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Red Wings Sign, Waive Auston Watson

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Oct. 8, 1:13 p.m.: Watson cleared waivers today, per Friedman. He was on yesterday’s roster submission but has now been assigned to AHL Grand Rapids, per Ansar Khan of MLive.com.

Oct. 7, 1:14 p.m.: Detroit placed Watson on waivers Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Since he’s been signed and waived on the same day, he can be designated non-roster and not count against the cap for the Red Wings’ opening-night submission.

Oct. 7, 10:02 a.m.: Winger Austin Watson has converted on his professional tryout and signed a two-way deal with the Red Wings, per a team announcement. It’s a league-minimum $775K cap hit and NHL salary with a $200K AHL salary and $275K guarantee, per PuckPedia. As pointed out by The Athletic’s Max Bultman on Sunday, he’ll likely start the season on the NHL roster.

The Wings opened up a roster spot by cutting center prospect Marco Kasper to AHL Grand Rapids yesterday. Watson will need to clear waivers if Detroit wants to send the veteran enforcer to the minors at any point this season, but for now, all signs point to him starting as their 13th forward.

Watson, 32, has 515 games of NHL experience across 10 seasons. He suited up for the Lightning last year after another successful PTO but recorded just two goals and four points in 33 games with 93 PIMs and a +2 rating. The right-shot winger has displayed some offensive upside in flashes, recording 14 goals once during his time with the Predators and hitting the 10-goal mark again with the Senators in 2021-22. But he’s a fourth-line option at most, averaging 10 goals and 19 points per 82 games over his career.

But the 6’4″, 204-lb winger is still an effective physical presence. His possession metrics don’t indicate his heavy style of play translates into any positive impacts defensively at even strength, but he consistently ranks among his team’s hit leaders and has topped 100 PIMs in a season twice (2017-18, 2022-23).

Golden Knights Place Raphael Lavoie On Waivers

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The Golden Knights have placed forward Raphael Lavoie on waivers in an attempt to assign him to AHL Henderson, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Lavoie was claimed by Vegas just yesterday after being waived by the Oilers over the weekend.

Lavoie, 24, made his NHL debut just last year. The 6’4″ center/winger made seven appearances for Edmonton in November and December, posting a -2 rating with four shots on goal while averaging a paltry 7:17 per game. His 50 points in 66 games on assignment to AHL Bakersfield had him on the cusp of making the opening night roster, but he just missed the cut and landed on the waiver wire.

The Golden Knights also claimed Cole Schwindt off waivers from the Flames yesterday, but they don’t have the roster space to keep both long-term. Center William Karlsson will start the year on injured reserve to keep their roster at the maximum of 23 players, but he won’t be out for much if any time. Someone would have needed to hit waivers upon his return – likely one of the new guys so as to avoid exposing valuable defensive depth in the form of Ben Hutton or Kaedan Korczak to the wire. While a waiver placement today wasn’t necessary, the Knights hope that attempting to send Lavoie down now before more injuries pop up across the league gives them a chance to stash him in Henderson.

That likely won’t be the case, though. Derek Van Diest of NHL.com reports the Oilers have an interest in retaining Lavoie and will likely submit a claim before tomorrow’s deadline. If they’re the only team to do so, they can send him directly to Bakersfield without having to pass him through waivers again.

Panthers Place Chris Driedger, MacKenzie Entwistle On Waivers

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The Panthers have placed goaltender Chris Driedger and forward MacKenzie Entwistle on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Charlotte, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. They’ll have three open roster spots and an extra $1.57MM cap space after they pass through or are claimed tomorrow, allowing them the flexibility to recall netminder Spencer Knight from AHL Charlotte as expected.

Driedger, 30, returned to the Sunshine State for his second stint with the Panthers in free agency this offseason on a one-way deal worth $795K. He’s been a high-ceiling NHL option when healthy, logging a career .917 SV% and 2.45 GAA in 67 appearances, but injuries have truncated his ability to cement himself as a full-time tandem option on a year-to-year basis.

