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Oilers Claim Kasperi Kapanen Off Waivers From Blues

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The Oilers announced on Tuesday that they’ve claimed winger Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the Blues.

Kapanen, 28, hit waivers yesterday with St. Louis needing to open a roster spot for Robert Thomas’ activation from injured reserve. He’d been a healthy scratch in three of their last five games since returning from an upper-body injury and had just one goal in 10 games on the season with a -6 rating, so it wasn’t terribly surprising to see the pending unrestricted free agent hit the wire.

The Oilers are hoping Kapanen, who carries a $1MM cap hit, can rediscover the form that landed him 15 goals and 34 points in 66 games split between the Blues and the Penguins in 2022-23. St. Louis nabbed him off the wire amid that campaign, and a good deal of that production came in his final 23 games of the season after the move.

Edmonton has been in need of forward help for the past couple of games, dressing seven defensemen with Viktor Arvidsson out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Instead of making a recall up front – they already had to make one on defense after Darnell Nurse was injured in Toronto over the weekend – they’ll opt to bring in some outside help.

It seems unlikely that Kapanen will make it to Ottawa in time for tonight’s game against the Senators, so the Oilers may need to roll with the 11F/7D formation once more if Arvidsson isn’t ready to return. If Arvidsson is still out for a stretch, though, there could be an opportunity for Kapanen to get a brief audition in his usual spot on Leon Draisaitl’s wing. Corey Perry has hopped up into that spot with Arvidsson out, but those minutes aren’t sustainable for the 39-year-old with four points in 19 games.

The Oilers had an open roster spot before claiming Kapanen, so no corresponding transaction is necessary. However, they are now over the $88MM salary cap upper limit and are thus using Evander Kane’s long-term injured reserve placement to stay compliant as PuckPedia breaks down.

Canucks’ J.T. Miller Takes Leave Of Absence, Out Indefinitely

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The Canucks will be without star forward J.T. Miller indefinitely while he takes a leave of absence for personal reasons, general manager Patrik Allvin said Tuesday.

“Right now, our sole focus is making sure that J.T. knows the entire organization is here to support him,” Allvin said in a statement. “Out of respect to J.T., we will have no further comment at this time.”

Miller, 31, is tied with Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Pius Suter for the team lead in goals with six. He’s added 10 assists for 16 points in 17 games, placing second on the team in scoring behind defenseman Quinn Hughes’ 18 points.

Despite recording five points in his prior three games, Miller was benched by head coach Rick Tocchet for a significant portion of Sunday’s loss to the Predators and played a season-low 11:41. On the whole, his 18:24 ATOI is his lowest since Vancouver acquired him from the Lightning in 2019, and he’s on pace to record under a point per game for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.

The Ohio native is still one of the Canucks’ best offensive players, though, and his 53.7 CF% at even strength means he’s controlling the most possession he has since his first season in Vancouver. Miller is in the second season of the seven-year, $56MM extension he signed in September 2022 to keep him in British Columbia through the 2029-30 campaign.

He’s a major loss for the Canucks, especially without any indication when he’ll be back in the lineup. With Boeser on the shelf with a head injury, he’d been centering a makeshift first line between Suter and rookie Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

Vancouver recalled winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford in a corresponding transaction to give them 12 healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Rangers, but they’ll still need to shift someone to center to replace Miller – likely Suter, while any of Bains, Danton Heinen or Dakota Joshua could shift into a top-six role at left wing. In order to open a roster spot for Bains, the Canucks returned defenseman Elias Pettersson to Abbotsford after recalling him Sunday for injury insurance. Pettersson didn’t make his NHL debut and instead sat in the press box for the loss to Nashville.

Bains, 23, has been ferried between leagues frequently this season but had spent the last week in Abbotsford as part of a demotion that the Canucks likely intended to be more permanent. He played in eight contests for Vancouver throughout the first month or so of the season, recording one goal, a -3 rating and a 46.9 CF% while averaging 11:30 per game.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blues To Activate Robert Thomas From Injured Reserve

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The Blues will activate Robert Thomas from injured reserve, reports Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. The star center will return to the lineup against the Wild on Tuesday.

Thomas’ return comes weeks ahead of schedule. The 25-year-old fractured his ankle in a game against the Jets on Oct. 22 and was given a six-week return timeline, which would have kept him out until early December. Instead, he’s back in the lineup less than a month after sustaining the injury.

