Springs is set to become the 32nd franchise in the AHL when they begin play in the 2021-22 season as the affiliate for the Seattle NHL expansion.

Troy Brouwer Clears Waivers

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Monday: Brouwer has cleared waivers and was assigned to the AHL. Armstrong explained in the release that the veteran forward will take a few days to decide whether he will report to the minor league club.

Sunday: With the expected return of forward Sammy Blais, the St. Louis Blues have placed veteran forward Troy Brouwer on waivers, according to The Athletic’s James Mirtle.

Coincidentally, it was after Blais underwent wrist surgery in November and was declared out at least 10 weeks, that the team brought in veterans Jamie McGinn and Brouwer on professional tryouts. McGinn was released from his PTO after a week, the team signed Brouwer to a one-year, two-way contract. Brouwer has mainly served as the team’s emergency backup, having appeared in 10 games this season and he has not made an appearance with the Blues since Dec. 18. He averaged just 9:56 in ATOI and scored one goal and 19 hits in those 10 games. The 34-year-old veteran hasn’t made an appearance in the AHL since playing five games in the 2008-09 season, having played 836 NHL games between the two.

Blais is expected to join the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. While it’s not known if he’s ready to jump in the lineup, general manager Doug Armstrong said he’s close enough. “I would say that he’s skating well now and looking like he’s ready to go, and hopefully coming out of the break he’ll be _ if not available in Game 1, certainly available on our road trip,” Armstrong said.

Eric Robinson Signs Two-Year Extension

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Eric Robinson to a two-year extension that keeps him under contract through the 2021-22 season. The forward was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a short statement:

Eric is an exciting young player that has gotten better and better over the past two seasons. He is a tremendous young man, has game-breaking speed and we believe will be a very good player for us as he continues to work hard and improve his game.

CapFriendly reports that the deal will carry an average annual value of $975K. Robinson will be an unrestricted free agent at its conclusion.

Though he was technically scheduled for RFA status, Robinson actually had a chance at becoming a Group VI UFA this summer had he not played in 35 of the team’s final games this season. That means he’s giving up a chance to pursue other opportunities, but after finding a home with the Blue Jackets it’s hard to blame him.

The blazing fast forward, affectionately called “Wheels” in the announcement on Twitter, has five goals and nine points through 31 games for Columbus this season. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Princeton University in 2018, he has 45 career games in the NHL.

The Blue Jackets still have quite a few restricted free agents to sign before next season, including Pierre-Luc Dubois, Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins.

Minor Transactions: 01/27/20

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The All-Star break is over and NHL teams have less than a month to figure out exactly what they want to do at the trade deadline. These first few games after vacation are extremely important for getting back on the right track, and 12 teams will try to do just that this evening. That includes a battle between the two Western Conference division leaders, as the St. Louis Blues head to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. As they and the rest of the league prepare, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled both Luke Schenn and Mitchell Stephens from the minor leagues as they prepare for action tonight against the Dallas Stars. Stephens has played 20 games for Tampa Bay in this his rookie season, scoring four points.
  • As expected, Blake Lizotte has been recalled by the Los Angeles Kings after getting a little taste of the minor leagues over the break. The 22-year old forward had previously spent the entire season with the Kings, scoring four goals and 15 points in 45 games.
  • Adin Hill has been recalled by the Arizona Coyotes, after losing a weekend affair to the Bakersfield Condors. Hill has a .911 save percentage in 14 appearances for the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL, but a .920 in nine games with the Coyotes.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have officially recalled Chase De Leo, Max Jones and Troy Terry from the AHL. To make room, Blake Pietila has been reassigned to the San Diego Gulls. Terry is making his return to the NHL after suffering a broken leg earlier this season.

Five Key Stories: 1/20/20 – 1/26/20

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

With many teams having this week off as their bye heading into the All-Star Game, it was a relatively quiet week around the NHL.  However, there were still a few notable headlines which are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Vote Of Confidence For Wilson: This season has not been a good one for San Jose.  After making it to the Western Conference Final in 2019, they were able to keep the core intact including getting defenseman Erik Karlsson locked up long-term.  Things were looking up, or so it seemed.  This season has been the complete opposite with many veterans struggling and a coaching change that hasn’t changed much.  Despite that, GM Doug Wilson received a vote of confidence from owner Hasso Plattner which suggests that he will be given the opportunity to turn things around.  Previous reports have suggested that Wilson, who has been with the team since 1997 (GM since 2003) after finishing his career as a player there, was inclined to keep the core intact but their continued struggles could ultimately change that.

