Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mathew Barzal Leaves Road Trip, Being Evaluated For Upper-Body Injury

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The Islanders announced Friday that star forward Mathew Barzal has left their road trip and has returned to New York to be evaluated for an upper-body injury. The club will announce a return timeframe in the next few days after he meets with doctors.

Things keep shifting from bad to worse for the Isles, who have dropped three straight and are now last in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-5-2 record. However, they do have games in hand on the sixth-place Flyers and seventh-place Penguins, both of whom they trail by one point. Their league-worst 2.10 goals per game is the major culprit of their struggles, though, and Barzal’s absence certainly won’t help.

It had been an underwhelming start to the season for Barzal, now in his ninth season on Long Island, before sustaining the injury. It’s unclear when it occurred – he logged a whopping 22:46 of ice time against the Blue Jackets in Wednesday’s shutout loss. But he’s been limited to two goals and three assists in 10 appearances with a -3 rating, a rate of production that’s been sliced in half from last year’s point-per-game showing. He’s averaging 2.3 shots on goal per game, down from 3.0 last season. His possession numbers are still substantial, even if his partnership with Bo Horvat on the team’s first line hasn’t been gelling after new linemate Anthony Duclair landed on LTIR with a leg injury last week.

Simon Holmström had been a fixture as the top-line left wing alongside Barzal and Horvat since Duclair’s injury. That experiment will end with Barzal out as the Islanders turn to their veterans for more offense. Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau will move up from middle-six roles to flank Horvat on the first line tonight against the Sabres, reports Andrew Gross of Newsday. After sitting as a healthy scratch for three straight, Oliver Wahlstrom will re-enter the lineup.

However, the Isles’ injury situation is not all bad. Head coach Patrick Roy told reporters, including Stefen Rosner of NHL.com and The Hockey News, that defenseman Alexander Romanov will be a game-time decision but will likely return after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He’ll return to his top-pairing role with Noah Dobson – the duo has controlled 51.4% of expected goals when deployed together this season, per MoneyPuck. Romanov, 24, had two assists in seven games before exiting the lineup.

Avalanche Recall Nikita Prishchepov

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Avalanche announced that they’ve recalled forward prospect Nikita Prishchepov from AHL Colorado ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Predators. Veteran depth piece T.J. Tynan is also back up on the NHL roster after being papered down yesterday to accrue cap space and delay his temporary waiver exemption.

With Matthew Stienburg suspended for two games for charging Lightning defenseman Erik Černák in Wednesday night’s loss, the injury-plagued Avalanche didn’t have the roster flexibility to replace him in-house. He was sent down to AHL Colorado yesterday, freeing up his roster spot but delaying the commencement of his suspension until he returns to the NHL roster. That meant two recalls were coming today – Tynan plus a new face from their minor-league affiliate.

That new face is Prishchepov, who’s now poised to make his NHL debut tomorrow, months after the Avs took him in the seventh round of the 2024 draft. The 20-year-old was an overage pick who’d been passed over in the 2022 and 2023 drafts but worked his way into consideration with 22 goals and 67 points in 63 games for QMJHL Victoriaville in his third and final season of junior hockey. Colorado inked the Russian center/left-winger to an entry-level contract early last month after a decent training camp, which proved prudent in hindsight.

Prishchepov is off to a decent start to his professional career, scoring once and adding three assists in six AHL games with 8 PIMs and a +3 rating. It’s good production early on from the 6’1″ forward, but it’s clear he’s a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option this early on in his development.

Unfortunately for the Avs, their injury situation up front constitutes an emergency. They were already without top-six forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin to begin the season. Ross Colton and Jonathan Drouin have since joined them on injured reserve, although the latter is close to returning. Miles Wood is also day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. However, he won’t be out long enough to warrant an IR placement, meaning the Avalanche only had 11 healthy forwards available against Tampa. Oliver Kylington, one of their two extra defenders on the roster, slotted in as their third-line left wing.

