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Golden Knights Activate Mark Stone, William Carrier From LTIR

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3:30 PM: The Vegas Golden Knights have officially activated both Mark Stone and William Carrier off of LTIR, per CapFriendly (Twitter link). The moves bring the team back to full health just in time for the postseason.

9:45 AM: The Golden Knights are expected to activate captain Mark Stone off long-term injured reserve ahead of tonight’s Game 1 against the Stars, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. He’ll likely return to the lineup to kick off the first-round series after missing two months with a Grade 3 spleen laceration.

The timing of Stone’s injury and LTIR placements over the past few seasons have drawn skepticism from nearly every fanbase in the league. A mid-February LTIR placement followed by an activation just before the first playoff game has now happened three seasons in a row, although his absences in 2022 and 2023 were due to lingering back injuries. Speaking to The Athletic’s Jesse Granger over the weekend, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon offered his explanation/defense:

I want to just touch on a couple of things with it, because there has been a lot of speculation and a lot of insinuation about his injury. The NHL is 100 percent involved in any of these (LTIR) situations involving teams. Their chief medical director speaks to the surgeon, speaks to our medical team, speaks to our athletic therapist, has access to every document that is filed and every diagnostic test that is given. They have access to all of that information. That’s what keeps the system legitimate. They are the people that are fully involved in this. So, I don’t know if maybe the fans or the media understand the degree to which these injuries are scrutinized.

Stone sustained the laceration against the Predators on February 20. He hasn’t played since, although he’s ramped up his workload in practice over the past couple of weeks. A Grade 3 splenic injury certainly qualifies as severe but may not result in an extremely long-term absence – medical literature indicates these can be treated more conservatively than a Grade 4 or 5, the latter of which indicates a wholly ruptured/shattered spleen. McCrimmon says team doctors told him after Stone’s injury that the laceration could carry something as lengthy as a three-to-six-month timeline but could swing less if his recovery went well.

Vegas isn’t the same team without their captain. They went 13-11-2 after his injury, dropping to the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and earning a date with conference-champion Dallas to open postseason play.

Still, placing his $9.5MM cap hit on LTIR allowed them to go big-game hunting at the trade deadline, picking up Noah Hanifin, Tomáš Hertl and Anthony Mantha with varying degrees of salary retention. Those will be significant reinforcements as Vegas attempts to be the second team this decade to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and the first eight-seed to win since the Kings in 2012.

Stone still managed to finish fourth on the team in scoring with 53 points (16 goals, 37 assists) in 56 games and second on the team in points per game behind Jack Eichel. His defensive impacts weren’t the extremely stout numbers that have earned him Selke nominations in the past, but write off the 31-year-old at your own risk. He erupted for 11 goals and 24 points in 22 postseason games last year, averaging 18:55 per game as Vegas won the Cup only six years into their existence. Line rushes over the weekend indicated that Stone is expected to play on the Knights’ second line, centered by Hertl and flanked by Chandler Stephenson on the left.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Kings Activate Carl Grundstrom From LTIR

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The Kings activated winger Carl Grundström off long-term injured reserve ahead of tonight’s Game 1 of their first-round series against the Oilers. The 26-year-old’s return to the lineup means no Kings skaters are carrying an injury designation for the first time all season.

Grundström, a second-round pick of the Maple Leafs back in 2016, has grown into a solid checking winger since a January 2019 trade sent him packing to Los Angeles. Now in his sixth year with the club, the Swede has been almost exclusively a fourth-line presence in SoCal, averaging 11:33 per game. He’s provided eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season, the totals we’ve come to expect.

He’s never truly played a full season, whether due to healthy scratches or injuries. His 50 appearances this season were his lowest in three years but not far back from his career high of 57 set last season. What he lacks in scoring, he makes up for in physicality, routinely ranking among the team leaders in hits. He had 115 over the regular season, most among Kings forwards.

Grundström hasn’t played an NHL game in over two months, last suiting up against the Sabres on Feb. 13. He spent the last week of the regular season on an LTI conditioning loan to AHL Ontario, scoring a goal and an assist in two games. It was his first AHL action in four years.

He’s expected to factor in on a stacked fourth line with Quinton Byfield and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller will look to roll four lines at even strength to take advantage of Edmonton’s weaker depth offense. Arthur Kaliyev will be a healthy scratch.

Grundström is in the final season of a two-year, $2.6MM extension. He’s an RFA at season’s end – his last season under team control. He reaches unrestricted free agency before the 2025 offseason.

