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Snapshots: Mukhamadullin, Ehlers, Nyquist, Drury

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The Sharks have recalled defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin from AHL San Jose, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link).  The 22-year-old was the 20th overall pick by New Jersey back in 2020 and was a key piece of the Timo Meier trade three years later.  Mukhamadullin missed all of training camp with a lower-body injury, eliminating any chance he had of making the team.  He was cleared to return at the end of October and has been with the Barracuda since then, collecting six assists in 14 games.  To make room for him on the roster, Jack Thompson has been returned to the AHL; the 22-year-old has done well in limited action so far, picking up five points in 14 games with the Sharks while averaging a little over 16 minutes a night.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers skated today for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury late last month, relays Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). The 28-year-old was off to a strong start before the injury, recording nine goals and 16 assists in 24 games to land him in the top four in team scoring.  Although Ehlers was back on the ice today, there remains no firm timetable for his return.
  • Predators winger Gustav Nyquist was a late scratch for tonight’s game against Calgary with the team announcing (Twitter link) that he’s listed as day-to-day with an illness. After a career year last season in his first year with Nashville that saw him record 23 goals and 52 assists in 81 games, the 35-year-old has struggled offensively this season.  Through his first 28 games, he has just six goals and four helpers despite logging nearly 18 minutes a night of playing time.
  • The Hurricanes announced (Twitter link) that center Jack Drury left tonight’s game against San Jose due to an upper-body injury and did not return. The 24-year-old is in his second full NHL season and after putting up 27 points in 74 games in 2023-24, he’s producing at a similar clip this year, picking up three goals and six assists in his first 27 outings.  Drury also has the highest faceoff rate of Carolina’s full-time middlemen, winning over 56% of his draws in the early going.

Czechia Releases Preliminary World Junior Roster

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Last week, several countries released their preliminary rosters for the upcoming World Juniors (or in Sweden’s case, pretty much their entire tournament roster was revealed).  Today, it was Czechia’s turn as their federation announced their preliminary roster, one that consists of three goalies, nine defensemen, and 15 forwards.  The roster is as follows with NHL affiliation, if applicable, in parentheses:

Goalies:
Michael Hrabal (Utah)
Jan Kavan
Jakub Milota (Nashville)

Defensemen:
Jakub Dvorak (Los Angeles)
Jakub Fibigr (Seattle)
Tomas Galvas
Vojtech Husinecky
Matteo Koci
Adam Jiricek (St. Louis)
Vojtech Port (Anaheim)
Marek Rocak
Patrik Volas

Forwards:
Vojtech Cihar
Jiri Felcman (Chicago)
Miroslav Holinka (Toronto)
Vojtech Hradec (Utah)
Adam Jecho (St. Louis)
Ondrej Kos (St. Louis)
Matej Mastalirsky
Adam Novotny
Dominik Petr
Eduard Sale (Seattle)
Petr Sikora (Washington)
Pavel Simek
Jakub Stancl (St. Louis)
Richard Zemlicka
Adam Zidlicky

St. Louis is by far the most represented NHL team out of this group with four players on the initial roster.  Their top prospect of the group is Jiricek, a player whose availability for this tournament remains in question.  Jiricek, the 16th overall pick back in June, has been limited to just four games with OHL Brampton this season.  The federation is in touch with the Blues and a decision will be made about him being released later on.

Up front, Sale is the headliner.  The 20th overall pick in 2023 by the Kraken, Sale is off to a solid start in the AHL with a dozen points in 19 games after splitting last season between OHL Barrie and Kitchener.  It’s expected that Sale will not be with the Czechs for the entire camp but join them later on; a release date is being worked out between the federation and Seattle.

Czechia is in Pool B with Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland for the event which gets underway on December 26th.  They’ll have to have their roster down to three goalies (which they are already at) and no more than 22 skaters by the time the tournament begins.

Minor Transactions: 12/10/24

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As usual, there have been a handful of minor moves around the hockey world today.  Here’s a rundown of the ones that haven’t been previously mentioned.

