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Canadiens Activate And Assign Jacob Perreault To AHL

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While the Canadiens are dealing with some more injuries, one of their prospects has been cleared to return.  Per the AHL’s Transactions Log, Montreal has assigned forward Jacob Perreault to AHL Laval, meaning that he has been activated from the injured, non-roster list.

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim back in 2020, going 31st overall but has seen his stock drop since then.  Perreault made his NHL debut in the 2021-22 season, getting into one contest while putting up 37 points in 55 AHL appearances.  However, his output dipped to 19 points in 48 games the following year.

After a similar first three-quarters of last season, Anaheim decided to move Perreault to Montreal in exchange for prospect Jan Mysak.  The change of scenery didn’t do him much good as he managed just a goal and an assist in 13 games before being sidelined with the injury that kept him out of the lineup until now.  The Canadiens attempted to send him down in late September but that was later reversed since injured players can’t be assigned to the minors.

Perreault is entering the final year of his entry-level contract and with how things have gone for him the last couple of years, he’s not guaranteed to land a qualifying offer next summer.  Rather than focusing on trying to earn a recall in the coming months, his focus will likely be on locking down a full-time spot in Laval’s lineup and demonstrating that he’ll be worth keeping around.

Stars Place Matt Dumba On IR, Recall Matej Blumel

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The Dallas Stars have placed defenseman Mathew Dumba on injured reserve and, in a corresponding move, recalled forward Matej Blumel from the AHL. Dumba has missed Dallas’ last two games with a lower-body injury that previously carried a week-to-week designation. An IR designation will now force him out for at least one week, though his injury isn’t expected to require surgery.

Dumba signed a two-year, $7.5MM contract with Dallas this summer. He only managed one full game with the Stars before suffering his injury six minutes into game two. Dumba recorded two penalties, two blocks, and no scoring in his sole Stars appearance.

Dallas stands as Dumba’s fourth team in just the last two years – moving from Minnesota to Arizona on a one-year deal signed in the summer of 2023, then getting traded to Tampa Bay at last season’s Trade Deadline. He hasn’t found much success with any of the previous three clubs, totaling just 12 points in 76 games last season. That mark stands as a career-low for Dumba, narrowly beating out his previous career-low of 14 points, set in 79 games during his final season in Minnesota. Dallas stood as a chance for Dumba to get back on the path, and maybe even rediscover the 50-point upside he flaunted in 2017-18 – but he’ll now first have to overcome the hurdle of an extended injury. Dumba recorded 18:28 in ice time in his Stars debut. Dallas has rotated minutes between Nils Lundkvist and Ilya Lyubushkin in Dumba’s absence.

Meanwhile, Blumel could receive another chance at earning routine NHL minutes. He played in the first six games of his NHL career in 2022-23, netting one goal and a -2 to go along with the 19 goals and 44 points he managed in 58 AHL games. Blumel spent the entirety of last season in the minor leagues, ramping up his production to 62 points, split evenly, in 72 games. That mark ranked him first on the Texas Stars in goals and second in total points. Blumel sits with one goal and two penalties through two AHL games this season. He’ll likely serve as bottom-six depth as Dallas bears through day-to-day injuries to both Tyler Seguin and Sam Steel.

Injury Updates: Dunn, Bjugstad, Steel, Eklund

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Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn missed a game last week due to an upper-body injury and now he’s banged up again.  Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times notes that the 27-year-old is listed as day-to-day after being injured in Friday’s victory over Philadelphia; he didn’t play in the final 23 minutes of the contest.  Head coach Dan Bylsma didn’t have a timeline for his return, stating that Dunn is still waiting on further evaluation.  Dunn is off to a solid start to his season with a goal and two assists in his first four appearances while logging a little under 19 minutes per night.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Utah HC center Nick Bjugstad is seven to ten days away from returning, per Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). The 32-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury that kept him out at the start of training camp.  He’s coming off one of his best seasons offensively after putting up 22 goals and 23 assists in 76 games with Arizona and was originally expected to miss all of October.  Now, it appears he might be able to beat that by a game or two.
  • Stars center Sam Steel was injured on his final shift on Thursday against Washington and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s contest versus Edmonton, mentions team radio analyst Bruce LeVine (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has a goal and an assist through his first five appearances this season.  With Tyler Seguin already out, Dallas would need to bring up a forward if Steel can’t play.  However, they can’t even afford a recall making $800K per PuckPedia which will limit their options.
  • Sharks forward William Eklund missed tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News. He had been listed as a game-time decision on Thursday but he managed two assists in the loss; head coach Ryan Warsofsky acknowledged postgame that the 22-year-old isn’t fully healthy.  With that in mind, holding him out of a back-to-back certainly made sense.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Anaheim Ducks

