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East Notes: Rust, Dahlin, Romanov, Motte

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The Pittsburgh Penguins organization didn’t get a positive update on forward Bryan Rust’s injury. The team’s play-by-play commentator, Jeff Getzoff, shared that Rust is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury after evaluations.

Rust suffered the lower-body injury in the team’s most recent game against the Vancouver Canucks after receiving a hit from Nils Hoglander. The veteran forward was quickly ruled out of that game’s action after only 13:18 of ice time and missed the team’s practice yesterday.

The injury could be related to the lower-body injury that kept Rust from the ice at the beginning of the season. He missed Pittsburgh’s first two games of the regular season but has managed three goals and four points in eight straight games. The Penguins only have 12 healthy forwards on the roster meaning Valtteri Puustinen should garner more ice time if the organization doesn’t make a recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • Buffalo Sabres’ captain Rasmus Dahlin’s two-minute minor for high-sticking and two-minute minor for roughing in last night’s action has turned into more. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced they have fined Dahlin $5,000 for yesterday’s incident, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The play took place with seven minutes remaining of the third period when Dahlin swung his stick into the face of Florida Panthers’ forward Anton Lundell after positioning for the puck at the Sabres’ blue line.
  • The New York Islanders will be without defenseman Alexander Romanov for the second straight game. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports Romanov is still considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury from one of the team’s recent games against the New Jersey Devils. There hasn’t been any indication up to this point that Romanov will be able to dress in tomorrow night’s action against the Columbus Blue Jackets, either.
  • Ansar Khan of MLive reports the Detroit Red Wings are still without forward Tyler Motte who is suffering from an upper-body injury. His unavailability will have a downstream effect on the roster with the organization keeping the ability to keep prospect Marco Kasper on the roster under emergency conditions for the time being. Kasper has skated in five games for the Red Wings during his emergency recall with one assist to show for it while averaging 15:22 of ice time. Once Motte can return, Detroit must make a roster move to comply with the emergency condition protocols.

Edmonton Oilers Recall Drake Caggiula, Noah Philp

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4:07 PM: According to a team announcement, the Oilers organization has confirmed the roster move.

4:00 PM: In light of Connor McDavid’s predicted absence over the next few days and potentially longer, the Edmonton Oilers are bringing some depth to their forward group. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shares the organization is calling up forwards Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp from their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.

One of the two is bound to enter the lineup as the Oilers only carried 11 healthy forwards before the transaction. There will be a learning curve for both with Philp having yet to make his NHL debut and Caggiula’s last time in the NHL being a four-game stretch with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2022-23 NHL season.

Caggiula is in his second stint with the Oilers organization after signing out of the University of North Dakota in 2016. He spent three years with Edmonton scoring 27 goals and 49 points in 156 regular-season contests before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks partway through the 2018-19 campaign.

He returned to the organization last season but spent the entire season with AHL Bakersfield. He scored 13 goals and 37 points in 43 AHL contests being good for fifth on the team in scoring. He’s off to a solid start in the 2024-25 AHL season with three goals and five points through his first five games.

Philp joined the organization in 2022 after finishing his career at the University of Alberta. He was a solid scorer in limited USports action but has struggled to produce in the AHL. He scored 19 goals and 37 points in 70 games for the Condors in 2022-23 but missed all last season due to personal reasons. Philp has suited up in all six games for the Condors this season scoring one goal and three points overall.

San Jose Sharks Recall Ethan Cardwell, Place Ty Dellandrea On IR

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With the ninth-youngest roster in the league, the San Jose Sharks are adding more youth to their lineup. The organization announced they recalled forward prospect Ethan Cardwell from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda while placing forward Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve.

The Sharks haven’t issued a formal update on Dellandrea’s injury status. Still, the current theory is that he’s dealing with an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s recent game against the Vegas Golden Knights on October 26th. Dellandrea managed 9:02 of ice time before leaving the contest and had previously been ruled out in the team’s win last night against the Utah Hockey Club.

Dellandrea skated in all nine games for San Jose before last night scoring one goal in total on the season. He’s kept his physicality up in his new stomping ground but his defensive play and possession metrics have declined with a weaker supporting cast compared to his time with the Dallas Stars.

