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Penguins Notes: Jarry, Rust, Nieto

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic expects Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry to return to the NHL lineup sometime next week. Jarry has been with the Penguins American Hockey League affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has posted stellar numbers with a 3-0 record and a .937 save percentage as well as a 1.95 goals-against average.

Yohe thinks Jarry may bump rookie Joel Blomqvist back to the AHL which makes sense, given the play of fellow netminder Alex Nedeljkovic. The Penguins need to see Jarry in NHL action again before they can decide what to do in the crease for the rest of the season, and they could certainly use some good news after a rough start to the season. The Penguins can keep Jarry in the AHL for two weeks during his conditioning stint, which makes November 11th the date he will likely return to the NHL.

In other Pittsburgh Penguins notes:

  • Penguins forward Bryan Rust reportedly reaggravated a preseason injury when he exited a game against the Vancouver Canucks last week (as per Josh Yohe of The Athletic). Rust suffered a lower-body injury in the preseason, and when the injury resurfaced last week, there was fear that it could be serious, but that is not the case. The Penguins want to get Rust back to full health and plan to ease him back into things so he can function optimally when he is in the lineup.
  • Penguins forward Matthew Nieto was reportedly a full participant in practice today (as per Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The 31-year-old has been out of action since last season as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery. He remains on long-term injured reserve and will need to be activated once he is cleared for game action. It’s fair to wonder if Nieto will be a regular when he is ready to return, as the Penguins have a pile of depth options for their bottom six and may not have room for the 11-year NHL veteran.

Pacific Notes: McDavid, Demko, Forbort

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There’s growing optimism within the Edmonton Oilers organization that captain Connor McDavid could return sooner than expected. Tom Gazzola of Edmonton Sports Talk reported video of McDavid skating on his injured ankle earlier this morning adding he hasn’t ruled out playing this upcoming weekend.

The Oilers originally believed McDavid would miss two to three weeks with an ankle injury but two weeks may be the maximum. The fact that McDavid is already back skating on the ice is a positive step in the right direction regarding his recovery timeline.

McDavid hasn’t played since Edmonton’s blowout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 28th. The Oilers have done as well as possible in his absence securing wins against the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames but have two difficult games this week against the New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights. Should McDavid return this weekend in the Oilers’ contest against the Vancouver Canucks he will have only missed a total of four contests.

Other Pacific notes:

  • Another Pacific Division team with positive news on the injury front is the Canucks. The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal reported earlier that goaltender Thatcher Demko is on the last step before being medically cleared to practice although his timeline is still up in the air. Vancouver could certainly use a reinforcement in the crease. Free agency pickup Kevin Lankinen has held down the fort with a .919 save percentage through seven starts but backup netminder Arturs Silovs has struggled to a .797 SV% mark in three.
  • Staying in Vancouver, Harman Dayal of The Athletic reported defenseman Derek Forbort got shaken up during a practice drill and left early. Dayal noted that Forbort appeared to favor a leg as he left the ice but the team didn’t update his status after the practice. If Forbort is unavailable in tomorrow night’s action against the Anaheim Ducks expect one of Vincent Desharnais or Noah Juulsen to suit up on the bottom pairing.

New York Islanders Reassign Samuel Bolduc

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According to a team announcement, New York Islanders’ defensive prospect Samuel Bolduc is headed back to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders after only one game in the NHL. The former 57th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft had the opportunity for more playing time in New York with injuries to Alexander Romanov and Mike Reilly. Still, he was unable to capture a consistent spot in the lineup.

Bolduc was largely invisible in the team’s loss against the New York Rangers last night. He skated in 5:56 of the action but was kept off the stat sheet entirely aside from producing a -1 rating. The demotion to the AHL seemed inevitable, as was evident in head coach Patrick Roy’s comments after the game. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News captured the quote of Roy saying, “It’s sad. Those things happen, but Sam [Bolduc] needs to be better if he wants to play in the NHL. He’s got to understand [that] and step up. He’s a good hockey player. He’s got all the tools. Now, he just needs to figure it out. But he needs to be better if he wants to play for us“.

The young defenseman now finds himself in a difficult position. He’s been solid offensively throughout his tenure in the AHL with 20 goals and 62 points in 151 games over the last five seasons. Unfortunately, he has still not taken adequate steps in the right direction with his play on the defensive side of the puck prohibiting him from becoming a full-time member of the Islanders. The clock is ticking on his time as a top prospect in New York’s system and he has yet to inspire much confidence in the organization’s coaching staff.