Before the fracture, Thomas had one goal and five assists for six points in seven games. Now in his seventh year in the league, the 2017 first-round pick was dealing with some poor puck luck and was shooting at a career-worst 8.7%. That should turn around in the next couple of weeks as he looks to record over a point per game for the second season in a row.

Away from goals and assists, Thomas was having an excellent start to the season. He averaged 20:33 per game, won 62.6% of his draws, and posted career-best possession numbers with a 58.1 CF% and 64.9 xGF% at even strength.

The Blues don’t yet have an open roster spot, but they will in about an hour after Kasperi Kapanen is claimed by another team or clears waivers. Thomas’ official activation will thus take place after 1:00 p.m. CT.

“He’s put in a lot of work to get to this point,” Bannister said on Thomas’ quick recovery (via Rutherford). “It doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat; he’s in great shape. He went away for 1-2 weeks to do some work in Toronto with his doctors, and I think that really sped up the process.”

St. Louis is now fully healthy up front, hopefully counteracting a rash of injuries on defense. In addition to Torey Krug being ruled out for the year, Philip Broberg and Nick Leddy have hit injured reserve since the start of the season. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is day-to-day with a lower-body injury but hasn’t been ruled out tonight against Minnesota.

The lack of puck-moving defenders available will lead the Blues to experiment with a five-forward first power-play unit tonight, one that Thomas will be quarterbacking, per Lou Korac of NHL.com. Thomas has just one power-play point this season, but 27 of his 86 points last season came with the man advantage.

At even strength, Thomas will return to his standard first-line center role. After spending most of the early going with Jordan Kyrou on his right and Brandon Saad on his left, Pavel Buchnevich will now slide up to first-line duties while Saad skates on the second line with Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighbours, per Korac.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blackhawks Recall Drew Commesso

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The Blackhawks announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled goaltender Drew Commesso from AHL Rockford. Arvid Söderblom is the projected starter tonight against the Ducks, Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720 relays, indicating that Petr Mrázek likely isn’t available for a yet-to-be-disclosed reason.

Commesso, 22, has already been recalled once this season. He came up to the NHL roster for a few days in late October while Söderblom was dealing with an illness, but Mrazék started a set of back-to-back games against the Predators and Stars while Commesso remained on the bench as the backup.

A 2020 second-round pick, Commesso has been a contender for Chicago’s “goalie of the future” moniker for a few years. The 6’2″ netminder isn’t off to a promising start in Rockford this season, though, posting a 3.71 GAA, .854 SV%, and a 2-4-0 record in six appearances. He’s likely earned some grace after a spectacular run of play at Boston University and a decent .906 SV% in 38 games for Rockford last year, but being outperformed by the AHL-contracted Mitchell Weeks so far this season is undoubtedly a cause for concern.

Nonetheless, Commesso gets what’s likely a short-term summons to relieve Mrázek as the Blackhawks’ only available recall option. Chicago entered the season with only four goalies under contract, including veteran UFA signing Laurent Brossoit, who’s been on injured reserve since the beginning of the year while recovering from meniscus surgery.

Brossoit’s missed around a month more than expected, leaving the Blackhawks in a pinch. They have seven contract slots remaining, though, and could easily sign Weeks to an NHL deal if necessary to give themselves another option to add to the roster.

Nonetheless, goaltending hasn’t been an issue for the Blackhawks this season. Mrázek has floated around last year’s numbers with a .906 SV% and 2.79 GAA, along with some improved team defense, while the 25-year-old Söderblom has taken leaps and bounds forward in his development with a sparkling .934 SV% and 2.22 GAA in five appearances. Despite that stellar play, Chicago has just a 1-3-1 record with him between the pipes.

Canadiens Assign Rafaël Harvey-Pinard On LTIR Conditioning Loan

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The Canadiens reassigned winger Rafaël Harvey-Pinard to AHL Laval on a long-term injury conditioning loan on Tuesday, per a team announcement.

Harvey-Pinard, 25, has missed the entire season after sustaining a broken leg during offseason training in late July. He was given a five-month return timeline, so being close to ready for game action is no surprise.

The 5’9″ left-winger started skating at the end of October and has been taking contact in practice for around a week. Eric Engels of Sportsnet reported Saturday that the 2019 seventh-round pick was close to a return.