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Pacific Division, first up is the Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks

Current Cap Hit: $68,314.167 (below the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Leo Carlsson (two years, $950K)
G Lukas Dostal (one year, $812.5K)
F Cutter Gauthier (two years, $950K)
D Tristan Luneau (three years, $865K)
F Mason McTavish (one year, $894K)
D Pavel Mintyukov (two years, $918K)
D Olen Zellweger (two years, $844K)

Potential Bonuses:
Carlsson: $3.225MM
Gauthier: $950K
Luneau: $80K
McTavish: $2.5MM
Mintyukov: $800K
Total: $7.555MM (exceeds the 7.5% cap by $955K; that amount counts as a direct charge against the salary cap)

Anaheim took things slow with Carlsson last season, limiting him to just 55 games.  However, he played big minutes in those appearances and is seeing similar ice time early on this year.  That gives him a good chance to meet $1MM of his ‘A’ bonuses while the rest are unlikely.  We’ve seen the price tag for top young centers approach the $8MM mark post-entry-level and at this point, there’s little reason to think Carlsson shouldn’t be in that range as well.  Gauthier is in his first full NHL season after turning pro late last year.  Anaheim has high hopes for him as well although he’s obviously less proven at this point, making a second contract much harder to forecast.  His bonuses are also of the ‘A’ variety and could be achievable depending on the role he carves out for himself.

McTavish is the other young middleman that GM Pat Verbeek will be looking to sign in the relatively near future.  His first two full NHL seasons saw him just surpass the 40-point mark but being the third-overall selection, it’s fair to say that he’s still envisioned as being part of their long-term core.  His numbers at this point come in a bit below Matthew Beniers (who signed for seven years and $50MM on an extension that begins next season).  That would peg a long-term price tag at or just below $7MM (closer to $7.5MM on an eight-year agreement).  Alternatively, if they go with a bridge contract, that type of deal would be closer to $4MM on a two-year pact, $4.5MM or so on a three-year agreement.  He has $850K of ‘A’ bonuses in his deal and reasonably could max out on those with a strong showing this season.

On the back end, Mintyukov is someone they have high hopes for as another high draft pick.  He had a solid rookie campaign and is logging heavy minutes early on this year.  The market for some top blueliners coming off their entry-level deals who aren’t elite offensively has pushed past $8MM recently.  It’s not unfathomable that Mintyukov gets to that level over the next two seasons.  He has a good chance of reaching his ‘A’ bonuses based on his early-season usage.

Luneau missed almost all of last season which doesn’t help from a development perspective but he didn’t burn the first year of his deal either.  For this year, the priority will be simply getting regular game reps which makes projecting his next deal all but impossible at this point.  His bonuses are games-played based so staying healthy will allow him to reach at least most of those.  As for Zellweger, he was dominant at the AHL level last year and held his own in limited minutes.  A bridge agreement is likely for him and with what’s likely to be decent offensive numbers, it should push past at least $2MM.

Dostal has been thrown to the wolves at times but has put up more than respectable numbers over his first couple of NHL seasons.  Is he their starter of the future though?  That’s not a given so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land a bridge deal.  Given the contracts handed out recently to Yaroslav Askarov ($2MM AAV) and Jesper Wallstedt ($2.2MM AAV), Dostal’s contract should come in at a higher rate than that.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

D Brian Dumoulin ($3.15MM, UFA)
F Robby Fabbri ($4MM, UFA)
F Brett Leason ($1.05MM, RFA)
F Isac Lundestrom ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Brock McGinn ($2.75MM, UFA)
D Urho Vaakanainen ($1.1MM, RFA)
G James Reimer ($1MM, UFA)
F Frank Vatrano ($3.65MM, UFA)

Fabbri was picked up from Detroit in a cap-clearing move over the summer which wasn’t necessarily the worst outcome for him as he’ll play a bigger role with the Ducks than he otherwise would have.  Even so, given his long injury history, his next deal should check in closer to the $2.75MM range even though he consistently averages over half a point per game when he’s in the lineup.  Vatrano found another gear offensively last season with 37 goals, positioning himself nicely for the type of long-term deal that has eluded him thus far in his career.  He’ll be in his age-31 year next season so a max-term pact is off the table but five or six years could be doable.  If he can produce at a similar rate this year, that contract should push well past the $6MM mark.

