Central Notes: Mittelstadt, Stars, Kealty
Casey Mittelstadt’s first full season with the Avalanche hasn’t gone as well as anyone would have hoped. Acquired at the trade deadline last year for Bowen Byram in a move that was intended to stabilize their center depth, the 26-year-old has instead had some struggles, notching just eight goals and 18 assists through 46 games despite logging nearly 18 minutes a night. That has led some to wonder if the Avs might need to make a move to upgrade that spot again. However, Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette argues that selling low on Mittelstadt probably isn’t the right move. For starters, there aren’t many prominent middlemen expected to be made available in the coming weeks while Colorado isn’t exactly loaded with trade chips and they’d have to use some to upgrade on Mittelstadt. Those chips might be better served being used to fill other needs so the most prudent course of action for the Avalanche may be to hope that Mittelstadt can work his way out of his first-half struggles.
More from the Central:
- Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News spoke with (subscription link) assistant GM Mark Janko to go over the reasoning for why Tyler Seguin hasn’t been placed on LTIR just yet which boils down to them simply not needing to do so. Seguin underwent hip surgery six weeks ago, a procedure that will keep him out for at least four months and Assimakopoulos notes that the team doesn’t expect him back at the four-month mark as he’s not expected back until after the regular season. With his absence, it’s fair to say that the Stars will be looking for some scoring depth between now and the March 7th trade deadline, especially if they eventually do move Seguin to LTIR to open up close to $10MM in extra cap space.
- USA Hockey announced on Friday that Jeff Kealty will serve as GM for their entry into the men’s World Championship in May. He’s in his 24th season with the Predators and his seventh as their assistant GM and Scouting Director. While he’s not an NHL GM, he’ll be working with several of them to help assemble the roster as he’ll be assisted by the U.S. Men’s National Team Advisory Group consisting of John Vanbiesbrouck and no fewer than ten active NHL general managers.
Avalanche Recall Ivan Ivan
Ivan Ivan was one of the early-season surprises for the Avalanche, going from an undrafted free agent signing to someone who played a regular role early on before recently being sent down. However, his time in the minors is over for now as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from AHL Colorado.
The 22-year-old spent last season on a minor-league deal with the Eagles, notching 12 goals and 19 assists in 62 games, a more than respectable showing as a rookie. That was enough for the Avs to ink Ivan to a two-year entry-level deal last March, giving them the chance to use him with the big club.
That opportunity came sooner than many expected as a strong preseason showing helped him break camp with the Avalanche. Ivan has played in 37 games with them so far this season, recording five goals and three assists while averaging 10:24 per night but hasn’t had a point since late November. He suffered an upper-body injury in late December and the Avalanche recently sent Ivan down to the Eagles to get a bit of playing time upon recovery. He got into two games with the Eagles, picking up a goal and an assist.
With Ivan’s return, Colorado is now at the maximum of 23 players on its active roster.
Devils Place Erik Haula On IR, Recall Colton White
1/18: Halonen has been returned to the NHL roster and will step into the lineup on Saturday, per James Nichols. Nichols also shared that the team is also anticipating the return of Noesen, who should return to his premier role in the middle-six.
1/17: The New Jersey Devils have moved centerman Erik Haula to injured reserve retroactive to January 4th, when Haula suffered an ankle sprain in a loss to the San Jose Sharks. He has missed five games since then. In a corresponding move, New Jersey has also recalled defenseman Colton White from the AHL’s Utica Comets. White’s recall gives New Jersey a seventh defenseman ahead of their pair of home games this weekend.
Haula is joined on the absentee list by fellow middle-six forward Stefan Noesen – who has missed the Devils’ last two games with illness. The duo’s absence has weighed heavily on a Devils team whose lack of depth is quickly becoming apparent. Noesen has far-and-away been the more productive of the pair, so far posting 28 points in 45 games this season. He’s only nine points shy of passing the career-high 37 points he scored last season – a mark he should smash, even despite missing time recently.