Prishchepov still has two seasons left after this one on his ELC. He costs $806.7K against the cap while on the NHL roster, although that’s somewhat irrelevant for the Avs right now with so much money stashed on long-term injured reserve. He’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2027.

Predators Sign Ozzy Wiesblatt To Two-Year Extension

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Predators have signed forward prospect Ozzy Wiesblatt to a two-year, two-way extension, per general manager Barry Trotz. The deal is worth $775K per season at the NHL level, but his minor-league salary wasn’t disclosed.

It’s a nice bit of organizational security for the 2020 first-round pick of the Sharks, who’s had a peculiar last few months. The 22-year-old winger was in his second season with the Sharks AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, last year. But after posting underwhelming rookie totals, he still struggled to pop off offensively on one of the AHL’s worst teams. After scoring three goals and 11 points in 34 games and struggling to get much playing time, the Sharks loaned him to Nashville’s affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, without rescinding his NHL rights.

Wiesblatt finished the season with a goal and five assists in 16 appearances for Milwaukee. He appeared to gain more confidence in postseason play, registering nine points in 15 Calder Cup Playoff games as the Admirals advanced to the Western Conference Final. That showing piqued the Preds’ interest enough to acquire his NHL rights in June, sending the signing rights to forward Egor Afanasyev to the Sharks in return.

Now in the final year of his entry-level contract, the Calgary native has two assists and a +1 rating in six appearances for Milwaukee in 2024-25. He’s still likely a ways away from seeing NHL action, but he’s done enough to secure an extended minor-league audition. He has plenty of runway to continue his development and rediscover the form that led him to churn out 25 goals and 70 points in 64 games in his draft year for WHL Prince Albert, convincing San Jose to select him with the final pick of the first round.

Wiesblatt will be 25 years old when his extension expires in the summer of 2027. He’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time and will have two years of team control left.

Blue Jackets To Activate Dmitri Voronkov From Injured Reserve

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Blue Jackets will have left-winger Dmitri Voronkov in the lineup for the first time this season tonight against the Jets as he makes his return from an upper-body injury, head coach Dean Evason told reporters (including the team’s Jeff Svoboda). He’ll be activated from injured reserve, but with ample cap space and an open roster spot, no corresponding transaction is necessary.

Voronkov, 24, had his start to his sophomore NHL season delayed when he sustained the injury late in Columbus’ preseason schedule against the Penguins. The initial prognosis wasn’t good, but it quickly became apparent that Voronkov wouldn’t require surgery to address the issue and would be back in weeks, not months. He returned to practice late last week, so he’s had a bit of run-up before re-entering the lineup.

It’s a legitimately impactful bit of news for the Blue Jackets, who have won two in a row and are now in wild-card position early on with a 5-3-1 record through nine games. Their offense clicking at a top-10 rate with 3.89 goals per game has much to do with that, and Voronkov’s return should only help them in that regard. The 2019 fourth-round pick arrived in North America last season after spending the prior five years with Ak Bars Kazan of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. He made an immediate impact in a middle-six role, finishing fifth on the team in scoring with 34 points (18 G, 16 A) in 75 games. With Voronkov on the ice at even strength, Columbus controlled 50.4% of shot attempts and 52.2% of expected goals, considerably above team averages.

Evason said that his return will send late-offseason pickup Kevin Labanc to the press box. Signed to a one-year league-minimum pact after being released from his professional tryout with the Devils, the 28-year-old had points in four of his last five games and five assists in seven games overall with a +3 rating. Nonetheless, it’ll be his third healthy scratch of the young season.

Voronkov is a pending restricted free agent. He’s in the final season of his entry-level contract, which earned him a $92.5K signing bonus over the summer and pays him a base salary of $832.5K this season for a cap hit of $925K. He’ll be eligible for arbitration.

Panthers Reassign Patrick Giles

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Panthers announced that they’ve loaned center Patrick Giles to AHL Charlotte. As expected, this opens the cap space necessary to activate Tomáš Nosek from long-term injured reserve before this afternoon’s Global Series game against the Stars.