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they’ve once again recalled Nikolas Matinpalo from AHL Belleville. The 26-year-old has been shuffled back and forth in recent days but has yet to see any game action with Ottawa in 2024-25 but got into four games with the big club last season.  Matinpalo has played in 17 games with Belleville this season, collecting two goals and four assists, nearly halfway to his point production from 2023-24.
  • Hurricanes prospect Anttoni Honka will be staying overseas next season. HC Ajoie of the Swiss NL announced that they’ve signed him to a two-year contract that begins in 2025-26.  The 24-year-old is playing for Ajoie this season while on loan from Carolina, the second straight year he has played overseas despite being on an NHL agreement; he suited up for JYP in Finland last season.  This is the final year of Honka’s entry-level deal and considering he has already decided to stay in Switzerland, there’s a good chance he’ll be non-tendered this summer.  Honka was selected late in the third round in 2019.
  • Still with Carolina, the Hurricanes have re-assigned defenseman Ty Smith to AHL Chicago, per a team release. Smith has been shuffled back and forth throughout the season while spending time in a seventh defender role at times with Carolina but has yet to get into an NHL game this season.  The 24-year-old has three goals and four helpers in seven games with the Wolves so far.
  • Former NHL winger Brendan Perlini has found a place to play this season. Spartak of the KHL announced that they’ve inked the 28-year-old for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.  Perlini has 262 career NHL games under his belt over parts of five seasons with four different teams, collecting 50 goals and 31 assists over that span.  He spent the last two years exclusively at the AHL level, however, and picked up nine goals and 11 assists in 37 games with AHL Charlotte last season.
  • A day after being sent down, Max Sasson has been recalled by the Canucks, the team announced (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has two assists in seven games in his first taste of NHL action this season.  Sasson also has nine points in 16 games with AHL Abbotsford.  His demotion allowed Vancouver to bank a tiny bit more cap space as they look to avoid dipping into using LTIR.

Sharks Place Will Smith On IR, Activate Barclay Goodrow

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The Sharks placed rookie forward William Smith on injured reserve Tuesday, per Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News. His roster spot goes to veteran Barclay Goodrow, who’s coming off IR and will play in tonight’s game against the Hurricanes after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

Smith, 19, already missed San Jose’s last game, a 3-1 loss to the Panthers on Saturday, with an upper-body issue. Pashelka said he sustained the issue during an undisclosed collision during their 8-1 loss to the Lightning last week. His IR placement is retroactive to Nov. 5, so he could be eligible to return for their Saturday game against Utah.

It’s been a tale of two seasons for Smith, who San Jose drafted fourth overall in 2023. After he went his first eight games without a point, he has 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in his last 16 outings while averaging 14:32 per game. He’s shifted between center and right wing all season long and has played a few games alongside fellow future core piece Macklin Celebrini.

While it hasn’t been a dominant rookie showing for the Boston College product, it’s certainly been a promising one. Consistency is still an area in which he can improve, but he’s averaging over three shot attempts per game and has had an overall positive impact on the Sharks’ possession numbers at even strength. San Jose controls 48.2% of shot attempts with Smith on the ice compared to 45.0% without him.

The Sharks will at least get a veteran presence back in the lineup against the 17-9-1 Hurricanes as they look to bounce back from a nightmarish trip to Florida in which they were outscored 11-2. The 31-year-old Goodrow has had a nightmarish start offensively to his second stint in San Jose after being claimed off waivers from the Rangers over the summer, limited to two goals and no assists in 25 appearances despite averaging nearly 15 minutes per game.

While his offensive totals have continued their downward spiral since his career-best 13 goals and 30 points with the Blueshirts in 2021-22, Goodrow has been a valuable piece defensively for the Sharks. He leads San Jose forwards with 16 takeaways, is ninth on the team with a 47.3 CF%, and is one-quarter of their usual top penalty-killing unit with Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci and Mario Ferraro.

Goodrow will suit up as the Sharks’ third-line right wing in his return alongside Luke Kunin and Alexander Wennberg, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. Rookie winger Nikolai Kovalenko might also be in line to make his San Jose debut after being acquired from the Avalanche yesterday if Klim Kostin, who left today’s practice with a lower-body injury, can’t play, Max Miller of The Hockey News reports.

Kevin Shattenkirk Announces Retirement

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Unrestricted free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has announced his retirement after 14 NHL seasons and 952 regular-season games, per an NHLPA release. The 35-year-old wrote a lengthy message to his seven NHL teams, their staffs, and his family, and shouted out many other specific helpers and mentors, one you can read entirely on his X account.

The 6’0″, 212-lb Shattenkirk made his NHL debut four seasons after being drafted 14th overall by the Avalanche in 2007, but the Boston University product didn’t last long in a Colorado uniform. After recording seven goals and 26 points in his first 46 NHL games for the Avs, they dealt him to the Blues in a blockbuster trade before the 2011 deadline that saw former first-overall pick Erik Johnson head the other way.