Haula only has 11 points on the year to match, a far step down from his point totals over the last three seasons. He has managed 44, 41, and 35 points in the last three seasons respectively – the first coming with Boston and the latter two in New Jersey. Haula’s ability to produce from down the depth chart has been a vital piece to keeping the Devils’ offense cohesive. New Jersey hasn’t found a replacement for that production with Haula lacking, and aren’t likely to find further help in his absence.
Finally, depth winger Brian Halonen has been reassigned to the Utica Comets in a paper transaction, per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. Halonen has posted a serviceable 13 goals and 21 points in 31 AHL games this season, but is still searching for his first NHL point after two scoreless games last season.
West Notes: Nichushkin, Arvidsson, Gourde
The Avalanche could have a key winger back in the near future as head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette (Twitter link) that Valeri Nichushkin is getting close to returning. He has been out since suffering a lower-body injury at the end of December. He also missed the first month of the campaign while being in the Player Assistance Program but when he has been in the lineup, Nichushkin has been quite productive. He has 11 goals and six assists through 21 games so far this season, good for eighth in team scoring despite missing more than half of their games.
Elsewhere out West:
- Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson left yesterday’s game against Colorado late in the third after blocking a shot. However, Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that the undisclosed injury isn’t believed to be too serious. That’s certainly good news for Edmonton as the 31-year-old has been a solid performer for them when healthy. While he missed 15 games earlier in the campaign with an undisclosed injury, Arvidsson has picked up 15 points in 30 games thus far, giving them some much-needed secondary scoring.
- Given the number of teams believed to be looking for center help, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli believes that the Kraken could be able to receive a first-round pick for pending UFA middleman Yanni Gourde. It has been a fairly quiet year for the 33-year-old who has six goals and ten assists in 35 games thus far. However, as someone who can kill penalties, play an important defensive role, play the wing if needed, and has a track record of some playoff success, Gourde is sure to receive significant interest. However, Seattle will almost certainly have to pay down the contract, one that carries a $5.167MM price tag that few contenders can afford.
Avalanche And Mikko Rantanen Not Making Progress In Extension Discussions
Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen has been one of the top-scoring players in the NHL over the past several seasons. His contract is set to expire this summer, making him arguably the top pending UFA in the league. Colorado has been trying to re-sign him but to this point, obviously no deal has been reached yet.
It doesn’t seem like the two sides are particularly close either. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported in a recent segment on Amazon Prime (Twitter link) that the two sides are believed to effectively be at a stalemate in their discussions.
Seravalli reports that the Avs are hoping to keep Rantanen’s price tag below the $12.6MM that Nathan MacKinnon makes. However, Rantanen’s camp is more interested in taking aim at Leon Draisaitl’s record-breaking contract, one that begins next season and carries a $14MM cap charge. Suffice it to say, that’s a pretty significant cap to try to bridge.
The 28-year-old had a very strong first half of the season, picking up 25 goals and 37 assists in his first 46 games though a league-high 13 empty-net points help inflate those totals a bit. Nonetheless, Rantanen finds himself on pace to surpass the 100-point mark for the third straight year while surpassing his career high of 105, putting himself in a great position heading into his first time potentially testing the market.
Since the 2020-21 season, only three players have recorded more points than the 429 that Rantanen has put up in a 335-game span. Two of them have already been mentioned here as the benchmarks that both sides are working with while the other is Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. All things considered, that’s quite the company to be in. Being in that tier of scorers means that Rantanen should get offers around the price point he’s believed to be seeking if he hits the open market, especially if the Upper Limit of the salary cap goes up by more than the current maximum of 5% as some expect.