He spent most of the last two years of the three-year, $10.5MM pact he signed with the Kraken in 2021 in the minors, making back-to-back Calder Cup Final appearances with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Driedger was especially strong last season, logging a .917 SV% and 24-7-7 record in 39 games for the Kraken’s farm club, but he’ll still end up as the No. 3 option in Florida – at least after backing up Sergei Bobrovsky for tonight’s contest against the Bruins.

With most teams in need of short-term goalie help making claims over the past few days, Driedger stands a shot to pass through waivers unclaimed. Teams looking to stash him in the minors for insurance would need to waive him again to do so, just opening the door for Florida to bring him back.

Entwistle, 25, had served as a frequent fourth-line option for the Blackhawks over the past three seasons. He’s made 193 career appearances, scoring 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points with a -55 rating. Despite an eye-popping -29 mark last year despite averaging just 11:23 per game, Entwistle posted the strongest possession metrics of his career with a 43.8 CF%, slightly above Chicago’s horrid team average.

After going unqualified and signing a two-way deal with the Cats, Entwistle technically cracked the opening night roster but is projected to be a healthy scratch for tonight’s home opener. If he clears and heads to the AHL, he’ll earn a $450K salary.

Sabres Notes: Aubé-Kubel, Peterka, Benson

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Sabres winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel will miss the next three to six weeks with a lower-body injury, head coach Lindy Ruff said in today’s injury report. He was already placed on injured reserve yesterday before opening night rosters were due, allowing the Sabres to retain Jiri Kulich on the active roster with other forwards battling short-term injuries.

Aubé-Kubel left Buffalo’s regular-season opener against the Devils in Prague on Friday in the third period and didn’t return. He took a minor penalty, recorded two shots on goal, and added three hits in 5:45 of ice time in his truncated Sabres debut.

It’s a tough break for the 28-year-old, who’s hoping to be a regular on the Sabres’ fourth line after inking a one-year, $1.5MM deal in the offseason. The bang-and-crash winger had been effective in preseason on a unit with Beck Malenstyn and Sam Lafferty – the former of whom was also Aubé-Kubel’s linemate with the Capitals last year. The 2014 second-round pick of the Flyers has limited offensive upside, only once hitting 10 goals and 20 points, but he’s a feared checker with a lengthy history of good possession metrics in tough defensive usage. He had 16 points (6 G, 10 A) in 60 games for the Caps last year.

Other injury updates out of Buffalo:

  • One of those aforementioned forwards battling short-term injuries is John-Jason Peterka, who left the second Global Series game against New Jersey with a concussion after being laid out by Devils defender Brenden Dillon. He was given an official day-to-day designation today, per Ruff, and skated on his own. The German winger is a big loss for the Sabres if he misses any length of time – he started the year in a top-line role alongside Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch after breaking out for 28 goals and 50 points last season. The 2020 second-round pick hasn’t been ruled out for their home opener against the Kings on Thursday, but it would be surprising to see him draw into the lineup less than a week after a concussion diagnosis.
  • Also dealing with a day-to-day injury is sophomore winger Zach Benson, who Ruff said today has yet to resume skating with his lower-body injury. That’s a concerning sign for his availability against the Kings and could force the Sabres to make an IR placement in the next 48 hours to open up space for a recall from AHL Rochester. They have 13 forwards on the active roster but only 11 healthy ones with Benson and Peterka out. The 19-year-old sustained the injury in the first Global Series game but played through it, logging 17:23 of ice time.

Avalanche Prospect Sean Behrens Out For Season With Knee Injury

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Avalanche defense prospect Sean Behrens sustained a knee injury on Saturday while practicing with the team’s AHL affiliate and will miss the entire 2024-25 season, the team announced today.

It’s a tough break for one of Colorado’s most intriguing prospects in an otherwise thin pool. The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of the Avs back in 2021 out of the U.S. National Development Team Program. He arrived in Denver the following season, but not with the Avalanche. Instead, he embarked on a three-year run with the University of Denver, one that proved to be the right choice for his development.