Giles, 24, is waiver-exempt and never stood much chance of sticking around on the NHL roster after Nosek was ready to return. The undrafted free agent signing out of Boston College has played nine games since being called up in the first few days of the season, but the numbers show he’s not ready for a full-time job. The 6’4″, 205-lb forward went 14 for 47 on draws (29.8 FOW%), posted a -1 rating, and managed only four shots on goal while failing to record a point. He averaged 7:23 per game, and the Panthers were caved in for those limited minutes he was on the ice, controlling only 37.6% of shot attempts at even strength. That’s despite Giles receiving 63.3% of his zone starts in the offensive end.

This is Giles’ first season signed to an NHL contract. He’d spent the last two on AHL deals with Charlotte, with 37 points (16 G, 21 A) in 148 games with a +2 rating. In June, he inked a two-year entry-level contract with Florida, making him a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in 2026.

Nosek coming off LTIR means he’ll be making his Panthers debut in a mid-season neutral site game in Finland, which is certainly unusual. The 32-year-old bottom-six fixture inked a one-year, one-way league minimum pact with the Cats over the summer. He’ll center Florida’s fourth line between A.J. Greer and Mackie Samoskevich, adding 434 games of NHL experience to the unit. He’ll be a significant upgrade over Giles in the role without considering point totals, boasting a career 54.4 FOW% and an impressive 51.4 xGF% at even strength, considering his usual defensive deployment. Nosek is coming off a tough year with the Devils, though, limited by injuries to six points and a -11 rating in 36 games.

Golden Knights Reassign Brendan Brisson

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Golden Knights announced yesterday night that they’ve assigned winger Brendan Brisson to AHL Henderson. No corresponding transaction was made, so Vegas is left with an open spot on the active roster.

Brisson, the Golden Knights’ first-round pick in 2020 (No. 29 overall), made the team out of camp for the first time this season. It’s been a nightmarish start for him, though, while many other of Vegas’ depth scorers have succeeded. He’s without a point and has posted a -3 rating in seven games, averaging 10:11 per contest. He’s been a healthy scratch on four occasions and has a combined -4 rating in his last two outings. The Los Angeles native has seven shots on goal and has controlled only 43.8% of shot attempts and 33.9% of expected goals when deployed at even strength.

It’s not what the Knights expected out of the 23-year-old, especially after he recorded two goals and six assists for eight points in his first 15 NHL appearances last season throughout a few call-ups. He’s been buried in fourth-line minutes and has now effectively lost his lineup spot to preseason waiver claim Cole Schwindt, who had two assists and a +3 rating against his former team, the Flames, in just 9:02 of ice time on Monday.

Many expected Brisson’s emergence to be critical for the Golden Knights this season to replace the scoring lost by the departures of Michael Amadio, Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson in free agency. Instead, it’s been players like Pavel Dorofeyev (6 G, 3 A in 11 GP), Tanner Pearson (3 G, 4 A in 11 GP) and Brett Howden (5 G in 11 GP) picking up the slack for the Knights, whose 4.55 goals per game are second in the league.

Now, the speedy Brisson returns to Henderson to improve his game. He has 40 goals and 83 points in 117 appearances for Vegas’ top affiliate over the past three seasons, including 19 goals and 38 points in 52 games in 2023-24. He’s in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent next summer.

Maple Leafs Assign Connor Dewar, Jani Hakanpää On LTIR Conditioning Loans

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Maple Leafs announced today that forward Connor Dewar and defenseman Jani Hakanpää will get some AHL action under their belt after being assigned to the Toronto Marlies on conditioning stints. They’ll remain on long-term injured reserve and won’t count against the NHL roster until they’re ready to return.

Unlike regular conditioning loans in which a player remains on the active roster but can play as many AHL games as are scheduled for their affiliate club over two weeks, LTIR conditioning loans can only last for up to six days or three games, whichever comes first. After the conditioning loan ends, the team must activate the player from LTIR if they’re deemed ready to return to play and haven’t sustained any setbacks in their recovery.