Even with a higher-than-expected cap, affording a deal of that magnitude for Rantanen could be difficult for Colorado. Per PuckPedia, they have just over $79MM on the books for next season with 16 players on their current roster under contract. Even if they are able to get him in just below MacKinnon at, say, $12.5MM per year, they’d be over $91MM with several players still needing to be signed to get to the minimum-sized roster. If Gabriel Landeskog remains unable to play, they’d have more wiggle room with him on LTIR but Landeskog is still trying to get back to game action this season so at this point, management can’t count on that potential flexibility being available to them.
This could be a scenario where deferred money could help solve the issue on both sides. As we’ve seen multiple times this season, players who take deferred money carry a lower cap charge. Accordingly, it’s possible for Rantanen’s camp to get around $14MM per season on average but include enough deferred money to keep the cap hit below MacKinnon’s. Of course, Rantanen would have to agree to such an arrangement and considering he’s set to be the top player on the open market, he’ll undoubtedly receive offers that won’t have deferrals in there.
It doesn’t appear as if talks will be picking up right away either. Instead, Seravalli, who noted that the team has no interest in moving him should an agreement not be reached, relays that discussions are likely to resume during the break in mid-February. We’ll see if the next few weeks enable the two sides to bridge the gap or if the stalemate will last beyond that.
Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.
Metropolitan Notes: Kovacevic, Yegorov, Blue Jackets, Letang
The Devils are discussing the idea of potentially trying to re-sign defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (video link). Acquired for a fourth-round pick from Montreal in the summer to add defensive depth, the 27-year-old is logging nearly 20 minutes a game for New Jersey and has become an important piece of their back end. His presence helped push Simon Nemec to the minors, something the youngster recently voiced some frustration about; keeping Kovacevic could make it a bit harder for Nemec to get back to the NHL. Signed to a cap hit below the league minimum this season, Kovacevic could push for $3MM or more on the open market if his second half play is similar to how things went in the first few months.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Still with the Devils, prospect Mikhail Yegorov has found a new place to play. USHL Omaha announced that the goaltender has transferred to play at Boston University, effective immediately, a rare midseason enrolment. The 18-year-old was a second-round pick by New Jersey last June, going 49th overall. Yegorov improved his save percentage with the Lancers by 20 points this year, going from .892 to .912 but won just three of his 19 outings. He’ll now get his feet wet at the college level and becomes the 14th NHL-drafted player on the Terriers.
- Earlier this week, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported (Twitter link) that the Blue Jackets are open to the idea of holding onto their pending unrestricted free agents. Widely expected to be near the bottom of the division this season, Columbus instead has been on a nice run as of late to get into a Wild Card spot. The sustainability of that position will be challenged over the next couple of months but given the value of a young core playing meaningful games down the stretch, it seems it might not be a given that their rentals will move if they slide back in the standings over the coming weeks.
- The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Kris Letang was scratched from tonight’s game due to illness. The 37-year-old had a quiet first half of the season by his standards, collecting seven goals and 10 assists in 40 games while still logging over 23 minutes a night of playing time. That comes on the heels of putting up 51 points just last season.
Bruins Notes: Kastelic, Lindholm, Koepke
The Boston Bruins received a handful of injury updates at Friday morning’s practice. Most pressing, winger Mark Kastelic returned to full practices and could possibly return to the lineup when the Bruins visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. In a video posted on the team’s social media, Kastelic told media after practice that he’s hoping to return, but doesn’t want to rush anything. Kastelic has missed Boston’s last two games with an upper-body injury. He was placed on injured reserve on January 14th.
This is already Kastelic’s second injury of the season. He previously missed three days with a lower-body injury in November. He has been a key piece of Boston’s third line when healthy, recording 12 points in 43 games and averaging 11:19 in ice time this season. Kastelic is in his first season with the Bruins, after joining the team in the trade that sent Linus Ullmark to Ottawa. The change of scenery came with a boosted role – bumping Kastelic up after three years on Ottawa’s fourth-line. He’s clearly satisfied the Bruins’ expectations, earning a three-year, $4.7MM extension with the club earlier this month. Kastelic fell to injury just a few games after signing that deal, meaning a return from injury will mean a return to vindicating his new price tag.