He can spend up to two weeks in Laval before the Habs must decide whether he’s healed enough to return to NHL action and activate him from LTIR. He remains off the active roster for now, but with an open spot and $7.6MM remaining in their LTIR pool, there will be no issue fitting him back on the roster when he’s ready to return.

Last season was Harvey-Pinard’s first as a full-time NHLer, although a nagging lower-body injury limited him to 45 games. He skated squarely in a bottom-six role, averaging 12:38 per night and scoring two goals and eight assists for 10 points with only 26 shots on goal.

That was a far cry from the numbers RHP put up after being recalled from Laval midway through the 2022-23 campaign. The diminutive winger got a shot at top-six minutes with star sniper Cole Caufield undergoing season-ending right shoulder surgery, and he responded with 14 goals and 20 points in 34 games, tying for fourth on the team in goals by season’s end.

Harvey-Pinard’s injuries were likely one of many factors that limited his production last year. In 83 career NHL appearances, the Quebec native has 17 goals and 31 points with a +3 rating. That’s likely more indicative of his long-term ceiling, given his strong offensive numbers with Laval, which would be a spectacular result for such a late-round pick.

Harvey-Pinard will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer after completing the two-year, $2.2MM deal he signed as an RFA in 2023.

Maple Leafs Place David Kämpf On IR, Recall Fraser Minten

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The Maple Leafs announced Tuesday that they’ve placed center David Kämpf on injured reserve with a lower-body ailment retroactive to Nov. 16. In a corresponding transaction, they recalled forward prospect Fraser Minten from AHL Toronto, keeping their active roster size at a maximum of 23.

Kämpf, 29, has played in all but one of Toronto’s 19 games this season. His absence wasn’t due to injury; instead, he was a healthy scratch against the Blue Jackets on Oct. 22.

It’s unclear if Kämpf sustained the injury in the Leafs’ last outing, an overtime win over the Oilers on Saturday, or if he’d been playing through it for multiple games. He didn’t miss a shift against Edmonton and has logged at least 14 minutes of ice time in his last four contests.

Kämpf is in the second season of the four-year, $9.6MM extension he signed days before the unrestricted free-agent market opened in 2023. Lauded far more for his competency in the faceoff dot and on the penalty kill than his even-strength impacts, the Czechia native is coming off his worst season in Toronto since arriving as a free agent in 2021. Kämpf’s 11 assists, 19 points and -4 rating in 78 games were his lowest totals as a Maple Leaf, as were his 79 shots on goal, 13:29 ATOI and 50.9 FO%.

While Kämpf has improved up to a 53.6% rate in the dot, it’s been more of the same everywhere else in 2024-25. He’s yet to score a goal and has three assists and a -2 rating, averaging 12:18 per game. He’s still influential on the penalty kill, but for a player who receives little to no offensive zone usage at even strength, $2.4MM per season is a significant salary cap commitment.

The retroactive placement means Kämpf has already been out for three of the seven days required for IR. He’ll miss Wednesday’s game against the Golden Knights but will be eligible to return for Sunday’s contest against Utah.

The news means the Maple Leafs will be down two of their regular four centers when they take on Vegas tomorrow. Captain Auston Matthews is expected to miss his seventh straight game as he remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury, David Alter of The Hockey News reported Monday.

While the Leafs have more than a few players on their roster who could shift from wing to center, including Connor Dewar, Pontus Holmberg, or William Nylander, they don’t have an extra forward available on the active roster to slide into the lineup to replace Kämpf. Unless head coach Craig Berube opts to deploy 11 forwards and seven defensemen tomorrow against the Knights, Minten will make his season debut.

Minten, 20, was the Maple Leafs’ first selection in the 2022 draft, coming off the board early in the second round at 38th overall. He was expected to challenge for a job on the opening night roster in training camp this year, but a high ankle sprain sustained in rookie camp kept him on the shelf until late October.

Since being activated from season-opening injured reserve and assigned to the AHL, the 6’2″ pivot has two goals and two assists for four points with a +4 rating in five games. Minten got a brief taste of NHL hockey early last season as a 19-year-old, posting zeroes across the board while averaging 11:26 per game before being returned to his major junior team.

