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A.J. Greer Out Eight Weeks With Foot Fracture

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The Flames got some bad news on the injury front on Saturday.  While they were hopeful that winger A.J. Greer avoided a fracture on his foot, that wasn’t the case as the team announced (Twitter link) that he will miss the next eight weeks due to a foot fracture.

The 27-year-old is in his first year with Calgary after being claimed off waivers late in training camp from Boston.  Since then, Greer has been a regular on the fourth line for the Flames, playing in 47 of 48 games, picking up six goals and four assists while chipping in with 77 hits despite averaging less than nine minutes a night of ice time.

Notably, Calgary hasn’t brought anyone up from the AHL’s Wranglers despite Blake Coleman also being banged up.  Instead, Coleman will play through his hand injury per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis (Twitter link), giving them 12 available forwards against Chicago.

Winger Martin Pospisil took part in the morning skate, giving hope that he’d return but they’ll give him the extra rest instead.  The 24-year-old has held his own in his first taste of NHL action, collecting four goals and seven assists in 33 games.  He has been out a little more than a week due to his lower-body injury.

Once Pospisil is officially activated after the break, Calgary’s roster will be at 23 skaters although Greer can easily be shifted onto injured reserve.  Considering their tight cap situation, there’s a good chance that Greer will eventually land on LTIR although with a cap hit of just $762.5K, the extra flexibility they’d gain from that would be quite limited but it would be enough to get a recall up from the Wranglers if needed.

Senators Notes: Kubalik, Brannstrom, Kastelic, Kaliyev

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With Ottawa’s cap challenge dating back to the preseason, winger Dominik Kubalik’s presence on the roster has always felt a little tenuous.  Acquired in the move that sent Alex DeBrincat to Detroit, the 28-year-old’s inclusion seemed more for contract-matching purposes than filling a specific void in the lineup.  To that end, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators have been trying to move Kubalik for the past two months but have yet to find a taker.  Kubalik has nine goals and three assists in 41 games so far and is on an expiring contract that carries a $2.5MM cap charge.  When Anton Forsberg is ready to return from his injury, the Sens will be in a cap crunch so it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Steve Staios redouble his efforts to clear Kubalik’s contract from their books.

More from Ottawa:

  • Also from Garrioch’s piece, he suggests that there’s a sense that defenseman Erik Brannstrom and center Mark Kastelic could both be on the move. Brannstrom has been a regular on the third pairing most nights although he briefly lined up as a winger as well.  At a $2MM price tag, he’s a possible non-tender candidate this summer as he’ll have arbitration rights so if there’s a team that wants to take a look at him, moving him now would make some sense and help their cap situation.  Kastelic, meanwhile, has been scratched several times this month and has just two points in 28 games.  However, he does play with a physical edge and is winning over 56% of his draws this season so he could have some value as a depth piece elsewhere.
  • The Senators are among the teams believed to have shown some level of interest in Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports in his latest Toronto Star column. The 22-year-old had been a capable secondary scorer the last two seasons but has struggled this year with just six goals and eight assists in 37 games while being healthy scratched with some regularity lately.  There’s a connection between Kaliyev and the Sens front office as the winger played for OHL Hamilton in junior, a team run by Staios and owned by new team owner Michael Andlauer.

Bruins Recall Patrick Brown

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The Bruins play their final game before their bye week and the All-Star break today and they have opted to bring up an extra forward for that contest as they announced that they’ve recalled Patrick Brown from AHL Providence.

The 31-year-old is in his first season with Boston after inking a two-year, $1.6MM contract with them on the opening day of free agency back in July.  He was expected to land a spot on their fourth line but things didn’t exactly go as planned.  Instead, he didn’t make the team out of training camp and cleared waivers.  He cleared them a second time as well back in mid-November.

This is Brown’s sixth recall of the season and he has played in ten games so far with Boston, collecting one assist while logging just 8:29 per night.  He also has suited up in 15 games with Providence where he has been much more effective, notching 11 points in 15 contests.