By the time the 2011-12 season rolled around, he’d established himself as a fixture in the Blues’ top four, posting 43 points and a +20 rating in his sophomore season while placing 18th in Norris Trophy voting. “Shatty” went on to have the most productive years of his career in St. Louis, routinely averaging over 20 minutes per game, earning Norris votes three times, and totaling 59 goals and 258 points in 425 regular-season games as a Blue. He ranks seventh in Blues franchise history in goals, assists and points and sits 12th on the all-time franchise games played list among blue-liners.

St. Louis routinely made the postseason with Shattenkirk in tow but only advanced past the first round twice. But with Shattenkirk in the final season of his contract in the 2016-17 campaign and set to earn a considerable raise on his previous $4.25MM cap hit, St. Louis made him arguably the top rental acquisition available at the 2017 deadline and shipped him to the Capitals for a haul that included a first-round pick, later flipped to the Flyers to acquire future captain Brayden Schenn (Philadelphia used the selection to draft Morgan Frost). Shattenkirk managed 14 points in 19 regular-season contests for Washington but hit a rut in the postseason, limited to a goal and six assists in 13 games with a -4 rating as the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Caps were upset by the Penguins in the Second Round.

Shattenkirk understandably wasn’t brought back and hit free agency that offseason, inking a rich four-year, $26.6MM commitment with the Rangers. However, his offensive production and possession play dipped significantly upon arriving in Manhattan. After posting a career-worst 0.38 points per game and a -15 rating in the 2018-19 campaign, New York bought out the final two seasons of his contract and made him a UFA again ahead of schedule.

He landed a one-year, $1.75MM pact with the Lightning, receiving reduced minutes on a stacked defense core that featured names like Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev ahead of him on the depth chart. He responded with 34 points in 70 games, a much-improved 53.7 CF%, and added 13 points in 25 playoff games as he captured his first and only Stanley Cup.

Shattenkirk became a free agent again at season’s end. After rebuilding his market value in Tampa, he inked another multi-year deal, heading back to the Western Conference on a three-year, $11.7MM pact with the rebuilding Ducks. Anaheim had just a 71-114-35 record in Shattenkirk’s three seasons in Orange County. However, the New York native still averaged top-four minutes and posted 77 points in 212 appearances as a stable veteran presence along with Cam Fowler on an otherwise inexperienced Ducks back end.

After his tenure in Anaheim quietly ended in 2023, he joined the Bruins on a cheap one-year deal for the 2023-24 campaign. He played a supporting depth role more than anything else, serving as a semi-routine healthy scratch for the first time and averaging a career-low 15:47 per game. The right-shot defender still contributed 24 points in 61 games and received second-unit power-play duties, but that wasn’t enough to generate interest in a guaranteed deal for this season. Shattenkirk was connected to several teams on potential tryouts late in the offseason but opted not to sign any and didn’t participate in a training camp.

With Shattenkirk’s NHL career now officially in the rearview mirror, one of the few unsigned options on defense for teams still looking to add experienced depth is now off the market. He closes the book on a lengthy run in the pros that saw him record 103 goals, 381 assists and 484 points in 952 games. Along the way, he totaled 544 PIMs, 1,886 shots on goal, 928 hits, and averaged 20:17 per game for his career. His estimated career earnings total $60.725MM, per PuckPedia.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Kevin as he enters the post-playing phase of his hockey journey.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Maple Leafs Activate Max Domi From Injured Reserve

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The Maple Leafs announced that center Max Domi has been taken off injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Devils. Rookie winger Nikita Grebenkin was returned to AHL Toronto in a corresponding transaction to open up a necessary roster spot.

Domi, 29, will likely return to action after missing the last eight games with a lower-body injury. He last suited up on Nov. 16 against the Oilers and landed on injured reserve a few days later.

Before hitting IR, the Winnipeg native had gone without a goal in 19 games this season, registering six assists and averaging 15:18 per game. The veteran of nearly 700 NHL contests inked a four-year, $15MM extension with the Leafs a day before he would have otherwise hit the unrestricted free-agent market last summer.

After spending most of the early going down the middle, the Leafs will shift Domi to the left wing alongside William Nylander and John Tavares tonight in an effort to kickstart his offensive production, David Alter of The Hockey News reports. That news bodes well for 20-year-old rookie pivot Fraser Minten, who has four points in eight games since being called up last month and will continue to center Toronto’s third line for the time being, now flanked by Max Pacioretty and Pontus Holmberg.