In his fourth and final season of WHL hockey in 2023-24, split between the Kamloops Blazers and Saskatoon Blades, Minten had 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points with a +18 rating in 43 games. He also captained Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championship, posting a goal and two assists in five outings.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Edvinsson, Rasmussen, Matthews, Point

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The Buffalo Sabres received unfortunate news on the injury front earlier today after an MRI confirmed the severity of Jordan Greenway’s current injury. It had already been announced that Greenway wouldn’t play in the team’s loss on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers but Paul Hamilton is reporting he’s expected to miss the next few weeks.

Greenway has played in 16 of a potential 18 games for the Sabres this season but has significant injury concerns dating back to last season. In his first full season with the organization in the 2023-24 campaign, Greenway missed 15 games due to injury while scoring 10 goals and 28 points in the other 67 contests.

It’s not all negative on the injury front in Buffalo as Hamilton also reported that Tage Thompson has become a realistic possibility to play on Wednesday. Thompson hasn’t played since November 11th due to a lower-body injury making Wednesday his first day of eligibility from the injured reserve. He’s been electric for the Sabres this season scoring 11 goals and 18 points in 16 games when healthy.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • The Detroit Red Wings should have a few returning players tonight as defenseman Simon Edvinsson and forward Michael Rasmussen are expected to return (X Link). Edvinsson missed the team’s most recent game against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night due to a lower-body injury from a blocked shot against the Anaheim Ducks. Rasmussen joined Edvinsson in the press box on Saturday with an upper-body injury. A decision on both player’s game-time status should be confirmed shortly after warm-ups.
  • According to David Alter of The Hockey News, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is expected to miss his seventh straight game on Wednesday. Alter interestingly adds that Matthews hasn’t been skating the past couple of days but the organization assures he hasn’t taken a step back in his recovery. Toronto has earned a 5-1-0 record since Matthews exited the lineup on November 3rd.
  • Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times couldn’t get any confirmation on Brayden Point’s status tomorrow night for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s next game. Encina shares that Point is ’trending in the right direction’ but is still in danger of missing a fifth straight game for the Lightning.

Metro Notes: Penguins, Drysdale, York, Chytil

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Josh Yohe might not have a crystal ball on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ future but, if his insights are close to accurate, the team is ready to begin in a full-on fire sale. In his recent article in The Athletic (Subscription Required), Yohe expects Pittsburgh to try and trade nearly everyone on the roster besides Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

This past week was a litmus test for the Penguins as they played against subpar teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, and San Jose Sharks. Pittsburgh only collected three of a potential six points confirming for the team that the current iteration of the roster can’t compete.

Starting with the expiring contracts, Yohe asserts that Marcus Pettersson, Matt Grzelcyk, Anthony Beauvillier, Drew O’Connor, and Jesse Puljujarvi will likely find new homes should interested teams come calling. Pettersson should command the most return value of any expiring contract but his modified no-trade clause gives him moderate control of where he goes.

Yohe even suggested the Penguins will attempt to move veterans with term such as Kris Letang, Tristan Jarry, Ryan Graves, and Erik Karlsson. It makes sense for Pittsburgh to try and move away from these contracts. Still, salary and trade protection in each player’s contract inject considerable complications into any trade negotiation. The Penguins are likely better served waiting for next offseason to make any trades involving the latter group.

Other Metro notes:

  • Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia shared a few updates on injured defensemen for the Philadelphia Flyers Jamie Drysdale and Cameron York. Both defensemen are recovering from upper-body injuries suffered a few weeks apart with York expected to be the first to return. Drysdale will miss his fourth straight game for the Flyers tonight and hasn’t graduated out of a non-contact jersey up to this point in his recovery process.
  • Filip Chytil has already missed a full game for the New York Rangers and his return doesn’t appear imminent. Mollie Walker of the New York Post reported that Chytil is being evaluated by doctors in New York, and the organization couldn’t provide updates regarding his recovery timeline. Chytil, who has a recent history of concussions, hasn’t stepped on the ice since colliding with teammate K’Andre Miller in the team’s recent game against the San Jose Sharks last week.

Central Notes: Predators, Novak, Wild, Hall, Stanley

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Originally announced in Elliotte Friedman’s ’32 Thoughts’ and expanded upon by Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean, the Nashville Predators are looking to buy. The Predators are looking to claw their way out of an early 6-10-3 record after spending $108MM on Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei this past offseason.

Friedman suggests Nashville is looking to add a top-four defenseman with term and a center to no surprise. In our recent diagnosis of the issues plaguing Nashville, a second-line center and a top-four defenseman topped the list of priorities.