In addition to the numerous individual honors Behrens received, he was a core piece of the Denver blue line that helped the school to two national championships in three years. Behrens notched 81 points and a +45 rating in 112 appearances there and was named the NCHC’s Best Defensive Defenseman last season. After winning it all again with Denver, Behrens ended the season with an assist in one regular season and one playoff game for AHL Colorado.

The 5’10” left-shot defender was expected to log top-four minutes for the minor-league Eagles this season but will instead spend the campaign out of game action and in the practice rink recovering. While he didn’t make the opening night roster, he was a strong candidate to see an NHL recall at some point this season as well. He has two seasons left after this one on his entry-level deal at a $906K cap hit.

Blues Recall Zachary Bolduc, Likely To Move Torey Krug To LTIR

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The Blues announced this morning that they’d recalled center Zachary Bolduc from AHL Springfield. He wasn’t on the team’s opening night roster submitted yesterday but will be on hand for their season opener today against the Kraken.

They have an open roster spot for Bolduc’s recall but only $468K in cap space, per PuckPedia. That’s not enough to add his $863K cap hit to the active roster. It’s likely that defenseman Torey Krug, who will miss the entire 2024-25 season after undergoing surgery to address pre-arthritic conditions in his left ankle, has been moved from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve to create the cap space necessary for the transaction.

St. Louis drafted the 21-year-old Bolduc with the 17th overall pick in 2021. He’s coming off his first professional season, in which he spent significant time on both the Blues’ roster and with Springfield. He burned his Calder eligibility for this year by making 25 NHL appearances in 2023-24, recording five goals and four assists for nine points while averaging 12:01 per game. A natural center, the 6’0″, 187-lb forward was deployed exclusively on the wing in NHL action last year.

He didn’t look out of place, but after posting 110 points with the QMJHL’s Québec Remparts in 2022-23, his offense didn’t pop as the Blues might have hoped in Springfield. The pivot was limited to eight goals in 50 games, adding 17 assists for 25 points.

St. Louis hopes his NHL showing last year is more reflective of his long-term ceiling. Bolduc was a legitimate factor offensively, recording a somewhat sustainable 13.2% shooting rate on 38 shots on goal. His possession numbers were underwhelming with a 43.1 CF% and 42.3 xGF% at even strength, but those should improve with time for a young forward.

While Bolduc signed his entry-level contract back in 2021, it slid twice due to his lack of NHL playing time. He’s still got another year left on his rookie deal after this and will be a restricted free agent in 2026. He remains waiver-exempt for two more seasons or until he plays 160 NHL games.

Avalanche Recall Nikolai Kovalenko, Ivan Ivan

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The Avalanche have made a pair of opening night transactions, recalling forwards Nikolai Kovalenko and Ivan Ivan from AHL Colorado.

At least one of them will make their NHL debut tomorrow against the Golden Knights. Due to cap constraints and in an attempt to maximize their potential LTIR capture, the Avalanche only had 11 forwards on the opening night roster they submitted yesterday. Kovalenko and Ivan were sent down yesterday, just hours before Colorado’s initial roster was due, and were both expected to rejoin the club today.

If Kovalenko draws in, it’ll only be his regular-season debut. He made his NHL debut in last year’s playoffs, skating in Games 4 and 5 of their first-round win over the Jets and failing to get on the scoresheet. Still, it would be a nice early birthday present for the 2018 sixth-round pick, who turns 25 next week. The pending restricted free agent has spent the last two seasons playing a pivotal role for the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, erupting for 89 points in 98 games there while serving as an alternate captain. After arriving in Colorado to end last season, he also tallied three points in four AHL games.

It would be a true debut for the 22-year-old Ivan, though. The Czech pivot went undrafted after recording 177 points in 191 games over three seasons with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles, settling for an AHL deal with Colorado’s affiliate last summer. He had a solid showing, totaling 31 points (12 G, 19 A) in 67 games en route to landing an entry-level NHL deal with the Avs in March. He was viewed as a potential call-up option this season, but even with the Avs’ multiple top-six forward absences in Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, and Valeri Nichushkin, he was a long shot to make the roster. It’s clear he’s made a good chunk of headway on Colorado’s depth chart with a strong camp.