McGinn is a serviceable fourth liner whose contract pays him more than that.  That’s likely to be corrected next summer when his deal should come in around half of this amount.  Lundestrom might be at the end of his rope with Anaheim if things don’t go well this year.  He took a pay cut to avoid being non-tendered this summer and until he can establish himself as a consistent top-nine center, he’ll be hard-pressed to land a sizable increase.  Leason, meanwhile, was non-tendered this summer to avoid arbitration eligibility but returned with a $250K raise in salary.  Another double-digit goal performance this season would help his value and push it closer to the $1.5MM range but he remains a non-tender risk nonetheless.

Dumoulin was also brought in with Seattle needing to clear salary.  His first year away from Pittsburgh wasn’t the greatest although he’ll at least benefit from likely a slightly bigger role in Anaheim.  Even so, his market wasn’t strong last time out and probably isn’t going to be much better barring an improved performance this year.  He could still land something around this price tag but a big raise is unlikely.  Vaakanainen has been more of a depth defender at this point of his career and has already been scratched this season.  He was non-tendered last summer to avoid arbitration rights and probably is heading for a similar outcome this time around, even if he’s worth something around this price point on the open market.

Reimer was picked up off waivers as injury insurance, sparing him from the third-string role he was heading for in Buffalo (at least for the time being).  At 36, he’s going to be going year-to-year moving forward, likely in the lower-end backup or third-string role so this price point is where his next deal should land as well.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Cam Fowler ($6.5MM, UFA)
D Radko Gudas ($4MM, UFA)
F Ross Johnston ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Jackson LaCombe ($925K, RFA)
F Trevor Zegras ($5.75MM, RFA)

Zegras and the Ducks couldn’t work out a long-term deal, settling on this bridge agreement last year.  The first season didn’t go well, to put it lightly as he battled injuries and ineffectiveness.  At this point, it’s hard to project a significant increase for his next contract unless he’s able to get back to his previous 60-point form.  Johnston is a fourth-line enforcer and with a lot of teams not carrying those, that limits his long-term value.  Still, as long as there are at least some teams open to deploying one, another contract around this price should be doable.

Fowler’s value depends on the eye of the beholder.  He’s certainly not a true number one defenseman but he has held that role for Anaheim for several years now and has done relatively well with it.  Given the minutes he covers, his price tag is solid value relative to others in that situation.  But if he was deployed in a more optimal spot (either second or third on the depth chart which is where he’d land on a lot of other teams), the contract moves somewhere between market value and a slight overpayment.  Fowler will be 34 when his next deal starts and if he’s elsewhere in a lesser role at that time, it’s hard to see a raise coming his way.  Instead, another multi-year deal around this price tag (in a higher cap environment) might be where he lands.

The fact that Gudas landed four years at this price point after primarily playing on the third pairing raised some eyebrows but it has worked so far for Anaheim.  The new captain has moved into the top four and handled it relatively well.  Having said that, he’ll be 36 when this deal expires so again, a raise isn’t overly likely.  A two-year deal around this price point could be, however.  LaCombe signed what’s frankly a below-market bridge contract for someone who averaged over 19 minutes a game the year before.  However, he at least secured a one-way salary (which is notable given that he’s still waiver-exempt) while he’ll have arbitration rights next time out.  If he can shoulder a similar workload for the next two years, tripling this price tag could be doable.

Signed Through 2026-27

G John Gibson ($6.4MM, UFA)
F Alex Killorn ($6.25MM, UFA)
F Ryan Strome ($5MM, UFA)

Killorn was a surprise signing in free agency last summer, both in terms of Anaheim getting him and the contract he received.  The idea was to add a quality veteran who could play in the top six and work with the young forward group.  But things didn’t go quite as planned in year one and, already 35, it’s hard to forecast a sharp improvement.  And considering he’ll be entering his age-38 year in 2027-28, this might be his last contract.  Strome hasn’t been able to match the output he had with the Rangers but now has five straight seasons of more than 40 points under his belt.  Given the annual high demand for centers, he could land a similar contract if he was on the open market now so thus far, the Ducks are getting a fair return on his agreement.

It wasn’t that long ago that Gibson was viewed as one of the top goalies in the league with his contract looking like a bargain relative to other top-paid starters.  But that has flipped in recent years.  His save percentage in the past five seasons combined is just .900, a mark that’s below league average.  Having someone below average in that mark making top-ten money isn’t ideal.  It’s possible that a change of scenery could allow him to bounce back to a point but it’s unlikely he’d rebound to a level of play that would make this a team-friendly pact.