The Predators have used a combination of Juuso Parssinen and Colton Sissons as the team’s second-line centers to unfortunate results. The two have combined for seven points this season and simply haven’t generated the offense required to keep them in the top six long-term. The defensive pairing of Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier have combined for an abysmal 39.2% xGoals% according to MoneyPuck despite playing the most minutes of any defensive pair on the roster.

Other Central notes:

  • Nashville could get a boost to their second line in the form of forward Thomas Novak who’s expected to return tonight after missing the team’s last six games (X Link). Novak has disappointed like many players on the Predators with three goals and four points in 13 games but is only a year removed from scoring 35 goals and 88 points in 122 games for Nashville.
  • There’s no long-term injury concern for either Joel Eriksson Ek or Jonas Brodin for the Minnesota Wild. Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that both players are still waiting on medical clearance but should be available for tomorrow night’s contest. Eriksson Ek has only missed the last game for the Wild while Brodin has missed the past two.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks made a surprising move in their most recent game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday as they made forward Taylor Hall a healthy scratch. He’s had a subpar season for his standards scoring two goals and six points through 17 contests. Still, the scratch caught him off guard with Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN quoting Hall saying, “I was surprised by it. It was unexpected from the standpoint of I just didn’t know I was even close to being in that spot, really. If there were some conversations in the days leading up about my game or if I was constantly being shown video it would be one thing, but I was a bit surprised.”
  • There was good news on the blue line for the Winnipeg Jets this afternoon with the team sharing that Ville Heinola has been activated off the team’s injured reserve. Still, it’s not all positive news concerning Jets’ defensemen as color analyst Mitchell Clinton reports that although Logan Stanley is expected to join Winnipeg on their upcoming road trip, he’s not expected to skate for the next four to five days. Stanley has been on Winnipeg’s injured reserve since November 12th with an undisclosed injury.

Pacific Notes: Olofsson, Nurse, Arvidsson, Miller, Wright

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The Vegas Golden Knights should only be a few days away from the return of an injured forward. The organization announced they assigned forward Victor Olofsson to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, for a conditioning loan. This confirms the Golden Knights are quickly expected to activate Olofsson from the long-term injured reserve.

Olofsson has only been on the team’s LTIR for approximately a week but hasn’t suited up for a game in Vegas for over a month due to a lower-body injury. He had scored three goals in his four games before succumbing to the injury while averaging 15:03 of ice time per game.

It’ll be interesting to see how much playing time Olofsson can manage once he returns from injury despite the strong scoring pace to begin the season. The Golden Knights will have a clearer picture of their roster construction once Mark Stone returns to the lineup but Olofsson may become a healthy scratch upon activation. He projects as an upgrade on the right wing as the lineup is currently constructed but the team might prefer continuity as they’ve risen to the top of the Pacific Division standings.

Other Pacific notes:

  • Jack Michaels, the play-by-play commentator for the Edmonton Oilers, confirmed today that defenseman Darnell Nurse is only expected to miss five to 10 days from the illegal check to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves this past weekend. Thankfully, the Oilers have a five-day break at the beginning of next week which should give Nurse ample time to recover. The Oilers will have a difficult time without him this week should he miss all four games with Edmonton deploying a subpar supporting cast behind Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard.
  • In the same update from Michaels, he shares that the Oilers will also be without forward Viktor Arvidsson tonight. Tonight will mark the third straight game Arvidsson has missed with an undisclosed injury. When healthy, he’s scored two goals and five points in 16 games in his first year with the Oilers organization.
  • Through the first 16 games of the 2024-25 NHL season for J.T. Miller, he had been averaging 18:49 of ice time. It’s dropped by more than a third of a minute thanks to getting benched in the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Nashville Predators last night. In an explanation of the benching, head coach Rick Tocchet said, “I went with the guys I thought could get us back into the game.” (X Link)
  • Miller wasn’t the only notable benching last night with Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright also enjoying some time on the pine. According to Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times, head coach Dan Bylsma said, “As the games have gone along here, I think Shane’s game has been trending in not the best direction. Really the message is: Take a reset, watch the game tonight, which he did, and get back focused on playing the way you can play.” Wright has only scored two points in 18 games for the Kraken this season and the recent message from Bylsma isn’t exactly a vote of confidence for the former fourth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft.

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