The move also suggests the Islanders’ are more willing to play down a man on defense than give Bolduc any meaningful playing time. Stefen Rosner reported earlier that Romanov and Rielly are still considered day-to-day meaning they may only have five tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Still, there is some hope Romanov can return tomorrow giving New York some confidence they’ll be able to deploy a complete blue line.

Boston Bruins Sign Tyler Johnson

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Veteran forward Tyler Johnson finally has a resolution on his professional tryout agreement with the Boston Bruins. The organization announced they signed Johnson to a one-year contract for the 2024-25 season with a league minimum salary of $775K.

According to PuckPedia, the move brings Boston to a full 23-man roster with a current cap space of approximately $515K. Outside of the team’s fourth line, the Bruins have had little consistency from the rest of their forward line to start the year meaning Johnson should begin somewhere in the team’s middle six.

He’s no longer the typical 50-point threat during his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning but brings Stanley Cup pedigree to an organization that has failed to move beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2019. He’s spent the last three years on a rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks team scoring 32 goals and 70 points in 149 games while producing a -64 rating. The Bruins shouldn’t expect that Johnson’s addition to the lineup will bring them out of their current 27th-ranked offense but he should help out in a few other areas.

Johnson is a much better player on the defensive side of the puck than his tenure with the Blackhawks suggested which should theoretically help lower Boston’s 3.23 GA/G. The Bruins are also one of the league’s worst possession teams at 24th with a 48.3% CorsiFor% in all situations. Johnson has maintained a 52.1% CF% throughout his career including a 49.7% average during his time in Chicago.

He may also feature on the Bruins’ penalty kill but it’s unlikely league-average production with a man disadvantage is a priority to fix with more pressing issues at hand. On paper, the move strikes as a positive move in the right direction for a struggling Boston team but not necessarily the game-changing impact they appear to need.

Atlantic Notes: Ostapchuk, Zub, Laine, Slafkovský, Motte, Benson

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The Senators papered Zack Ostapchuk back up to the active roster today after sending him down to AHL Belleville yesterday, per a team announcement.

Ottawa has now recalled the young center on three separate occasions this season. After initially cutting him from their roster on the final day of training camp, he’s been recalled thrice in the past week to serve as an injury fill-in while David Perron and Shane Pinto are out of the lineup.

Ostapchuk has served as the Sens’ third-line center between Noah Gregor and Michael Amadio and will do so again against the Sabres tomorrow, according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. The 21-year-old went without a point in seven appearances last season but has managed to get on the scoresheet in 2024-25, recording his first career assist and a +1 rating while averaging 11:55 through three games.

While Ottawa will remain without Perron and Pinto for a while yet, they’re getting healthier on the back end. Defenseman Artem Zub will make his return from a concussion “sooner than later,” Garrioch said today. He’s been practicing with the team for the better part of the past week but will likely miss his ninth straight game Tuesday in Buffalo. He sustained the concussion in the Sens’ third game of the season against the Kings on a hit from L.A. winger Tanner Jeannot.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Canadiens winger Patrik Laine hasn’t yet debuted for the team after sustaining a knee injury in preseason, but his return timeline predicates he’ll hit the ice and return to regular-season action sometime next month. He’s still done enough throughout his career to put himself in consideration for a spot on Finland’s roster for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, general manager Jere Lehtinen told Shawn P. Roarke of NHL.com. There’s a solid chance he won’t get to see game action before rosters for the tournament are due in early December, but leaving him off the roster would leave the already-underdog Finns without a dynamic offensive talent. Health has been a significant hurdle for Laine over the past few years, but his 0.91 points per game since the beginning of the 2021-22 season rank fourth among Finnish NHLers behind Mikko Rantanen, Aleksander Barkov and Sebastian Aho.
  • Still with the Habs, winger Juraj Slafkovský practiced today after leaving Saturday’s loss to the Penguins late after a high hit from Pittsburgh forward Noel Acciari, relays Patrick Friolet of RDS. Slafkovský confirmed to reporters that he didn’t suffer a concussion on the play and will remain in the lineup against the Flames tomorrow, albeit in a slightly reduced second-line role alongside Jake Evans and Alex Newhook, while Kirby Dach takes his spot on the top-line alongside Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Slafkovský, 20, already missed three games earlier this season with a shoulder injury. When in the lineup, he has a goal and seven assists in nine appearances.
  • The Red Wings will have forward Tyler Motte available on Wednesday against the Blackhawks after he missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury, head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters today, including Ansar Khan of MLive.com. However, he may still be out of the lineup as a healthy scratch after Detroit escaped their division-rival Sabres with a 2-1 win over the weekend. Signed to a one-year, $800K deal on the second day of free agency, Motte did not have a point with a -2 rating in four appearances with Detroit before exiting the lineup.
  • The Sabres may activate winger Zach Benson from injured reserve before tomorrow’s contest against the Sens, head coach Lindy Ruff told Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. The 19-year-old has sat out the last five games with a lower-body injury he sustained in their Global Series games against the Devils that never wholly resolved. It showed in his performance, as he was held off the scoresheet and logged a -4 rating in six appearances when in the lineup for Buffalo last month.

