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Atlantic Notes: Maroon, Olson, Fleury, Senators

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The Bruins are hoping to have trade deadline pickup Pat Maroon make his Boston debut a week from today against the Penguins, head coach Jim Montgomery said (via Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe). Maroon hasn’t played in over two months, last suiting up on Jan. 27. He’s been out since with a back injury, missing over six weeks for the Wild before they dealt him to Boston at the deadline for a sixth-round pick and a minor league player. It was the fifth time the well-traveled Cup winner has been traded in his career, only changing teams in free agency twice. Prior to exiting the lineup, Maroon had four goals and 16 points in 49 games while averaging 12:46 a night, his highest usage since winning the Cup with the Blues in a top-nine role in 2019. The Bruins will look to him to add veteran experience and penalty minutes to a fourth line that’s mainly revolved around rookies and call-ups.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Bruins forward prospect Quinn Olson has signed outside the organization, landing with AHL Ontario for the rest of the season, per Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal. Boston will lose their exclusive signing rights to Olson if they can’t agree to an entry-level contract by Aug. 15. 23 next month, Olson just wrapped up a five-year stint at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he served as an alternate captain in his senior and graduate seasons and totaled 27 goals and 96 points across 175 games. Not being offered a tryout by Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence is a strong indication that the 2019 third-round pick will reach unrestricted free agency in August.
  • Lightning defenseman Haydn Fleury left today’s loss to the Penguins and didn’t return after a freak neutral-zone collision with referee Steve Kozari, as relayed by Bally Sports’ Gabby Shirley. Kozari was briefly unconscious after the collision and required a stretcher off the ice, although the league confirmed in a statement that he has full use of his extremities and is expected to make a full recovery. Fleury was able to skate off the ice, but the severity of the hit will require further evaluation. The depth blue-liner has five points and a +5 rating in 23 showings this season, his second in a Lightning uniform.
  • The Senators have parted ways with professional scouts Jim Clark and Rob Murphy, GM Steve Staios announced. This could end an illustrious front-office career for the 70-year-old Clark, who’s held roles with the Red Wings, Blue Jackets and Panthers as well since breaking into the league in 1990. He was brought on by the Sens in 2008 after being let go as Columbus’ assistant GM, serving on their scouting staff for six years before being promoted to their Director of Professional Scouting in 2014. Ottawa demoted Clark out of the head scout role ahead of this season, replacing him with Murphy, who’d been a pro scout for the organization since 2018. This was Murphy’s second run with the Sens, also serving in their pro scouting department from 2010 to 2014 before leaving for a Director of Scouting role with the Sabres.

Central Notes: Forsberg, Seguin, McGroarty, Wagner

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Predators winger Filip Forsberg is in the middle of a career year as he leads the team in scoring with 43 goals and 44 assists through 76 games so far. However, he’s playing through some kind of injury as he has been rarely practicing with the team. In an appearance on 102.5 The Game (audio link), head coach Andrew Brunette indicated that the issue isn’t going away anytime soon. While he termed it as something that’s manageable, the bench boss also added that it might take the entire offseason before Forsberg heals up. The winger hasn’t shown any ill effects from whatever is bothering him, helping to lead the Predators on an improbable 18-game point streak recently, taking them from out of the playoffs to safely in the postseason picture.

Other updates out of the Central:

  • The Stars were without veteran forward Tyler Seguin in today’s loss to the Blackhawks, but they’ll get him back in the lineup tomorrow against the Avalanche, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports. He’s dealing with a lower-body injury, potentially related to the issue that kept him out for 11 games in February and March. The Stars have been cautious with the 32-year-old’s deployment since he returned a few weeks back, making him a scratch for maintenance/load management reasons against the Sharks early last week. The 2010 second-overall pick is having his best season since missing nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign with a hip injury, potting 23 goals and 50 points in 64 games.
  • One storyline surrounding the Jets is the future of top prospect Rutger McGroarty, who has at most one week left in his sophomore season at the University of Michigan. He told Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun that his agents haven’t had serious discussions with Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff about an entry-level deal but have kept in touch. The 20-year-old Nebraska tore apart Big 10 opponents this season, finishing second on the Wolverines in scoring with 16 goals and 52 points in 35 games. Coming off a point-per-game freshman season and captaining the USA at the 2024 World Juniors, it wouldn’t be surprising to see McGroarty turn pro and finish the season as a Black Ace on Winnipeg’s playoff roster.
  • After being sent to the minors yesterday, Avalanche center Chris Wagner was recalled back to the NHL roster. The move comes in the wake of an upper-body injury to star winger Mikko Rantanen, who left partway through last night’s 6-2 loss to the Oilers and didn’t return. Wagner gives the Avs 13 healthy forwards without Rantanen, providing additional injury insurance for tomorrow’s all-important clash for divisional playoff positioning against the Stars. He’s got a goal and an assist in 11 games with Colorado this season, his first in the Avs organization.