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Utah HC Activates And Assigns Curtis Douglas To AHL

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While Utah HC got some rough news on the injury front today, they also cleared one of their depth players to return.  The Hockey News’ Tim Hiebert relays (Twitter link) that the team has activated Curtis Douglas from the injured, non-roster list and assigned him to AHL Tucson.

The 24-year-old spent last season exclusively with the Roadrunners, notching career bests in assists (16), points (21), and penalty minutes (148), finishing tied for fourth league-wide in the latter category.  The 6’7 center has four professional seasons under his belt, also spending time with Ottawa and Toronto’s farm teams.  The organization acquired him late in 2022 in exchange for defenseman Conor Timmins.

Douglas inked a two-year, two-way deal with Utah in early July after his entry-level contract came to an end.  The deal carries a $150K minor league salary this season before jumping to $325K for the 2025-26 campaign.  He has yet to receive an NHL recall but if Utah decides they need some extra grit on the fourth line, that could change in the coming months.

Metro Notes: Smith, Jiříček, Chinakhov

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According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have recalled defenseman Ty Smith from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. No corresponding roster move was needed as the Hurricanes had three spots open on the 23-man roster before the move.

Smith has already appeared in one game for the Wolves in his first season with the organization tallying one assist. He’s coming off a solid campaign with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a season that saw him score nine goals and 43 points in 63 games.

He’s unlikely to get that much playing time in Carolina with the team just needing another healthy body before a six-game road trip which begins this evening against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Smith may feature in a game or two if other members of the team need a rest but he should ultimately be headed back to Chicago in a few weeks.

Other Metro notes:

  • According to team reporter Jeff Svoboda, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ top defensive prospect, David Jiříček, will make his season debut tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild. In an interesting storyline to begin the 2024-25 NHL season, the Blue Jackets have healthy scratched the former sixth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft through the team’s first four games. In desperate need of playing time to keep his development headed in the right direction, it will be imperative for Jiříček to make well on his opportunities.
  • Staying in Columbus, Svoboda also added that Yegor Chinakhov did not practice with the team today but is expected back tomorrow. He had been dealing with a lower-body injury after last night’s game but it ended up just being a maintenance day for one of the team’s top forwards. Chinakhov has started the year on a torrid pace scoring two goals and six points through the organization’s first four contests.

Sabres Sign Scott Ratzlaff To Entry-Level Contract

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The Buffalo Sabres have added some goaltending depth to their organization. The organization announced they have signed netminder Scott Ratzlaff to a three-year, entry-level contract although he is unlikely to play with the organization this season.

Buffalo drafted Ratzlaff with the 141st overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft and his development in the WHL has exceeded expectations. The young netminder finished last season with a 21-26-1 record with a .905 save percentage and 3.33 goals against average in 52 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds but has gotten off to a torrid start this year.

He has a 3-0-0 record through the Thunderbirds’ first three contests with an impressive .933 SV%. His strong start to the 2024-25 WHL season comes after a solid preseason with the Sabres where he secured a 1.000 SV% in two games with 10 saves against the Pittsburgh Penguins and 20 saves against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The rookie head coach for the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Michael Leone, was enthusiastic about Ratzlaff’s preseason performance saying, “He’s been great. He did a really good job controlling pucks. We had a lot of defensive-zone faceoffs and he made sure we didn’t face a lot of second and third chances. He’s a young kid and this is a big moment for him. For him and his development, it’s only going to be good for him to move on and take confidence from this experience with him as he continues to progress“.

Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Canadiens, Woll

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The Detroit Red Wings recalled the eighth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, Marco Kasper, earlier today under emergency conditions. We now know the context under which that move was made. Max Bultman of The Athletic shares that forward Tyler Motte is being evaluated for an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s recent game against the New York Rangers.

Motte played most of Thursday’s game against the Rangers securing 9:33 of ice time but did receive quite the shot from rookie defenseman Vittorio Mancini in the first period. It became clear that Motte was unappreciative of the hit as he attempted to draw Mancini into a fight on his next shift.