Stars Reassign Kyle Capobianco

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The Stars assigned defenseman Kyle Capobianco to AHL Texas today, according to the minor league’s transactions log.

Dallas recalled Capobianco, 27, from Texas last weekend as extra injury insurance while the team traveled to Finland for their Global Series contests against the Panthers. He wasn’t needed, serving as a healthy scratch for both losses. Now that the team has returned stateside, he’ll return to the minors.

After spending the last two seasons in the Jets organization, Capobianco reached Group VI free agency and inked a two-year, partial two-way deal with the Stars in July. This season carries a two-way structure, so he earns a salary of $475K while on assignment to Texas compared to his $775K NHL salary. He’ll earn that $775K league minimum regardless of where he plays next season.

Capobianco cleared waivers during the preseason. His call-up lasted eight days, so he can remain on the NHL roster for 22 more across multiple call-ups before he requires waivers to head back to the minors. The 6’1″ left-shot defender had a goal, two assists and a -1 rating in six appearances with Texas to start the season.

A 2015 third-round pick of the Coyotes, Capobianco has 73 NHL games under his belt but none since appearing with Winnipeg in the 2022-23 campaign. He has 12 points (5 G, 7 A) with a -17 rating in those appearances, all of which have come with Arizona and Winnipeg. He’s averaged 15:04 per game and controlled 47.2% of shot attempts and 44.2% of expected goals when on the ice at even strength.

The Stars now have an open roster spot and $1.68MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.

Philip Broberg Out 4-6 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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Blues defenseman Philip Broberg will be sidelined for four to six weeks with the lower-body injury he sustained Saturday against the Maple Leafs, head coach Drew Bannister told reporters today, including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.

Broberg hasn’t yet landed on injured reserve. Without an open roster spot and with only one extra defenseman, Scott Perunovich, on hand before his injury, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land there before tomorrow’s game against the Lightning or shortly after that. Given his return timeline, he’s eligible for long-term injured reserve, but the Blues already have plenty of space in their LTIR pool with Torey Krug and his $6.5MM cap hit there.

Many feared a longer-term, potentially season-ending absence for Broberg after he fell awkwardly on his right leg following a collision with Toronto star Mitch Marner. He needed help skating off the ice and clutched his right knee while lying on the ice for several minutes after the injury. However, Bannister’s announcement aligns with a report from Andy Strickland of FanDuel Sports Network Midwest earlier today that Broberg’s absence wouldn’t be as long as initially feared.

Signed to a two-year, $9.16MM offer sheet and plucked away from the Oilers in August, Broberg has been instrumental in filling the gap vacated by Krug’s season-long absence, plus a lengthy stretch without Nick Leddy in the lineup. He’d taken over as their best left-shot defender in the interim, posting two goals, seven assists, and nine points with a +6 rating in his first 12 games with St. Louis.

Broberg appeared in just 12 regular-season contests with Edmonton all of last season, spending most of the campaign in the AHL. He’s on pace this year to avoid a minor-league assignment entirely for the first time since being drafted eighth overall in 2019 and subsequently arriving in North America with the Oilers two years later. The projected length of his absence still gives him a chance to crack his previous career-high of 46 NHL games set in 2022-23. After just two goals and 13 points in 81 showings in Edmonton, his offensive game was finally thriving in a much more significant role in St. Louis. Drafted as a two-way defender with the potential for decent NHL point totals, Broberg had 38 points (5 G, 33 A) in 49 games for AHL Bakersfield last season.