That means some significant roster moves will be coming for the Leafs next week, assuming Dewar’s and Hakanpää’s loans are successful. They have the necessary cap space to activate them, especially after freeing up a decent chunk of money by swapping Timothy Liljegren ($3MM cap hit) for Matt Benning ($1.25MM cap hit) in their trade with the Sharks earlier this week. But they lack actual roster space, and they’ll need to remove two players from the 23-man roster to activate them.

One of those two moves will undoubtedly be waiving depth defenseman Philippe Myers. He unexpectedly made Toronto’s opening night roster after spending most of the last two seasons in the AHL. However, he’s made no impact since doing so. Rostered as a second extra defenseman, he’s only made one appearance so far this season, posting a -1 rating in 12:11 of ice time against the Bruins on Oct. 26. The other move will be more complex. With no other obvious waiver candidates aside from Myers, general manager Brad Treliving could make his second trade in as many weeks to open up the other space.

Outside the roster shenanigans, the Leafs are close to gaining two legitimately valuable depth pieces. Dewar, 25, has donned the Maple Leaf logo before, appearing in 17 regular-season and six playoff games last season after being acquired from the Wild on trade deadline day. He was serviceable in a fourth-line role, posting a goal and four assists with a -2 rating, averaging nearly 13 minutes per game. He can easily switch between center and wing, has recorded over 120 hits in his two full NHL seasons, and averaged 2:24 per game on the penalty kill for Toronto last season after the trade, second among Leafs forwards behind David Kämpf (2:27).

Dewar filed for salary arbitration last summer after reaching restricted free agency but settled before his hearing, agreeing to a one-year, $1.18MM contract to return to the Leafs. He did so two months after receiving shoulder surgery in May. He’s been skating away from and with his teammates for almost a month now as he works his way back, and it now appears he’s not too long away from making his season debut. The 2018 third-round pick scored a career-high 11 goals in 74 appearances last season, split between Minnesota and Toronto.

When Hakanpää comes off LTIR, though, it’ll be the 32-year-old’s Leafs debut. After sitting out the last few months of the Stars’ season with a knee injury, he inked a reported two-year, $3MM deal with Toronto immediately after becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1. But that contract was never registered with the league, a story that began gaining traction later that month. Hakanpää underwent arthroscopic surgery to address the knee injury while with Dallas but was still dealing with lingering effects, which he and the Leafs’ medical staff initially disagreed on how to move forward from. After a few months of back-and-forth, the two sides came to terms on a revised one-year, $1.47MM contract in mid-September.

A fourth-round pick of the Blues back in 2010, Hakanpää didn’t make his NHL debut until signing with the Ducks as a free agent in 2019. After brief stops in Anaheim and Carolina, the 6’6″ Hakanpää emerged as a legitimate shutdown threat in Dallas. Over the past three seasons, the right-shot defender posted 40 points (12 G, 28 A) and a +29 rating in 226 appearances for the Stars, averaging 18:02 per game with a whopping 363 blocks and 668 hits. With Hakanpää on the ice at even strength, the Stars controlled 46.6% of shot attempts and 47.7% of expected goals, with sub-50 numbers to be expected given his lack of offensive deployment.

Upon their returns, Dewar will look to unseat Kämpf, Pontus Holmberg or Steven Lorentz for a spot in Toronto’s bottom six, while Hakanpää will likely look to usurp Simon Benoit or Conor Timmins for a bottom-pairing role.

Evening Notes: Jankowski, Chychrun, Roy, Alexeyev

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Just before puck drop of tonight’s contest between the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers, the former announced an injury update for one of their forwards. The Predators shared Mark Jankowski would not suit up in tonight’s action as he’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

The injury was likely suffered in the team’s most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 28th or during practice on one of the following days. Per the announcement from Nashville, Jankowski is considered day-to-day meaning his availability for Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche may be questionable.