While the Leafs’ roster count remains at the maximum of 23, they gain space in their LTIR pool with the move. They now have roughly $1.5MM in flexibility after reassigning Grebenkin with David Kämpf, Calle Järnkrok and Dakota Mermis still on the long-term injured list.

Domi’s absence did yield the first seven NHL appearances of the 21-year-old Grebenkin’s career. The 6’2″ Russian winger, who the Leafs drafted 135th overall in 2022, was quite the effective physical presence in fourth-line minutes with 13 hits in seven games.

Other than that, though, there wasn’t a ton to write home about. Grebenkin didn’t get on the scoresheet and posted a -3 rating while averaging 8:45 per game, and Toronto controlled just 37.8% of shot attempts with the rookie on the ice at even strength. The 2022-23 Kontinental Hockey League Rookie of the Year will look to get back on track offensively in the minors, where he had four goals and 10 points in 13 games before the call-up.

Kings Assign Arthur Kaliyev To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Kings announced that they’ve assigned winger Arthur Kaliyev to AHL Ontario on a conditioning loan. It will be Kaliyev’s first game action since suffering a fractured clavicle in a preseason practice session.

The 23-year-old’s reassignment comes two months to the day after general manager Rob Blake said Kaliyev would be out of action for six to eight weeks. He’s been back at practice for over a month now but evidently needed a slightly longer recovery window to get back up to game speed.

It was a tough break to start the season for the 2019 second-round pick, who had asked for a trade over the summer. The 6’2″, 210-lb winger was a frequent healthy scratch last season and was limited to 15 points in 51 games while seeing under 12 minutes of ice time per night. A restricted free agent for most of the offseason, he signed a one-year, $825K deal in mid-September to attend training camp with the Kings but sustained the broken collarbone just a few days later.

There’s likely even less of a chance at regular playing time for Kaliyev now on the surging Kings, who have won five in a row and are second in the Pacific Division with a 16-8-3 record. There may, however, be an opportunity for him to challenge someone like enforcer Tanner Jeannot (3-2–5 in 24 GP) for a top-nine role if Los Angeles can’t find a new home for him on the trade market during his stint in Ontario, which will last up to two weeks. He will remain on injured reserve during that time.

Kaliyev last appeared in Ontario during the 2020-21 campaign, his first professional season. He led the team in scoring during the COVID-shortened campaign with 31 points (14 G, 17 A) in 40 appearances.

His showing on the farm over the next couple of weeks will allow the Kings to evaluate whether they still see a future for him within the organization, although a strong run on the farm could also help boost his trade value. Teams are certainly open for business earlier than usual – there have been seven trades over the past couple of weeks, including ones involving youngsters in need of fresh starts like David Jiříček and Philip Tomasino.

Kaliyev, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at season’s end, has 35 goals and 36 assists for 71 points in 188 career appearances with the team. That’s on pace for 15 goals and 31 points over an 82-game season.

Lightning Recall Steven Santini

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The Lightning announced that they’ve recalled veteran defenseman Steven Santini from AHL Syracuse. Tampa Bay has an open roster spot and ample cap space, so no corresponding move is necessary.

Santini’s recall suggests that Erik Černák will be unavailable against the Oilers after he left Sunday’s game against the Canucks with an undisclosed injury. The 29-year-old, who gets his first recall since January 2023, will likely sit in the press box while Nicklaus Perbix, who served as a healthy scratch against Vancouver, re-enters the lineup.

A second-round pick by the Devils back in 2013, Santini is now on his fifth NHL organization and third in the last three years. He signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Bolts on July 2 after spending last season in the Kings organization on assignment to AHL Ontario.

Santini successfully cleared waivers during the preseason and has played in 14 of 22 games for Syracuse since then, recording five points and a -2 rating. He’s serving as an alternate captain, his third season doing so as an AHLer after holding the honor with Utica in 2020-21 and Springfield in 2021-22.

The 6’2″, 209-lb righty has 123 NHL games under his belt but none since a four-game run with the Blues in 2022-23. He has five goals and 18 assists for 23 career NHL points with a -8 rating, averaging 17:12 per game. Teams have historically been out-chanced pretty heavily with Santini on the ice at even strength, only controlling 42.6% of shot attempts.

The Bolts can keep Santini around for up to 30 days or play him in 10 games before he requires waivers to return to Syracuse.