On the other side of the roster move, Cardwell looks to make his NHL debut after one full season in the AHL. He scored 23 goals and 43 points in 71 games for the Barracuda in his rookie campaign and has gotten off to a solid start this year with one goal and five points through six contests.

The former 121st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft won’t crack many lists of top prospects in the Sharks system but could be a boon for the organization toward the bottom of the lineup. Cardwell is a 200-foot player with an aggressive tendency to jump into every battle on offense and defense.

Blues Extend Alexey Toropchenko

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The Blues have signed forward Alexey Toropchenko to a one-year extension worth $1.7MM, per a team release. The Moscow native was set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Toropchenko, 25, has quietly emerged as a full-time fixture in the Blues lineup over the past few seasons. He played in all 82 games last season and hasn’t seen an AHL assignment since heading to Springfield for a conditioning stint early in the 2022-23 campaign. He’ll now stick around in St. Louis for at least one more season, but his future is far less certain past that, as the extension walks him directly to unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

The 2017 fourth-round pick has settled into a fourth-line role, staying there to start 2024-25 even as injuries have taken Mathieu Joseph and Robert Thomas out of the forward lineup. He’s played in seven of St. Louis’ nine games this year, missing a pair of contests earlier in the month due to a lower-body injury. He has one assist, 7 PIMs, and 18 hits while averaging 11:37 per game, down slightly from last season. He’s been deployed heavily in defensive situations at even strength, and as such, the Blues are only controlling 43.5% of shot attempts and 33.3% of expected goals with him on the ice.

2023-24 was a strong showing for Toropchenko, who inked a two-year, $2.5MM contract the prior offseason. He set career-highs in goals (14) and points (21), recording 114 shots on goal and 165 hits while averaging 12:31 per game. He’s likely reached the end of his development track, but he has done enough to prove he can be a useful fourth-line piece due to his size (6’6″, 222 lbs), physicality, and legitimate chance-generation ability.

The Blues now have $86.06MM already dedicated to 20 players for next season. Notable pending free agents still include Radek Faksa, Joel Hofer, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, Scott Perunovich, and Ryan Suter.

Maple Leafs Activate, Reassign Fraser Minten

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The Maple Leafs announced they’ve activated center Fraser Minten from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to AHL Toronto. The 20-year-old cost $77K against the cap while on SOIR, so the move does open up a bit of financial flexibility without affecting the active roster.

Minten missed all of training camp and the first few weeks of the regular season after sustaining a high ankle sprain during a rookie camp game in mid-September. That ended any hopes the 2022 second-round pick had of making the opening night roster, and without a clear fit for him in the NHL now, he’ll head to the minors and log heavy minutes with the Marlies.

One of the organization’s top prospects, Minten didn’t crack The Athletic’s league-wide top-100 list over the summer but is still one of the best up-and-coming forwards within the Toronto pipeline. A strong training camp in 2023 landed him a brief NHL look, playing in four games while averaging 11:26 per contest before the Leafs returned him to juniors. He split last season in the WHL between the Kamloops Blazers and the Saskatoon Blades, totaling 48 points in 43 contests with a +18 rating. He also captained the Canadian squad at the 2024 World Juniors, posting a goal and two assists in five appearances.

He’ll now get to make his AHL debut with the Marlies and will get an extended runway there to acclimate to the professional level. He should be considered an outside candidate at best to get a recall at some point later on in the season.

Avalanche Recall Kaapo Kähkönen From Conditioning Loan

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Oct. 29: Kähkönen is back up from his conditioning loan, reports Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. He made two appearances for their farm club over the past few days, recording a .919 SV% and a 2.57 GAA in a pair of losses.

Oct. 24: The Avalanche announced today that they have assigned goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen to AHL Colorado on a conditioning loan. While on the minor-league stint, Kähönen will still count against the salary cap and the 23-man roster.

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Kähkönen, who’s yet to suit up anywhere in the regular season. He made a few exhibition appearances for the Jets after signing a one-year, $1MM deal in Winnipeg during the offseason. However, he lost the backup job to Eric Comrie and landed on waivers shortly after the season started. Colorado claimed him, but visa issues relegated him to the non-roster list for a few days. He was reinstated ahead of this week’s contests, but he was a healthy scratch in their last two games while Justus Annunen started and Alexandar Georgiev backed up.