The Bruins had an open roster spot so they didn’t need to make a corresponding move to bring him up.  With Jakub Lauko missing last game with an undisclosed injury and Jake DeBrusk and Matthew Poitras out being banged up, Brown should suit up this afternoon against the Flyers.  That said, with the long break approaching, there’s a good chance he’ll be sent back down to the minors on Sunday.

Jacob Trouba To Have Player Safety Hearing

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The Rangers play their final game before their off week tonight and it’s possible they won’t have their captain available for that contest.  The Department of Player Safety announced that defenseman Jacob Trouba will have a disciplinary hearing today by phone for an elbowing infraction on Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev last night.

The incident occurred late in the second period following a faceoff and no penalty was called on the play.  Meanwhile, Dorofeyev left the game early in the third period with what head coach Bruce Cassidy called an upper-body injury.  There was no further clarity on how long he might be out for.  More information on that front is expected today.

Trouba has been suspended once before back in 2017 for an illegal check to the head while he was playing in Winnipeg.  While enough time has elapsed that it won’t count against him from a forfeited salary standpoint if he’s suspended, it could be taken into consideration in determining how much time Trouba might miss.

Evening Snapshots: Malinski, Kesselring, Kemp

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To make a roster spot for their newly signed veteran forward Zach Parise, the Colorado Avalanche announced they have reassigned defenseman Sam Malinski to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. This reassignment will mark the fourth time that Malinski has been sent down to the AHL this season.

Called up on emergency loan in each of his four promotions to the Avalanche this season, Malinski has been quite effective in Denver, scoring three goals and 10 points in 22 games, averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time per night. In similar numbers to the NHL, Malinski has played in 20 games an hour north in Fort Collins for the Eagles, scoring three goals and nine points altogether.

Unlikely to be his last time playing for the Avalanche this season, Malinski has been one of the few bright prospects to rise through the ranks of the organization over the last several years. Still, Malinski was only acquired last season as an undrafted free agent coming out of Cornell University, and is a touch old compared to most prospects, already being 25 years old.

Other snapshots:

  • A little past the halfway point in the third period in the team’s most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Michael Kesselring was given a double-minor for a cross-check on Maxwell Crozier, as well as a game misconduct. Today, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety delivered some supplemental discipline to Kesselring for the play in questioning, fining him a total of $2,408.85, the maximum allowable find under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  • Recalled only yesterday before the team’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Edmonton Oilers announced they have reassigned defenseman Philip Kemp to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. Although not suiting up in last night’s game against the Blackhawks, Kemp was recalled for a lengthier callup only a few days ago, spending time on the Oilers from January 9th to January 23rd. Luckily, Kemp was able to make his NHL debut on January 13th against the Montreal Canadiens but was only able to play in about two minutes of that contest.

Pacific Notes: Kraken, Greer, Thrun

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The Seattle Kraken have activated Matthew Beniers off of injured reserve. The former second-overall pick is expected to make his return to the Kraken lineup on Friday, after missing the team’s last five games. Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen are expected to be game-time decisions, per Mike Benton of Kraken Audio Network.

Getting this trio of players back will be substantial for Seattle, as each ranks inside the team’s top seven scorers. Tolvanen leads the pack with 12 goals and 29 points through 47 games, while Schwartz has managed 20 points, split evenly, in 31 games, and Beniers has 19 points in 42. The former Calder Trophy-winning Beniers was in a bit of a lull before his injury, with just one goal through his last seven games. He’ll look to catch up to Tolvanen and Schwartz in the scoring column with a return against the St. Louis Blues on Friday.