In other Bruins news, top defender Hampus Lindholm returned to practice in a non-contact jersey on Friday, shares Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal. Lindholm has missed Boston’s last 29 games after he suffered a lower-body injury on November 12th. He was one of the Bruins’ most-utilized defenders in November, averaging 22:44 in ice time in his last four games before injury. Lindholm also managed seven points in 17 games, putting him on pace for 34 points across 82 games before he fell for the long-term. That total would have stood as the third-highest scoring season of Lindholm’s 12-year career. This news marks one step closer to Lindholm working back into the role of routine scoring and top-pair minutes.
Finally, Haggerty shared that forward Cole Koepke won’t play in the team’s Saturday game, per head coach Joe Sacco. Koepke sustained an injury with 10 minutes left in Boston’s Tuesday win over Tampa Bay, after taking a big hit from Bolts defenseman Darren Raddysh. Koepke immediately left for the locker room. Raddysh did not receive a penalty on the play. Koepke has so far been designated as day-to-day, though no specifics of his injury have been revealed. He’s also rotated through Boston’s middle-six this season, netting 12 points in 44 games while averaging just under 11 minutes of ice time each game. This is Koepke’s first full season on an NHL lineup, after combining for three points in 26 games with Tampa Bay over the last two seasons.
Islanders’ Maxim Tsyplakov Suspended Three Games
The NHL Department of Player Safety has issued New York Islanders winger Maxim Tsyplakov a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia Flyers winger Ryan Poehling on Tuesday night. The hit came in the latter half of the first period, with Tsyplakov flying into Poehling while he was crashing the net. Poehling left the game with a head injury, which NHL Player Safety points to as part of the reason why first-time offender Tsyplakov received a multi-game suspension. He did not receive a penalty during the game.
Additionally, Flyers center Scott Laughton has been fined $5K, the most allowable under the CBA, for cross-checking Tsyplakov in retaliation later in the game. Laughton cross-checked Tsyplakov in the back after he made a pass in the offensive end.
The aftermath of the chippy game, which ended in a Flyers win, will see the Islanders move forward without their third-line left wing. Tsyplakov has had a successful rookie season with New York. He has 19 points through 44 games, ranked sixth among all first-year players. The 26-year-old winger signed with the Islanders as an undrafted free agent this summer after spending the last seven seasons with Moscow Spartak of Russia’s KHL. Tsyplakov climbed every wrung of Spartak’s lineup, ultimately working his way up to a top-line role and 47 points in 65 games last season. He’s rotated through the Islanders’ middle-six in his first NHL season, ultimately averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time each game – seventh-most among New York’s forwards.
The Islanders will likely turn towards Hudson Fasching in Tsyplakov’s absence. Fasching has served as New York’s extra forward this season and hasn’t played a game since January 5th. He’s totaled 19 appearances but is still searching for his first point of the season.
Islanders Place Hudson Fasching On IR
The Islanders moved winger Hudson Fasching to injured reserve on Friday, per The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner. His roster spot goes to forward Marc Gatcomb, who comes up from AHL Bridgeport for the second time this week and will suit up in his second career NHL game Saturday against the Sharks.
Fasching, 29, has already missed four games with an upper-body injury, so he can come off IR at any time. He isn’t expected back until late next week, general manager Lou Lamoriello said.
The move keeps their already-open active roster spot open while still getting Gatcomb on the roster. They’ll need that additional roster spot for another forward recall if winger Maxim Tsyplakov, who earned a hearing Friday for an illegal check to the head against the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling in last night’s loss, gets a suspension as a result of his actions as well. The open spot could also go to winger Simon Holmström, who’s on IR and has missed seven games with an upper-body injury but was a full participant in practice Friday, per Rosner.
