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Blue Jackets Place Adam Boqvist On IR, Recall Nick Blankenburg

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The Blue Jackets have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight against Vancouver.  The team announced that they have placed defenseman Adam Boqvist on injured reserve with an upper-body injury; taking his place on the roster is Nick Blankenburg who has been recalled from AHL Cleveland.

Boqvist was injured in Thursday’s victory over Calgary when he took a puck to the face on the bench.  Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner lost teeth and something worse as a result.  Boqvist is in the middle of a rough season as injuries and scratches have limited him to just 20 games where he has seven assists.  Last season, the 23-year-old looked to turn the corner offensively with 24 points in 46 contests but he just hasn’t been able to get back to that type of performance this year.  There’s no word on how long Boqvist will be out with the team simply saying that he’s out through the All-Star break.

Blankenburg, meanwhile, was a full-timer on the roster for Columbus last season though he missed time due to injury.  This year, however, he has primarily played in the minors, suiting up in 19 games for the Monsters where he has three goals and nine assists.  The 25-year-old has played in six games with the Blue Jackets, averaging nearly 18 minutes a night.  This is his final season of waiver exemption.

Columbus recently sent David Jiricek back to Cleveland so it might be a bit surprising that he didn’t get the promotion to return.  However, with Jiricek’s ice time being limited lately, it might be more beneficial to have an extended stretch with the Monsters where he’ll get big minutes consistently over being sent back and forth as injuries come and go.

Injury Updates: Jarnkrok, Islanders, Red Wings, Amadio

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The Maple Leafs will be without Calle Jarnkrok for the foreseeable future as David Alter of The Hockey News mentions that the winger will be out week-to-week with a fractured knuckle.  The injury was sustained in practice on Friday.  Jarnkrok has been a valuable and versatile middle-six player this season, playing in a variety of roles while chipping in with ten goals and nine assists through 46 games.  Tyler Bertuzzi returns to the lineup after missing Thursday’s game due to the birth of his child while Ryan Reaves will play his first game in six weeks, replacing the injured Bobby McMann.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, relays Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). He took an elbow to the head from Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher on Thursday, a hit that landed Gallagher a five-game suspension.  Injuries have limited the 29-year-old to just 29 of 48 games this season, where he has four assists and 42 blocked shots while logging over 19 minutes a night.  Gross adds that winger Hudson Fasching is also listed as day-to-day due to a lower-body injury.   The 28-year-old also left Thursday’s game early after less than three minutes of ice time.  After collecting 19 points in 49 games last season, Fasching hasn’t been able to put up similar numbers so far, notching just three goals and five helpers in 35 games.
  • Ben Chiarot’s upper-body injury will hold him out of Detroit’s lineup through the All-Star break, notes 97.1 The Ticket’s Daniella Bruce (Twitter link). The 32-year-old has missed the last week with an upper-body injury.  He’s in his second season with the Red Wings and has a dozen points in 45 games so far along with 93 blocks and 84 hits.  Meanwhile, Bruce adds that winger Patrick Kane could still suit up before the break against Ottawa on Wednesday.  Kane has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury and has been a nice addition to Detroit’s lineup, collecting 16 points in his first 19 games.
  • Speaking with reporters postgame on Friday including NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated that winger Michael Amadio has been cleared to return tonight against Detroit. The 27-year-old has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury.  Amadio has been one of the better waiver claims in recent years, becoming a capable depth producer for Vegas, notching 33 goals in 162 games; he has 17 points in 42 games so far this season.

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.

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