Other notes from the Pacific Division:

  • The Calgary Flames are not yet sure if A.J. Greer will require surgery after his ankle went awkwardly into the boards in the team’s Thursday night game. The forward is expected to miss, “considerable time”, though, per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Francis speculated that Greer’s injury could lead to Clark Bishop getting recalled from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, though former first-round pick Jakob Pelletier is making his AHL season debut this weekend and could also be considered for a recall soon.
  • San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun will be out until after the All-Star Break, per team reporter Curtis Pashelka. The 22-year-old is working his way back from a shoulder injury, with Pashelka adding that nothing seemed structurally wrong, insinuating that Thrun might have dodged the worst outcome. With Thrun out, San Jose will give top defensive prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin his first NHL game. Mukhamadullin has managed 26 points in 39 games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda this season.

Metro Notes: Kochetkov, Smith, Ludvig, Haula

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Playing in their final game before the All-Star break tomorrow night, the Carolina Hurricanes will see the return of their primary starting goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov. Team reporter for the Hurricanes, Walt Ruff, announces that the team has activated Kochetkov from the injured reserve, and he will be an option for them tomorrow night against the Arizona Coyotes.

Kochetkov had originally been out since January 12th with a concussion, missing the last six games for Carolina. Now down to a tandem of Antti Raanta and recently claimed Spencer Martin, the team produced a 4-2-0 record in Kochetkov’s absence, averaging three goals against per game.

It has been the tale of two seasons for Kochetkov up to this point, who originally started off the 2023-24 campaign with a 4-5-1 record coupled with a .871 save percentage. Since the team’s blowout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on December 6th, however, Kochetkov has turned into a completely different goaltender, managing a 7-2-2 record in his next 12 games, including an impressive .921 save percentage in the process.

Other Metro notes:

  • Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reported today that defenseman John Ludvig and forward Reilly Smith had returned to regular practice for the Pittsburgh Penguins today, switching out of their previously worn non-contact jerseys. Although neither player suited up in the team’s game tonight against the Florida Panthers, both are effective pieces to get back into the active roster, as Smith has been out for a little over two weeks, and Ludvig has been out for nearly a month. 
  • Preparing for their game tomorrow night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, team reporter for the New Jersey Devils, Amanda Stein mentions that forward Erik Haula did not practice with the club today due to personal reasons. As it is unclear if Haula will suit up tomorrow night against the Lightning or not, with the Devils already having lost plenty of man games to injuries to some of their top stars throughout most of the year, Haula being unable to play would put some more strain on the offensive depth of the organization.

Colorado Avalanche Sign Zach Parise

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Shortly before their game tonight against the Los Angeles Kings, the Colorado Avalanche announced they have signed veteran forward Zach Parise to a one-year contract. Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff reports that the one-year contract will be worth a pro-rated $825K for the rest of the season.

Even after seeing the return of Artturi Lehkonen back into the lineup, the Avalanche are still without some of their high-level forward depth since Valeri Nichushkin left for the NHLPA Player Assistance Program. In Parise, Colorado will likely not be able to replace the production left by Nichushkin with the 39-year-old fully. Still, it should create a formidable top-nine forward unit upon his return to the organization.

Historically, the story of Parise is known well, being one of the better players in the league for the New Jersey Devils in the late-2000s and early-2010s. Scoring 410 points in 502 games for New Jersey, as well as leading them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, Parise famously joined the Minnesota Wild as an unrestricted free agent before the 2012-13 season, signing an identical 13-year, $98MM contract as defenseman Ryan Suter.

Much to the dismay of both player and team, some injury-riddled seasons, as well as a dire need for cap space, led the Wild General Manager, Bill Guerin, to buy out the contracts of both Parise and Suter after year nine of the 13-year agreements. It wouldn’t take long for Parise to find a new home, however, Lou Lamoriello would quickly ink him to a one-year contract with the New York Islanders, being the executive that originally drafted Parise into the NHL.

Returning to much better health with the Islanders, over two separate one-year contracts with the organization, Parise would play in all 82 games in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 NHL seasons. Over the course of those two contracts, Parise became a quality auxiliary scorer for New York, putting up 36 goals and 69 points over 164 games, with 21 of those goals coming last season alone.