The Avs had the roster space but not the cap space to execute this transaction, so it’s fair to assume either Landeskog, Lehkonen, or newly-acquired defenseman Tucker Poolman has been placed on long-term injured reserve in a corresponding transaction.

Panthers Expected To Recall Spencer Knight

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Goaltender Spencer Knight was left off the Panthers’ opening night roster, but he’s still made the team in effect, reports Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic. The waiver-exempt netminder was quietly assigned to AHL Charlotte yesterday but will be brought back up to the NHL for the first time since 2022-23 as soon as Florida opens up the cap space to do so.

Knight, still just 23, has a career 32-17-6 record in 57 appearances for the Panthers with a .906 SV% and 2.91 GAA. The 2019 first-round pick last saw NHL action in February 2023, entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program before spending all of 2023-24 in the minors.

It hasn’t been the workload the Panthers envisioned for Knight after perhaps prematurely signing him to a three-year, $13.5MM extension in September 2022 that covered the 2023-24 through 2025-26 seasons. Now in the second year of that deal, Florida is still on the hook for $3.35MM of his $4.5MM cap hit while he’s in the minors, so they only need to open enough space to add $1.15MM in cap hit to their roster. They currently have $130K in cap space, per PuckPedia, so they could create enough space by moving injured forward Tomáš Nosek from IR to LTIR and waiving goaltender Chris Driedger, who’s currently slotted as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup, and his $795K cap hit.

The Connecticut native had an underwhelming regular season with Charlotte last year, posting a .905 SV% and 2.41 GAA in 45 games. He ended his season on a high note with a .925 SV% in two postseason games, though, and will look to carry that momentum into his NHL return.

Artem Anisimov Announces Retirement

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Veteran forward Artem Anisimov has retired, the NHLPA confirmed today. The 36-year-old hangs up his skates after a 13-year run in the NHL with four different teams.

It marks the end of a very respectable career for the Russian center, whom the Rangers selected in the second round of the 2006 draft. A solid two-way pick out of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl organization, he was in North America with AHL Hartford one year later and had cracked New York’s NHL roster as a full-timer beginning with his age 21 season.

Anisimov was an extremely reliable middle-six piece over his first few seasons. After making the Rangers’ opening night roster for the first time in 2009, he would go nearly two and a half years without missing a game. Anisimov churned out 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in his first NHL campaign before having his best year in New York in his sophomore year, finishing fifth on the team in scoring in 2010-11 with 44 points (18 G, 16 A) while averaging 16:12 per game and taking over 700 draws.

The 2012 offseason brought an end to Anisimov’s time in Manhattan, however. He was one of many pieces sent to the Blue Jackets in that summer’s blockbuster swap that sent Rick Nash to New York. His tenure in Columbus was met with a bit less fanfare, struggling a bit with injuries and seeing slightly diminished possession impacts compared to his time with the Rangers. He did, however, set a career-high in goals with 22 while with the Jackets in 2013-14, helping the franchise to their second playoff appearance in team history.

A pending unrestricted free agent entering the 2015 offseason, it was clear Anisimov’s long-term future wasn’t in Columbus. He was sent to the Blackhawks in a swap that essentially amounted to a one-for-one deal with Brandon Saad going the other way, with none of the minor assets included in the trade having any long-term relevance. Unfortunately for Anisimov, he joined Chicago on the back end of their championship window and never captured a ring with them. But he did have the best years of his career in the Windy City after signing a five-year, $22.75MM extension. He hit the 20-goal mark three years in a row and earned Selke votes in 2016.

After totaling 155 points in 291 games with the Hawks, he was sent to the Senators for Zack Smith. Injuries finally caught up to him after a relatively healthy career, though, limiting him to 68 appearances over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. He never landed another NHL contract after becoming a UFA in 2021, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. After spending the 2021-22 campaign back home with Lokomotiv, he played out the last two campaigns on AHL deals with the Flyers’ and Rangers’ affiliates in search of another NHL try that never came.