Florida To Host The 2021 All-Star Game: After St. Louis hosted the All-Star festivities this week, the event will be heading back to the East as Florida will host the event next season.  There have been frequent format changes over the years and it appears that this will the case for this event as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman suggesting that there could be a return of an international component.  This comes on the heels of him reiterating his desire to not shut down in 2022 to allow NHL players to participate in the Olympics.

Zajac Won’t Waive: Devils center Travis Zajac has been with New Jersey since they made him a first-round pick (20th overall) back in 2004.  With the team struggling once again this season, at least one team made a serious overture about acquiring him with some speculation that the Islanders, a Metropolitan Division rival, was the team that was going after him.  However, his agent Kurt Overhardt indicated that Zajac is not willing to waive his no-trade clause at this time while adding that they will revisit the situation after the season which suggests that he won’t be on the move in the next month.  The 34-year-old still has one year left on his eight-year contract after this one with a $5.75MM cap hit.

Lowry Out For A While: The Jets have dealt with injury issues all season long and will now be missing a key player for at least a month as Adam Lowry is out with an upper-body injury.  Among their full-time centers, Lowry is Winnipeg’s best player at the faceoff dot while his 132 hits leads the team.  Winnipeg is currently tied for ninth in the Western Conference and are now down five players off their roster plus the uncertain situation surrounding suspended defenseman Dustin Byfuglien.

Andersson Assigned: The Lias Andersson situation has been a strange one over the last month.  After abruptly leaving AHL Hartford and demanding a trade, the Rangers suspended him without pay and he returned to his native Sweden but he wasn’t able to play.  That now has changed as the team has officially loaned him to HV71 of the SHL.  While it’s certainly a benefit from a development perspective, it’s also an important one on the trade front as interested teams will be able to keep tabs on his progress before deciding whether or not to make a move.  If the Rangers do decide to trade the 21-year-old, he’ll be one of the more intriguing prospects to change organizations over the next month.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PHR Originals: 1/20/20 – 1/26/20

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Here is a rundown of the original content over the past seven days here at PHR.

Our Trade Deadline Primers series is underway and we’re starting with the extremely tight Pacific Division where first place and fifth place are only separated by one point.  I took a look at the situations in Anaheim, Arizona, and Calgary while Holger did the same for Edmonton.  Anaheim is a clear seller between now and February 24th while the other three will certainly be looking to add to try to give themselves a leg up among the logjam in the standings.

Chris Kreider is likely going to be the top rental forward that will garner trade consideration over the next month.  Holger assessed his situation which is a bit of a tricky one for the Rangers.  While New York may not be a playoff team this season, they’re a team that appears to be on the rise and keeping someone like him around would certainly be ideal.  However, with several other players in need of new deals this summer and their current salary cap situation, they’ll be hard-pressed to keep him which will likely result in him being made available.

Speaking of cap space, it generates most of the attention around this time of year but there is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration, contract space.  Gavin examined the 50-contract situation for all 31 teams and with several close to the limit, it’s something that’s going to play a role in trade talks in the coming weeks as those teams look to get some wiggle room in that department.

This has been an interesting season for Ilya Kovalchuk.  The winger struggled early on with Los Angeles and eventually agreed to a mutual contract termination.  It took a few weeks for him to resurface but he eventually joined Montreal and has fared quite well with them, averaging a point per game through his first eight games with the team.  All of a sudden, as Holger noted, he has quickly become a trade candidate despite being available for free just weeks ago.  With a league minimum salary, even cap-strapped contenders should be able to add him onto their roster so if his performance continues, there could be an intriguing market for his services.

Gavin held his weekly Thursday chat.  Topics included trade candidates in Chicago, a fit for Carolina if they want to replace injured blueliner Dougie Hamilton, Mikko Koivu’s future with Minnesota, fair trade value for Jason Zucker, and more.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top