The loan can last up to 14 days, after which Kähkönen would need to be placed on waivers again if the Avalanche want to keep him in the minors. The move is good news for Kähkönen, who now gets the chance to get his feet wet after sitting on the shelf entirely for the past few weeks despite being medically available to play. The 28-year-old last played in the AHL with the Iowa Wild in 2019-20 while a part of the Minnesota organization, posting a .927 SV% in 34 games en route to being named the league’s best goaltender.

Kähkönen began last season in San Jose, posting a 6-20-3 record, .895 SV%, 3.81 GAA, and -8.7 GSAA in 31 appearances for the Sharks. He was dealt to the Devils at the trade deadline, where he closed out the season with a strong .923 SV% and 2.51 GAA in six appearances despite a 1-4-0 record. The Finland native has an .899 SV% and 3.33 GAA in 139 career NHL appearances over the past five seasons.

Devils Recall Justin Dowling

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The Devils announced this morning that center Justin Dowling has been recalled from AHL Utica. No corresponding transaction is necessary with an open spot on the 23-man roster. He comes up to relieve Curtis Lazar, who left Sunday’s game against the Ducks with an undisclosed injury and was already ruled out of tomorrow’s game against the Canucks. The team also said that defense prospect Topias Vilén is cleared to return from his upper-body injury. He’s been activated from season-opening injured reserve and assigned to Utica.

Dowling is in the second season of a two-year, two-way deal he signed with the Devils as a free agent in 2023. The 34-year-old veteran of 14 professional seasons played a pair of NHL contests for New Jersey last year, scoring once and posting a -2 rating. The 5’10” pivot can play all three forward positions and remains an influential offensive producer at the minor league level in his twilight years, including a pair of goals and assists in six games to start this season with Utica.

The Calgary native has precisely 100 career NHL appearances under his belt, coming in parts of six seasons with the Canucks, Devils and Stars. He’s scored seven times and added 12 assists for 19 points, posting a -16 rating and averaging 10:49 per game while winning 49.3% of his draws. He could make it a seventh NHL season with an appearance tomorrow in Vancouver, a likely scenario given Lazar had been lining up at center. The Devils’ extra forward on hand for the weekend game against Anaheim was winger Nathan Bastian.

Meanwhile, Vilén’s start to 2024-25 only gets delayed by a few weeks. The 21-year-old Finn is entering his second season in North America after being selected by the Devils in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. He made 54 appearances for Utica last season, finishing second among their defenders in scoring with 29 points (2 G, 27 A) and an even rating. It was a strong showing for the 6’1″ blue liner, who could be in contention for an NHL recall later on in 2024-25.

Blackhawks Recall Isaak Phillips

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Blackhawks defenseman Isaak Phillips is back on the NHL roster after a brief stint in the minors, per a team announcement. He’d been sent down a few days ago to open up a roster spot for goaltender Drew Commesso, as an illness to backup Arvid Söderblom meant the Hawks temporarily needed to carry three goalies. Commesso was returned to Rockford yesterday, though, opening up Phillips’ roster spot.

The 23-year-old Phillips cleared waivers at the beginning of the month and has been rostered for five of Chicago’s 10 games this season between reassignments, but he’s been scratched for all of them. The left-shot prospect inked a two-way deal with Chicago in late July after reaching restricted free agency and was expected to make the team as a No. 6/No. 7 option but has been surpassed on the depth chart by 2021 first-round pick Nolan Allan. It’s likely that Phillips will spend roughly equal time in Chicago and AHL Rockford the rest of the season unless a rash of injuries takes over the Blackhawks’ blue line.

Phillips had made two appearances with Rockford amid NHL call-ups. He was held off the scoresheet and posted 5 PIMs with an even rating. It’s a middling start for the alternate captain, who impressed with 14 points and a +7 rating in only 29 showings for the AHL club in 2023-24. He also made 33 appearances for the Blackhawks last season in what was his most extended audition at the NHL level but struggled with six assists and a whopping -26 rating with underwhelming possession metrics.