Hurricanes Sign Gleb Trikozov To Entry-Level Contract

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The Hurricanes have signed forward prospect Gleb Trikozov to his three-year, entry-level contract, according to Trikozov’s agent, Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. In a press release Saturday, the team confirmed that his contract begins in the 2024-25 season and carries an $862.5K cap hit, broken down into a $775K base salary and $87.5K signing bonus each season. Trikozov will earn a $82.5K salary when assigned to the minors or overseas.

Carolina selected Trikozov, 19, with their first selection in the 2022 draft, coming late in the second round at 60th overall. They parted with their first-round pick as compensation for signing then-RFA center Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet in September 2021, although it later changed hands multiple times and eventually ended up with the Sharks. San Jose used it on Swedish pivot Filip Bystedt, who recently made his North American debut for their AHL affiliate.

The 6’1″ Russian winger spent time with three different clubs in the Avangard Omsk system in his home country this season but closed out the season on assignment to the MHL, Russia’s top junior league. He was electric in regular season play throughout the year, scoring 12 goals in 10 games while totaling 18 points. He also added nine points in seven playoff games as Omskie Yastreby was eliminated last month.

He only appeared in two games in the top-level KHL, spending most of the year on assignment to the VHL, the top minor professional circuit. There, with Omskie Krylia, he was the team’s leading per-game scorer, notching 11 goals and 21 points in 39 games on a team that was nowhere near playoff contention.

Trikozov remains a high-ceiling yet unpolished prospect and could stand to get more comfortable in puck battles and improve his defensive awareness, although that’s the case with most mid-tier prospects his age. Those concerns led to some rather polarizing rankings in his draft year, as multiple public scouting sites believed Trikozov’s raw shooting ability made him worthy of a late first-round selection.

The Hurricanes still don’t have a full-time AHL affiliate on the books for next season, a situation that’s proven challenging for prospect development in 2023-24. The lack of consistent playing time and organizational ethos has completely derailed the development of some, such as 2019 second-round pick Jamieson Rees, who had just four assists in 37 AHL games split between Charlotte and Springfield before Carolina cut ties and traded him to the Senators a few weeks ago.

Nonetheless, GM Don Waddell said in a statement that the organization is “excited to see how [Trikozov’s] game continues to develop in North America,” implying they won’t be loaning him back to Russia next season. He’s not ready for NHL action, though, so they’ll need to find him a minor-league home if their affiliate situation isn’t rectified.

Trikozov will be 20 before Sep. 15, making him ineligible for an entry-level slide. His deal will take effect next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays, and upon expiry in 2027, he will be an RFA.

College Transfer Updates: Pohlkamp, Benoit, Makar, Kukkonen

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As college seasons have largely wound up aside from the four teams participating in the Frozen Four next week, activity in the transfer portal has picked up.  Here’s a rundown of the recent transfer news involving NHL prospects, via Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald.

  • Sharks prospect Eric Pohlkamp has transferred from Bemidji State to the University of Denver. The 20-year-old defenseman was a fifth-round pick last June, going 132nd overall after a strong season offensively with Cedar Rapids of the USHL.  Pohlkamp had a productive freshman year for a blueliner, notching 11 goals and 13 assists in 32 games for the Beavers and will now join Denver, a program that has three of the top 15 blueline scorers in Division I.  Two of those could be turning pro soon which would open up a spot for Pohlkamp to play a prominent role.
  • Wild blueliner Nate Benoit is looking for a new school as he has entered the transfer portal. Drafted in the sixth round in 2021 (182nd overall), Benoit only made his college debut this season with the University of North Dakota but was limited to just 19 games and just 8:31 per night.  The 21-year-old will undoubtedly be looking to find a program where he can play a more prominent role.
  • After three years at UMass, Avalanche forward Taylor Makar is off to the University of Maine. The 23-year-old, who is Cale’s brother, was Colorado’s seventh-round pick in 2021 (210th overall) but hasn’t had much success so far at the NCAA level and tallied just four goals and five assists in 36 games this season.
  • After Kyle Kukkonen’s sophomore year at Michigan State didn’t go anywhere near as well as his freshman campaign, he has transferred to Wisconsin. The Ducks drafted the 21-year-old in the sixth round in 2021 (162nd overall) and things were looking up last year when he had 18 goals and nine assists in 39 games.  However, the center was limited to just a goal and 11 helpers in 27 contests this season, leading to the change of scenery.