Before tonight’s injury designation, Jankowski had suited up in all nine of the Predators’ games to start the season. He’s only tallied one assist while primarily playing left wing on the team’s third line averaging 12:43 of ice time per game. Juuso Pärssinen drew in for the injured Jankowski tonight marking his second game of the season and could draw in again on Saturday.

Other notes from earlier:

  • The Washington Capitals are deploying a shell of their potential blue line with defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy nursing separate injuries. Neither blue liner drew into tonight’s contest against the Montreal Canadiens but all signs indicate this reality may not last much longer. Bailey Johnson of the Washington Post reported earlier that both defensemen were skating in non-contact jerseys earlier today hinting that their return may be close. Roy, the Capitals impact free agent signing from the offseason, has only suited up in one game in Washington this season before suffering a lower-body injury.
  • Washington did get one reinforcement back on the blue line with Alexander Alexeyev returning to the team from personal leave (X Link). Alexeyev and his wife were celebrating the birth of their first child and now the St. Petersburg, Russia native will play his first game of the 2024-25 NHL season. He skated in 39 games for the Capitals last season registering one goal and three points while averaging 13:42 of ice time per game.

Flames Recall Matt Coronato, Reassign Samuel Honzek

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Forward Samuel Honzek’s return to the NHL will be shortlived despite playing in the Calgary Flames’ loss to the Utah Hockey Club last night. The organization announced Honzek has been reassigned to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, while forward Matthew Coronato has been recalled in his stead.

Honzek skated in 10:52 of yesterday’s action registering one block, two hits, one giveaway, and one takeaway. It was his first game back from an upper-body injury since October 15th after cracking Calgary’s roster out of training camp. It will be Honzek’s first time with the AHL Wranglers since registering two games last season after concluding his time with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.

The former 16th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft could likely use an extended look in the AHL especially with the Flames regressing toward the mean. He was productive during his tenure in the WHL with 33 goals and 87 points in 76 games. Still, he only has seven professional games under his belt.

Calgary drafted Coronato 13th overall two years before Honzek and he’s a more established talent at the AHL level. He spent much of last year in AHL Calgary maintaining a point-per-game output with 15 goals and 42 points in 41 contests. His season was not as positive in the NHL with three goals and nine points in 34 games with a -15 rating.

He got off to a solid start this season scoring two goals in five games but was reassigned on October 25th in response to the activation of Yegor Sharangovich. As one of the top blossoming offensive talents in the Flames organization, it’ll be imperative for the coaching staff to find Coronato middle-six minutes throughout his time on the NHL roster.

Colorado’s Matthew Stienburg Suspended Two Games, Reassigned

at CDT | by 8 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche are losing another player up front, although this time it won’t be for an injury. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced they have suspended Avalanche rookie forward Matthew Stienburg for two games for charging Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Černák in last night’s contest. Shortly after the suspension was issued, the Avalanche announced they had reassigned Stienburg to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

The news came roughly seven hours after the Department of Player Safety shared that Stienburg was scheduled for a hearing regarding the incident. The discipline served by the Department of Player Safety is in addition to the on-ice referees giving Stienburg a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

In the video shared by the Department of Player Safety, the contributing factor to the suspension was that Stienburg turned his back on the hit and lifted himself off the ice causing the focal point of the hit to be Černák’s head. They also noted that Stienburg’s NHL experience of eight games played a part in the length of the suspension.

He’s been one of Colorado’s most physical players since being recalled from AHL Colorado on October 16th. He’s seventh on the team in hits with 16 despite only being 16th in games played with eight. Consequently, thanks to the illegal hit on Černák yesterday evening, he now sits first on the team in PIMs with 22. According to Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette, Stienburg must wait to serve his suspension until he’s recalled back to the NHL.

The biggest implication of this suspension and subsequent demotion is that the Avalanche only have 10 healthy forwards and an upcoming game on Saturday against the Nashville Predators. Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton, and Jonathan Drouin are all on the shelf for one reason or another, and Colorado will now have to pull from their organizational depth even further with Stienburg being sent down.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top