A fifth-round pick in 2020, Phillips has 11 points and a -37 rating in 53 career showings with the Hawks dating back to the 2021-22 campaign. He can be on the NHL roster for 18 more days or play 10 games, whichever comes first, before he needs waivers again to return to the AHL.

Senators Recall Zack Ostapchuk

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The Senators have called up center Zack Ostapchuk, per a team announcement. Forward Adam Gaudette is also back with the team after yesterday’s paper transaction sent him to AHL Belleville. However, left-winger Cole Reinhardt remains in the minors after being demoted along with Gaudette yesterday. No corresponding move is required with two open spots on the 23-man roster.

Ostapchuk, 21, was an early second-round pick of the Sens in 2021. He made his NHL debut last year with Ottawa, going without a point in seven games. He posted a -1 rating, had five shots on goal, averaged 10:30 per game, and won just 26.8% of his 41 faceoffs.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t make the opening night roster for 2024-25 after that underwhelming late-season showing. The 6’3″, 205-lb pivot has taken it in stride, though, and is off to a raucous start in the minors with a goal and four assists in six games for Belleville. Last season was Ostapchuk’s first in the professional ranks, after all, making the jump after splitting his fourth and final junior season in 2021-22 between the Vancouver Giants and Winnipeg Ice of the WHL. If nothing else, he flashed his penchant for physicality in his brief NHL showing, laying the body 13 times and blocking six shots.

Per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Ostapchuk will make his season debut tonight against the Blues, centering Ottawa’s third line between Michael Amadio and Noah Gregor. Gaudette will center the fourth line, and Ridly Greig will remain on the wing while Ottawa deals with the absence of the top-nine fixtures David Perron and Shane Pinto.

With a pair of off-days after tonight’s game, expect Gaudette and Ostapchuk to be papered down tomorrow for the Sens to keep accumulating as much cap space as possible. Ostapchuk is waiver-exempt this season and likely will be until the 2026-27 campaign unless he lands a full-time role sooner than expected.

Wild Reassign Daemon Hunt, Jared Spurgeon To Return

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The Wild have reassigned defenseman Daemon Hunt to AHL Iowa, per a team announcement. The move signals that captain Jared Spurgeon will return tonight against the Penguins after missing the last six games due to lingering effects from the back and hip surgeries he underwent last season, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports.

Spurgeon was never placed on injured reserve, but with him returning to health, they had eight healthy defenders on the active roster. That made Hunt a redundancy for Declan Chisholm, who is likely headed for the press box with Spurgeon re-entering the lineup.

With Spurgeon unavailable, the club has turned to Zach Bogosian for top-four duties over the past few weeks. He’s done a fine job as a fill-in, logging two assists and a +2 rating in his eight appearances this season while averaging 17:42 per game. Still, the Wild are happy to get Spurgeon back as a legitimate puck-moving impact piece in their top four.

Spurgeon has been a top-20 defenseman in the league for the past decade, but injuries have begun to take a severe toll on him in his mid-30s. After a decade of essentially healthy campaigns, those back and hip surgeries limited him to 16 appearances last season, registering five assists and a +5 rating. His absence was one of, if not the most significant, reasons why the Wild missed the playoffs in 2024 for just the second time in 12 years.

He’ll return in a second-pairing role with standout shutdown man Jonas Brodin as his partner, a pairing that’s been outright dominant in possession control at many points over the last 10-plus years in Minnesota. With sophomore Brock Faber and Jacob Middleton comprising the top pairing, Spurgeon’s return gives Minnesota a playoff-caliber blue line once again – if he can manage to get last season’s surgeries behind him.

Meanwhile, his health leads to another reassignment for Hunt, his third of the young season. Now 22, Hunt was a third-round pick of the Wild back in 2020. A smooth-skating, physical left-shot defender, he had 29 points and a -4 rating in 51 games for Iowa last season and has been ferried between leagues with frequency this year due to his waiver-exempt status. He’s only made one NHL appearance this year, though, logging two shots in 8:01 of ice time against the Blues back on Oct. 15. He was a healthy scratch in four straight games since being recalled last on Oct. 18.

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