At even strength, Broberg had been skating in a second-pairing role alongside Justin Faulk while 40-year-old Ryan Suter held down top-pairing duties with Colton Parayko with Leddy out. Pierre-Olivier Joseph slid up alongside Faulk in practice today, according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. He will replace a good portion of Broberg’s minutes, at least for now. Perunovich is expected to re-enter the lineup in a third-pairing role alongside Matthew Kessel after serving as a healthy scratch in two of the Blues’ last three games.

Broberg’s contract costs $4.58MM against the cap. He’s signed through 2025-26 and will become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights upon expiry.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Avalanche Place Miles Wood On IR, Valeri Nichushkin Cleared To Practice

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The Avalanche announced today that they’ve summoned forwards Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Nikita Prishchepov back up from AHL Colorado after papering them down yesterday. They only had two open spots on the active roster after activating Artturi Lehkonen from injured reserve, so winger Miles Wood was placed on IR retroactive to Oct. 28 in a corresponding transaction to open the extra spot. Additionally, the team confirmed that Valeri Nichushkin has been cleared to practice with the team as he enters the final few days of his participation in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and corresponding suspension.

Wood would be eligible to come off IR as soon as tomorrow’s game against the Kraken, but that won’t happen. Head coach Jared Bednar said on Oct. 30 that Wood was set to miss around seven to 10 days with the upper-body injury that’s kept him out of Colorado’s last two contests. That pushes his return to the lineup to Thursday against the Jets or the Hurricanes next weekend.

The 29-year-old’s absence adds to a laundry list of injuries at forward for the Avalanche, although they’ll certainly take a swap of him for Lehkonen coming off IR. The checking winger hadn’t been much of a factor for the Avs yet this season, limited to one goal on 19 shots and no assists through 10 games. He had averaged 13:40 per game, one second lower than last season, despite Colorado being without Lehkonen, Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog throughout the entire campaign to date.

With Lehkonen back and the aforementioned trio recalled, the Avs may be able to dress 12 forwards tomorrow for the first time since Wood’s injury. Defenseman Oliver Kylington had suited up on the wing in back-to-back games with Wood out and no roster flexibility for an additional recall from the AHL.

Ivan and Kovalenko each have four points through 12 games this season, both their first regular-season contests in the NHL. Ivan had no previous major-league experience, while Kovalenko suited up twice for the Avs in last year’s playoffs. Meanwhile, all signs point to Prishchepov playing his second NHL game tomorrow. The 20-year-old was selected 217th overall just a few months ago in the 2024 draft and logged 13:30 in his debut against the Predators on Saturday, registering two shots and three hits.

For Nichushkin, his being cleared to practice indicates that he’s fulfilled all the requirements of his Stage 3 placement so far. His corresponding six-month suspension was handed out on May 13, 2024, while the Avalanche were amid their Second Round series against the Stars. He’s eligible to return to the lineup on Nov. 13 against the Kings, and with a nine-day run-up to practice, it’s looking likelier than not that he’ll play.

While a separate stint in the Player Assistance Program limited Nichushkin to 54 games last season, he’s coming off the best campaign of his nine-year NHL career. The 6’4″, 210-lb Russian winger notched 28 goals and 53 points for a career-high 0.98 points per game, also averaging a career-high 21:21 per night. Despite the extended absence, he also led the club with 16 power-play goals.

Nichushkin has six years remaining on the eight-year, $49MM extension he signed in 2022 to keep him off the open market. Many speculated the Avs would try and move that contract given Nichushkin’s struggles to stay in the lineup since the deal began (he’s only played in 107 of 164 possible regular-season games). But given their bevy of injuries and correspondingly underwhelming 5-7-0 record, it makes little sense to part ways with a player who’s been an invaluable part of their top six when healthy.

Panthers Sign Gracyn Sawchyn To Entry-Level Contract

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The Panthers have signed center prospect Gracyn Sawchyn to a three-year, entry-level contract, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Florida selected Sawchyn, 19, late in the second round of the 2023 draft (63rd overall). His exclusive signing rights were set to expire on June 1, 2025.

Sawchyn, an Alberta-born pivot, will remain with his junior club, the Western Hockey League’s Edmonton Oil Kings, for the rest of the 2024-25 season. The lanky 6’0″ forward has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 12 games this season, leading them in scoring while also leading them in PIMs (24) and tying for the team lead with a +5 rating.