With the team hopeful Kasper can give them an offensive jolt up front, the team will also gain reinforcements on the back end. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports defenseman Jeff Petry is medically cleared to play in the team’s next contest tomorrow afternoon. Petry has only factored into Detroit’s opening night loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins so far as he’s been recovering from an upper-body injury.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • The Montreal Canadiens will be somewhat bruised and battered in their upcoming game against the New York Islanders tomorrow evening. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that defenseman Kaiden Guhle won’t travel with the team as he’s dealing with an upper-body injury but fortunately, defenseman Mike Matheson will make the trip. Engels also shared that forward Juraj Slafkovsky would travel with the team to New York but he’s questionable to participate in tomorrow night’s action. Montreal will look to win their third contest of the season tomorrow night but may have to do so without some important pieces.
  • Goaltender Joseph Woll’s return to game action for the Toronto Maple Leafs is on the horizon as Nick Barden of The Hockey News reported the young netminder was a full participant at the team’s practice this morning. Woll has been on the team’s injured reserve with an upper-body injury since the regular season kicked off on October 9th. Toronto has gotten adequate goaltending in his absence between Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby combining for a .935 save percentage in four games with 4.2 goals saved above average according to Hockey Reference.

John Marino Still “Months” Away From Returning, Sean Durzi’s Timeline Uncertain

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New Utah Hockey Club defender John Marino must wait significantly longer before making his season debut. After being listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury at the beginning of camp and later upgraded to day-to-day, he was placed on IR at the start of the regular season. Now, it’ll be “months” before he can return to play, Utah head coach André Tourigny told reporters today, including Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah has still managed to get off to a 3-1-1 start without Marino, who they acquired from the Devils shortly after officially being established out of the ruins of the Coyotes. The 27-year-old right-shot defender was expected to serve as their top shutdown option and stabilize their top four while averaging over 20 minutes per game, but instead, he’s yet to even skate with the team a month after their first training camp began.

It’s an even more difficult blow to a new-look Utah blue line that’s also set to be without last year’s No. 1, Sean Durzi, for quite some time. The team confirmed yesterday that he’ll be out “for the foreseeable future” with an upper-body injury. Some reports, including one from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli yesterday, indicated he needed surgery and could be out for four to five months. But Tourigny declined to verify that today and only said Durzi’s injury wasn’t season-ending, per Fraser. It’s still unclear what the specific injury is, but he was seen wearing a sling earlier this week after taking an awkward hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on Monday.

A sixth-round pick by the Oilers in 2015, Edmonton traded his signing rights to the Penguins in 2019, shortly before they expired following his final season of collegiate hockey at Harvard. Marino unexpectedly cracked Pittsburgh’s opening night roster and hasn’t looked back, immediately cementing himself as a top-four defender and holding that role throughout his five NHL seasons to date. He spent the last two seasons in Newark after a 2022 offseason trade sent him to the Devils, where he had 43 points and a +15 rating in 139 games while averaging 21:01 per game.

Initially expected to comprise Utah’s bottom pairing to begin the season, veteran signing Ian Cole and Michael Kesselring have stepped into top-four roles on the right side alongside Juuso Välimäki and Mikhail Sergachev, respectively, to offset the losses of Durzi and Marino. Fringe NHLer Vladislav Kolyachonok and late-summer signing Robert Bortuzzo comprise the bottom pairing for now.

With Utah’s hot start and general manager Bill Armstrong’s recent aggressive streak, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pursue a right-shot defender on the trade market or waiver wire in the coming days now that Durzi and Marino’s long-term absences are confirmed, even without a specific return timeline.

Blackhawks Sign Landon Slaggert To Two-Year Extension

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The Blackhawks have inked forward prospect Landon Slaggert to a two-year extension, per a team release. It’s a one-way deal worth $1.8MM in total, working out to a $900K cap hit.

Slaggert, 22, didn’t crack the Hawks out of camp this year on his first try. However, signing him to a one-way extension indicates Chicago likely doesn’t envision that happening again. He’ll require waivers starting next year.

A third-round pick in 2020, Slaggert had an up-and-down collegiate career at Notre Dame. But a strong senior season saw him shoot up the Blackhawks’ prospect rankings, leading them in scoring with 20 goals and 31 points in 36 contests. The well-rounded offensive forward earned a spot on the Big 10 Second All-Star Team and was the Fighting Irish’s nominee for the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in college hockey.

Slaggert signed his entry-level contract last March following the conclusion of his collegiate schedule and immediately reported to the Blackhawks, where he had a goal and three assists for four points in 16 appearances to close out the season. The Indiana native can play both left wing and center but started on the wing, where he averaged 11:16 per game and managed a +1 rating in largely defensive usage.

He was set to become a restricted free agent next summer. For now, Slaggert remains on assignment to AHL Rockford, where he had an assist and a +1 rating in his season debut against Grand Rapids last weekend. He’s a versatile depth piece without many standout strengths but few notable weaknesses, too, likely making him a projectable bottom-six fixture in the Windy City. He’ll now be an RFA upon expiry in 2027.

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