In 771 career appearances, Anisimov put together 180 goals, 196 assists, and 376 points. He recorded a -17 rating, 214 PIMs, and a 46.1% career win rate in the dot. He also added 17 points in 43 postseason games with the Rangers (2009, 2011, 2012), Blue Jackets (2014), and Blackhawks (2016, 2017). His career earnings totaled nearly $37.5MM, per CapWages. All of us at PHR congratulate Anisimov on his strong career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Report: Igor Shesterkin Rejected Eight-Year, $88MM Extension Offer

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The Rangers will have to pay a historic amount to keep their star netminder off next year’s unrestricted free agent market. Igor Shesterkin has rejected an eight-year extension offer from the Blueshirts worth $88MM, reports Kevin Weekes of ESPN. The deal would have made him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.

Not only is Shesterkin the highest-profile goaltender set to be available in free agency next summer, he would be the highest-profile goaltender to hit UFA status in the salary cap era. But there’s a clear interest from the player’s side to remain in New York. They’ve been in contract talks since at least August, although a report from the New York Post’s Mollie Walker back in June indicated Shesterkin was likely looking for a $12MM price tag per season on an eight-year extension.

If Shesterkin and agent Maxim Moliver have held to that figure, then there’s still a $1MM gap to bridge between the Rangers and the 28-year-old. Walker wrote last month that Shesterkin would stop contract negotiations once the regular season started, so if there isn’t significant movement before New York opens its season in Pittsburgh tomorrow night, Rangers general manager Chris Drury will have the entire 82-game schedule to ponder whether he’s willing to shell out the additional cash to keep Shesterkin in Manhattan.

All signs up to this point indicate the Rangers were and still are willing to give Shesterkin the richest goalie contract ever, eclipsing Carey Price’s eight-year, $84MM extension with the Canadiens. That obviously hasn’t changed considering their $88MM offer, but Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff’s report last month that the Rangers were “unfazed” by Shesterkin’s unwillingness to negotiate during the season suggests they anticipated being able to get him to come down slightly from his $12MM AAV ask.

It’s certainly a gamble on Shesterkin’s part to reject the offer. He now essentially controls his destiny with his performance this season. A second career Vezina nomination likely cements his ability to land north of $12MM annually on the open market, while a still elite but more inconsistent showing like last year’s (.912 SV%, 2.58 GAA, 14.2 GSAA) likely keeps him in the 11s.

While the markets are completely different for skaters and goaltenders, it’s clear Shesterkin is looking to capitalize on an expected run of inflated contracts for franchise cornerstones after the Oilers forked over $14MM annually to keep Leon Draisaitl on an eight-year extension, the richest contract since the 2012 lockout. The Bruins signing restricted free agent netminder Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year, $66MM deal over the weekend likely helps Shesterkin’s case as well. The Russian has superior career regular-season and playoff numbers to his Eastern Conference counterpart and has started 50-plus games in each of the last three seasons – something Swayman’s never done.

Simply put, losing Shesterkin in the middle of their championship contention window is not an option for the Rangers, who have been a much more pedestrian possession club at even strength than you’d expect, given their record over the past few years. Shesterkin has saved 82.38 goals above expected over the past three years, per Evolving Hockey, second to only Jets star Connor Hellebuyck. He stopped 86.58 in that frame but logged 24 more games played. There’s an extremely strong argument that he’s the league’s best goaltender, and there’s nothing resembling a succession plan in the Rangers’ prospect pipeline.

With more clarity on next year’s salary cap likely to come as the season progresses, Drury may be more willing to allocate the money needed to keep Shesterkin when the season wraps up. However, a successful season for the Rangers results in a Stanley Cup Final appearance, which would leave only a few days for Drury and Shesterkin’s camp to work out a deal if he remains unwilling to negotiate while game action is ongoing.

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