The Panthers drafted Sawchyn from the Seattle Thunderbirds, who traded him to the Oil Kings early last season. But in Seattle, Sawchyn had 58 points in 58 games in his draft year to help spark the Thunderbirds to a WHL championship. However, he was held without a point in five Memorial Cup games.

In their draft-year scouting report of Sawchyn, Elite Prospects called his game “not a complex one.” McKeen’s Hockey ranked Sawchyn as the No. 4 prospect in the Panthers’ system in their 2024-25 NHL Yearbook, calling out his “intriguing blend of skill and tenacity” while criticizing his still sometimes inconsistent production at the WHL level. In the early going this season, he’s quieted those concerns. After improving his output to 1.19 points per game last season from his point-per-game draft year, he’s clicking at 1.67 points per game in 2024-25.

Since Sawchyn is signing his entry-level contract at age 19 and doesn’t turn 20 until after January 1, his ELC is eligible to slide once. He won’t play 10 NHL games this season, so his deal will go into effect for the 2025-26 campaign. He’ll become a restricted free agent upon expiry in the 2028 offseason.

Five Key Stories: 10/28/24 – 11/3/24

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As we approach the one-month mark of the 2024-25 season, we saw some activity pick up around the NHL with a couple of trades and a notable contract extension.  Those are among the topics recapped in our key stories.

Scorers On The Shelf: Three teams lost key offensive contributors to injuries over the past few days.  Edmonton will be without star center Connor McDavid for two to three weeks with an ankle injury.  The defending Western Conference champs have been slow out of the gate against this season and missing a high-end scorer won’t help on that front.  Meanwhile, Colorado will miss Ross Colton for six to eight weeks due to a broken foot.  Not known as a key goal-getter (he only has reached 20 goals once before), Colton was off to a strong start on that front, leading the Avs with eight tallies before the injury.  Lastly, offense has been hard to come by for the Islanders this season and it will be harder now with Mathew Barzal landing on LTIR with an upper-body injury.  The forward is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Liljegren To Sharks: With Timothy Liljegren barely playing this season and Toronto needing to open up some cap space, it was only a matter of time before he was on the move.  That swap came this week with the Maple Leafs moving him to San Jose in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick, a 2026 sixth-rounder, and defenseman Matt Benning (who they’re already looking to flip elsewhere).  Liljegren was a first-round pick by Toronto in 2017 but spent a lot of his time with the team in a third-pairing role.  Still just 25, it’s a low-cost pickup for the Sharks who will get to see how he fares in a new environment with potentially a bigger role as they look to reshape their back end in their rebuild.

Five For McCabe: The Liljegren trade wasn’t the only move Toronto made with their back end.  The Maple Leafs also signed defenseman Jake McCabe to a five-year extension worth $23.5MM.  However, thanks to some deferred money in the second and third years of the deal, the cap hit will check in at $4.51MM instead of the $4.7MM face value per season.  The 31-year-old is a veteran of 12 NHL seasons and is in his third season with Toronto after being acquired in 2022 from Chicago with the Blackhawks paying down half of his $4MM contract.  McCabe has emerged as a key cog in Toronto’s top four defensively and this price tag for someone in that role is a fair one while giving him some long-term stability as he’ll be 36 when this deal ends.

Utah Adds A Blueliner: With Utah HC missing both John Marino and Sean Durzi due to long-term injuries, they wanted to add some help on the back end.  They did just that, acquiring Olli Maatta from Detroit in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick (from the Rangers, previously acquired).  The 30-year-old has nearly 700 career games of NHL experience under his belt and while he’s not known for his offensive skill-set, he’s capable of logging some minutes in a shutdown role and will be asked to do just that to try to help stabilize things.  Maatta is in the final year of his contract, one that carries a $3MM cap charge with Utah picking up the full cost of that, giving the Red Wings some extra cap flexibility for potential in-season trade activity.

Toropchenko Gets A Raise: Rather than wait to see what contract might await him in restricted free agency, Blues winger Alexey Toropchenko opted to sign early, inking a one-year, $1.7MM extension.  The deal gives the 25-year-old a $450K raise while also walking him directly to unrestricted free agency in 2026.  Toropchenko has reached the double-digit goal mark in the last two seasons and averaged more than two hits per game last season.  For a useful bottom-six contributor, this is certainly a reasonable price for St. Louis, especially since Toropchenko would have had arbitration eligibility this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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