Fasching has been a non-factor with no points and a minus-six rating in 19 appearances this season. The Islanders waived the Wisconsin native to begin the season but recalled him from Bridgeport in late October after an injury to Anthony Duclair, and he’s managed to stay on the roster since with continuing injuries creating the need for an extra forward.
Now in his third season on Long Island, Fasching is averaging a career-low 8:56 per game, second-lowest on the team among qualified skaters ahead of Matt Martin. He’s in the back half of a two-year, one-way extension he signed after a 2022-23 campaign where he recorded a career-high 10 goals and 19 points in 49 games with a +10 rating.
Gatcomb, 25, made his NHL debut in Tuesday’s shutout loss to the Sens, skating 7:27 in place of the sick Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Pageau is back, but Gatcomb projects to enter the lineup to give veteran enforcer Martin a night off against San Jose. He has 17 points in 35 games for Bridgeport this season, his first in the Islanders organization after landing a two-way deal in free agency.
Oilers Sign John Klingberg
2:31 p.m.: Klingberg’s bonus is a signing bonus, not performance incentives, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports. There are no performance bonuses in the deal, but the prorated cap hit now rises to $1.35MM instead of $1MM.
1:57 p.m.: Klingberg’s contract carries a prorated base salary and cap hit of $1MM, Dreger reports. He can earn an additional $350K in performance bonuses. The Oilers confirmed the signing in quick succession.
12:37 p.m.: The Oilers are nearing an agreement with unrestricted free agent defenseman John Klingberg, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Friday.
Edmonton was one of a few Canadian teams and a smaller handful south of the border to express interest in Klingberg over the past few weeks, according to earlier reporting from Dreger. The 32-year-old, who finished as high as sixth in Norris Trophy voting twice early in his career, hasn’t played in well over a year after undergoing season-ending hip resurfacing surgery with the Maple Leafs in December 2023.
Klingberg became an unrestricted free agent last summer after the one-year, $4.15MM deal he signed with Toronto in 2023 lapsed after just 14 appearances. As a player with at least 400 NHL games played who spent at least 100 days on injured reserve in the prior season, he’s eligible to sign a one-year contract with performance bonuses that could lower the initial cap hit of the deal.
As with any contract involving performance bonuses, the Oilers must have the cap room to accommodate any bonuses he may earn as part of his deal. If they don’t, any amount they exceed the salary cap will be applied as a bonus carryover penalty to their 2025-26 picture.
Thanks to Evander Kane‘s continuing recovery from multiple surgeries, Edmonton should be in the clear with over $5MM in its LTIR pool. His availability for the rest of the regular season is in doubt after he underwent additional knee surgery earlier this month, carrying an eight-week recovery period and halting his rehabilitation from offseason abdominal surgery.
If he stays healthy, Klingberg serves as an early deadline pickup for the Oilers and takes some pressure off general manager Stan Bowman to give up assets for an additional right-shot defender. Edmonton’s left side of Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak have all averaged north of 20 minutes per game this season and done so with decent possession metrics, but the same can’t be said of depth righties Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher.
The Oilers needed another body to throw into the mix on either their second pairing alongside Nurse or their third pairing next to Kulak, and adding Klingberg gives them a far more offensively inclined option – albeit one that comes with significant defensive shortcomings. While still a serviceable power-play quarterback who posted five assists in last year’s injury-shortened campaign and has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in all of his 10 NHL seasons, his -60 rating between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 campaigns is sixth-worst among defensemen. In the 2022-23 season, which he split between the Ducks and Wild, he was on the ice for more expected goals against per game at even strength (1.13) than any other qualified defender in the league.
Edmonton will need to free up a roster spot to sign Klingberg officially. That will likely be demoting center Noah Philp or defenseman Josh Brown to AHL Bakersfield.
Klingberg will be a UFA again in months if his contract is a one-year pact, as expected. It will mark his third consecutive one-year deal after completing a seven-year, $29.75MM commitment with the Stars in 2022.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.