Devils Activate Nathan Bastian From Long-Term Injured Reserve

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The Devils announced Tuesday that they’ve activated right-winger Nathan Bastian from long-term injured reserve. After recalling goaltender Isaac Poulter earlier this morning, New Jersey had a full active roster, so they reassigned right-winger Nathan Legare to AHL Utica in a corresponding transaction.

Bastian, 27, has not played since sustaining a jaw injury in a fight with Flames left-winger Ryan Lomberg on Nov. 1. The Devils retroactively placed him on LTIR on Nov. 18, per the league’s media site, removing him from the active roster and giving themselves a little extra spending flexibility in the process with the physical winger expected to miss more than the 10-game, 24-day minimum required.

It ended up being a 16-game, 39-day absence for Bastian, who will reprise a fourth-line role alongside Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar in his return tonight against the Maple Leafs, per the team’s Catherine Bogart. Before getting hurt, the 6’4″, 205-lb forward had two goals and three assists for five points in 12 games, averaging 10:29 per night.

The Devils are nearly $1MM over the cap after the trio of transactions today, so they’ve presumably shifted center Curtis Lazar and his $1MM cap hit from standard IR to LTIR to re-open their pool and remain compliant. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since late October and is out indefinitely after undergoing a procedure on his knee.

Bastian, a second-round Devils pick back in 2016, has played all but 12 of his 217 career NHL games in a New Jersey uniform. He was exposed in the 2021 expansion draft and claimed by the Kraken but ended up on waivers less than two months into his tenure with Seattle and was re-claimed by the Devils.

The Kitchener, Ontario, native is in the second season of the two-year, $2.7MM deal he signed to remain a Devil after being non-tendered in 2023. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Legare, 23, returns to Utica after appearing in his first three NHL contests this month. The 6’0″, 205-lb Montreal native logged a -1 rating, three shots, one block, and 12 hits while averaging 10:41 per game, although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.

A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019, Legare is already on his third NHL organization after being traded twice last season. He had three goals and 47 PIMs in 18 games with Utica before the call-up, and since his stay on the roster lasted less than 30 days and 10 games, he didn’t require waivers to head back to the minors.

East Notes: Chinakhov, Duclair, Pelech, Kozak

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Columbus Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov has missed the team’s last six games with an upper-body injury, and doesn’t seem close to a return. Head coach Dean Evason told NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda that Chinakhov is “progressing, for sure” but that he hasn’t yet returned to skating, making a return to the lineup hard to predict.

Chinakhov has 14 points, split evenly, through 21 games this season. He’s playing the best hockey of his career – scoring at a career-high pace, recording a positive +/- for the first time, and working his way into 17 minutes of average ice time each game. They’re all very positive signs of life for the 23-year-old winger, who’s bettering the 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games last season: an 82-game pace of 45 points. Improving on those numbers is helping Chinakhov justify his 21st-overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft – a shocking pick at the time, despite Chinakhov was one of Russia’s top junior scorers entering the draft. He made the jump to the NHL less than two years later and has since recorded 70 points and 34 penalty minutes in 166 career games. He’ll look to continue producing when he’s finally able to return to the lineup, though Evason suggests he’ll have to hit multiple checkpoints before that occurs.

Other notes from out East:

  • Both Anthony Duclair (lower-body) and Adam Pelech (upper-body) returned to the New York Islanders practices today, each wearing a no-contact jersey, shares Newsday’s Andrew Gross. It’s a timely step for both players, who were designated to miss one-to-two months in late October and early November respectively. Duclair landed on long-term injured reserve on October 26th, while Pelech was placed on standard IR on November 2nd. Duclair scored two goals and three points in five games before falling to injury, looking like a stout addition to New York’s top-six. Meanwhile, Pelech’s spot on the top pair likely remains unrivaled. He’s averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time through 11 games this season, recording four assists along the way. The duo are pacing to return to the lineup before the holiday break, though it’s yet to be seen if that timeline will actually come to fruition.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have sent young winger Tyson Kozak back to the minor leagues. It’s unclear if this is a means of accruing daily cap space before Wednesday’s matchup against the Rangers, or if Kozak’s assignment is expected to stick. Kozak received the first three NHL games of his career on this recall. He scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game – but it got called back after a coach’s challenge from Jets head coach Scott Arniel. Not to be denied, Kozak managed to score again in his second game – this time cementing his first goal at the top flight. He served in a fourth-line role throughout his recall, and could be at risk of formally losing an NHL spot with the return of Jordan Greenway and Sam Lafferty from injury.

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