Mikulas Hovorka In Advanced Discussions To Sign With NHL Team

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While college free agency garners a good chunk of attention at this time of year, it’s not the only avenue that teams can take to add to their prospect pool during the spring.  Several international players are also going to be looking to make the jump to North America.  Among those is defenseman Mikulas Hovorka who, according to hokej.cz’s Marek Hedbavny, has generated interest from quite a few NHL teams this season.

The 22-year-old has been a regular in the Czech Extraliga the past two seasons with Ceske Budejovice and is coming off a decent showing this year which saw him record five goals and 11 assists in 51 games before suffering an ankle injury early in the playoffs, one that could take him out of consideration for the Worlds next month.  He’s under contract with them for two more years but since there is a transfer agreement in place between the Czech Ice Hockey Federation and the NHL, Hovorka is free to sign with an NHL team.

While Hovorka didn’t provide any specifics as to who he might be signing with, he did acknowledge in an article on his club team’s site that he’s in advanced discussions and that his preference is to sign with an Eastern team.  He also identified that there were 11 teams that he knew of that had been scouting him during the season.

Wherever he signs, Hovorka will be capped at signing a two-year, entry-level contract and there’s a good chance he’ll be starting off at the AHL level next season to adapt to the North American style of play.  But with his improvement this season and an intriguing 6’6 frame, he will be an interesting addition to the prospect pool for whichever team winds up signing him.

Kraken Assign Cale Fleury To AHL

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Saturday: Fleury has been returned to AHL Coachella Valley, per a team announcement.

Friday: The Seattle Kraken have recalled defenseman Cale Fleury on an emergency loan (Twitter link). It’s Fleury’s third call up of April, with each prior recall being followed by an assignment on the subsequent day. The ring of trips to-and-from the minors has held Fleury to just one game since March 28th – an April 4th win in the AHL where Fleury recorded one assist.

Despite six recalls this season, Fleury has yet to play in the NHL this year. He’s instead spent all 61 games of his season with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, recording six goals, 33 points, 20 penalty minutes, and a +27. The scoring matches Fleury’s total from last season, though he played in three fewer games.

Fleury is now in his sixth professional season, making his debut with the Laval Rocket in the 2018-19 season, after Montreal selected him in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He was Seattle’s selection from Montreal in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, re-signing with the team in each of the last three summers. The two-year deal he signed this summer was his first multi-year contract since signing his entry-level contract in 2018.

Fleury will be competing with healthy scratch Justin Schultz and rookie Ryker Evans for Seattle’s final lineup spot. Evans has just eight points through 29 games this season, while Schultz has managed 22 in 63 games. And while Fleury likely sits outside of a lineup spot, the Kraken have just seven games left in their season and sit 16 points behind the Western Conference’s second Wild Card – setting up the perfect time for the team to test out young or inexperienced players like Fleury.

Canucks Notes: Joshua, Silovs, Garland, Gardner

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The Canucks have nine players eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and they won’t be able to afford bringing them all back so they’ll have to prioritize who they want to try to keep around.  To that end, team president Jim Rutherford told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that forward Dakota Joshua is one of their priorities to keep around.  The 27-year-old is in the midst of a breakout year that has seen him set new career highs offensively, notching 15 goals and 13 assists in 57 games along with 221 hits.  A late-bloomer who wasn’t even a full-time regular until last season, Joshua has been a nice bargain for Vancouver, playing on a deal with an AAV of just $825K.  It will likely take three times that amount or more to keep him around for 2024-25 and beyond.

More from Vancouver:

  • One way they could try to save money to keep their UFAs around would be to spend less on their backup goalie position. Thomas Drance of The Athletic outlines (subscription link) how Vancouver could deploy Arturs Silovs next season, either as the outright second-stringer to Thatcher Demko or by shuffling him back and forth between AHL Abbotsford to take advantage of his waiver exemption.  Silovs is a pending RFA whose next contract shouldn’t be much higher than the minimum salary while current backup Casey DeSmith is a pending UFA and is likely heading for a raise on his $1.8MM AAV.
  • Conor Garland is still a long way from retirement but the 28-year-old is already thinking ahead to his post-playing days. In an interview with Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma, Garland indicated that he wants to “coach more than anything” and has coached at some tournaments in past summers.  He has bounced back relatively well this season after being prominently featured in trade speculation, notching 16 goals and 24 assists through 76 games, numbers that are close to last year’s despite a dip in playing time to 14:19 per night.
  • Prospect Daimon Gardner has entered the NCAA transfer portal, reports Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald (Twitter link). The 20-year-old center was a fourth-round pick by Vancouver back in 2022 (112th overall) after a dominant showing at the high school level.  He averaged over a point per game in 2022-23 in the USHL before making the jump to college this season.  However, his role was quite limited with Clarkson as he had just a goal and five assists in 29 appearances, resulting in him landing in the portal.