Having not played in an NHL game since late April of 2023, it will undoubtedly take some time for Parise to make his return to any NHL contest, especially with the speed at which Colorado plays the game. Nevertheless, as an effective scorer and veteran presence on a recent Stanley Cup Champion team, the marriage between Parise and the Avalanche should prove valuable to both sides.

Atlantic Notes: Samuelsson, Girgensons, Lockwood, Cousins, Jarnkrok

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Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons is day-to-day, while the extent of defenseman Mattias Samuelsson’s injury is still being assessed, per team reporter Mike Harrington. Both players are out with upper-body injuries. Girgensons spent a month on injured reserve earlier in the season, while Samuelsson has dealt with a menagerie of small injuries, leading the pair to appear in just 31 and 41 of Buffalo’s 48 games respectively.

Samuelsson has managed seven points and 26 penalty minutes in his outings while playing over 20 minutes a night on average. He’s Buffalo’s third-most frequent defenseman this season, behind Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power. The season has continued Samuelsson’s substantial role with Buffalo, with the defenseman averaging 20 or more minutes every year since his rookie season in 2021-22. His only exception to this pattern came in the 12 games he received during the 2020-21 season when he averaged 18 minutes. The Sabres are big fans of the 23-year-old defender, signing him to a seven-year, $30MM contract extension at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. They’ll hope he can return to his frequent role in the lineup soon, alongside depth forward Girgensons, who has four goals and 12 penalty minutes this season.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • William Lockwood entered concussion protocol after his fight with Minnesota Wild forward Brandon Duhaime and is set to miss time beyond the three-game suspension he received for his hit on Marc-Andre Fleury, which preceded the fight. That suspension is set to end on Saturday, though when Lockwood may be ready to return is not yet clear, with head coach Paul Maurice sharing that he will undergo testing on Saturday. Lockwood has just one point and 14 penalty minutes through 23 appearances with the Panthers this season. He’s also recorded seven points and eight penalty minutes through 14 games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
  • Florida is also getting back forward Nick Cousins, who joined the team for their upcoming two-game road trip and has returned to a full-contact jersey at practice. When he will officially return is not yet clear, but his progress at practice suggests fans won’t have to wait long. Cousins has five points and 20 penalty minutes through 37 games this season.
  • Calle Jarnkrok left the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday practice early after blocking a shot in a drill. The extent of his injury is currently unknown, per head coach Sheldon Keefe. Jarnkrok has appeared in 46 games this season, scoring 10 goals and 19 points. He ranks fifth on the high-scoring Leafs lineup in scoring that’s led by Auston Matthews’ 39 goals in 45 games.

Brendan Gallagher Suspended For Five Games

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Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has been suspended for five games for an illegal check to the head of New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. He will also forfeit $169,270.85 to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund, per terms outlined in the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Gallagher was given a match penalty for the hit, leaving the ice roughly 12 minutes before Montreal’s eventual win over New York.

Gallagher’s hit spread quickly around social media, where many were surprised to learn that the winger would only be having a phone hearing, limiting the largest suspension he could receive to just five games. He’s received said maximum punishment, marking the first time that Gallagher has been suspended across his 12-year NHL career. The only other disciplinary action that he’s faced was a $2,500 fine for a roughing penalty in November of the 2021-22 season.

Gallagher has had a productive career with the Canadiens, appearing in 723 career games and netting 411 points. His best year came during the 2017-18 season when the winger scored 31 goals and 54 points through 82 games. He followed it up with 33 goals and 52 points through 82 games the next year, marking the longest active streak of Gallagher’s career. Now 31, he’s lost the scoring kick that he once had – boasting just 16 points, split evenly, through 48 games this season. He still ranks fourth on Montreal in scoring, though the team is currently ranked 25th in the league in goals-for.

Jesse Ylonen will likely serve in a larger role with Gallagher out. The winger made his return to the lineup on Wednesday, after exiting the team’s Monday night game with an undisclosed injury. Ylonen has seven points in 36 games this year.

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