Capitals Assign Hunter Shepard And Matthew Phillips To AHL

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The roster shuffling in Washington continues.  After recalling both players on an emergency basis in recent days, the team announced that goaltender Hunter Shepard and winger Matthew Phillips have been returned to AHL Hershey.

Shepard was brought up on Thursday following Darcy Kuemper being banged up in practice the day before.  However, the veteran was between the pipes on Friday against Carolina, meaning emergency conditions no longer existed so Shepard needed to go back down or be converted to a standard recall.

The 28-year-old made his NHL debut this season, getting into four games with the Capitals, posting a 3.19 GAA and a .894 SV%.  Shepard has spent most of the year with Hershey and has done quite well, putting up a 25-3-3 record with a 1.80 GAA and a .927 SV% in 31 games, leading the league in GAA and SV%.

As for Phillips, he was brought up on an emergency basis on Friday but didn’t play which meant emergency conditions no longer existed for him as well.  The 26-year-old is in his first season with Washington and has a goal and four assists in 31 games with the Caps.  He also has three points in five games with Hershey.  He’s set to become a Group Six unrestricted free agent for the second straight summer and might be hard-pressed to secure another one-way contract after getting one from the Capitals back in July.

Wild Recall Jesper Wallstedt

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It appears the availability of one of Minnesota’s netminders is in question for this afternoon as, according to the AHL’s transactions log, the Wild have recalled goaltender Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa.  In a corresponding move, Iowa signed netminder Peyton Jones to a tryout agreement to replace Wallstedt on their roster.

The 21-year-old is widely considered as one of the stronger goalie prospects league-wide although his NHL debut back in January didn’t go too well as he allowed seven goals on 34 shots in a loss to Dallas.  However, Wallstedt has fared well in the minors, posting a 2.76 GAA and a .908 SV% in 43 starts at that level this season.  He has one year left after this one on his entry-level deal, one that carries an AAV of $925K.

Assuming that one of Marc-Andre Fleury or Filip Gustavsson is unavailable against Winnipeg, Wallstedt’s recall can be classified as an emergency promotion and thus not count against Minnesota’s four recall limit.  However, Wallstedt would have to be returned to the minors as soon as the emergency conditions end.

Atlantic Notes: Stutzle, Cirelli, Jeannot, Stillman, Greenway

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Senators forward Tim Stutzle won’t play tonight against New Jersey due to an upper-body injury, relays Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link).  The injury was sustained in Thursday’s game against Florida.  It has been a bit of a trying year for the 22-year-old; while he has already set a new career-high in assists with 52, he has also been limited to just 18 goals in 75 games.  For context, he had 39 last season.  Stutzle is in the first season of an eight-year, $66.8MM contract that was signed back in September 2022 and it’s fair to say that expectations will be higher for him next season.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Lightning won’t have center Anthony Cirelli or winger Tanner Jeannot in the lineup this afternoon against Pittsburgh but neither player is expected to be out long-term, notes team reporter Chris Krenn (Twitter link). With a playoff spot now officially clinched as of Friday, they’re opting to err on the side of caution.  Cirelli is one point shy of tying his career high as he has 43 through 75 games so far while Jeannot’s first full season in Tampa Bay hasn’t gone as planned as he has been limited to just 13 points in 50 appearances.
  • Sabres blueliner Riley Stillman is done for the year after undergoing surgery to fix a lower-body injury, per an announcement from AHL Rochester (Twitter link). After being on an NHL roster full-time the last two years, the 26-year-old played exclusively in the minors this season, notching six points in 47 games for the Americans.  A restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility and a $1.35MM qualifying offer, Stillman looks like a strong non-tender candidate unless he’s willing to agree to a cheaper deal before qualifying offers are due in late June.
  • Still with Buffalo, winger Jordan Greenway took part in practice today in a non-contact jersey, relays WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last week with an upper-body injury.  Greenway has 24 points in 62 games this season and with the Sabres still hanging around the playoff picture, they’d certainly like to get him back in the lineup soon.

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