Kraken Notes: Hakstol, McCann, Dunn

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The Kraken haven’t yet decided whether to bring head coach Dave Hakstol back next season, GM Ron Francis said Monday (via Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times). Seattle signed Hakstol to a two-year extension prior to the season, ensuring he’ll be paid by the club through 2025-26.

In 246 games for the Kraken over the franchise’s first three seasons, Hakstol has a 107-112-27 record and a .490 points percentage. Most viewed the Kraken as underachievers in year one, doomed by a nearly unplayable season from goalie Philipp Grubauer, and overachievers in year two, when they were among the best finishers in the league and took the Stars to Game 7 of the second round.

They were somewhere in the middle this season, finishing two games below the .500 mark and seeing their offense come crashing back down to Earth. Goaltending and team defense were a strength – Grubauer, while still below average, wasn’t awful by any means in a 1B role as Joey Daccord took over the Seattle crease. The pair saved 13.6 goals above average this season, and the Kraken were a good possession team at 5-on-5, controlling 51.8% of shot attempts and 51.2% of scoring chances. After shooting 11.6% as a team last season, though, they shot 9.1% this season, more a reflection on luck than coaching style.

Francis said the Seattle front office is evaluating the entire coaching staff, which includes assistants Jay Leach, Dave Lowry, Paul MacFarland and goaltending coach Steve Briere.

Other updates from Francis’ end-of-season availability today:

  • Seattle would prefer to have Jared McCann slot in on the wing long-term, Francis said (via ROOT Sports Northwest’s Alison Lukan). The 27-year-old has flipped between center and wing throughout his tenure with the Kraken, but has struggled in the dot with a 45.3 FOW%. He took less than 100 draws in 2022-23 but took over 300 this season, slotting in more frequently after the club traded away Alexander Wennberg. It should be a feasible accomplishment next season with Matthew Beniers, Yanni Gourde, and now Shane Wright looking to center down their top three lines after the latter had a strong end to the season.
  • The injury star defenseman Vince Dunn sustained late in the season after a hit from Flames winger Martin Pospisil was to his neck, Francis confirmed (via The Seattle Times’ Kate Shefte). He sustained the injury in early March and returned for two games in early April to try and play through it, but decided he wasn’t truly healthy enough to return to game action down the stretch. In the first season of a four-year, $29.4MM extension, his season ended with 46 points and a +8 rating in 59 games while averaging over 23 minutes per game for the second straight season.

Pacific Notes: Jasek, Fanti, Brzustewicz

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The Canucks still hold the exclusive signing rights of Czech winger Lukas Jasek, but he won’t be returning to the organization next season. He’s signed a two-year contract with Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (translated team release link).

Jasek, 26, was a sixth-round pick of the Canucks in 2015 and spent the following three seasons in the Czech Extraliga before signing his entry-level contract and joining their AHL affiliate, then the Utica Comets, in 2018. He played in parts of four seasons for the Comets, putting up overall decent numbers with 86 points (30 goals, 56 assists) and a +11 rating in 153 appearances, but didn’t get an NHL call-up during that time.

Vancouver liked what they saw enough to extend him a qualifying offer when his ELC expired in 2021, but Jasek declined to accept and returned to Europe for a bigger role. He spent two seasons in Finland with Liiga’s Pelicans before transferring to Sweden in 2022, signing on with the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn.

Jasek had 28 points in 49 games but couldn’t help them avoid relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan, but he’ll stay in the top tier of the Swedish system next season with Örnsköldsvik’s MoDo. The Canucks must sign him before July 1, 2025, and buy him out of the second year of his new deal with MoDo, or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • The Oilers will carry netminder Ryan Fanti as their emergency backup for tonight’s Game 1 of their first-round series against the Kings, the team announced. While not on the game roster, he could enter the game for Edmonton if Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard leave the game with injuries. They’ll allow the more experienced Jack Campbell to continue getting game action at the top minor-league level as AHL Bakersfield begins its playoff run. Fanti, 24, has played sparingly this season with ECHL Fort Wayne and missed the first few months of the season with an injury, going 9-6-1 with a .915 SV% in 17 outings since his return. He has no NHL experience and only nine games of AHL experience.
  • One of the Flames’ top defense prospects, Hunter Brzustewicz, will finish 2023-24 on an ATO with AHL Calgary, the minor-league club announced. Brzustewicz, 19, was a third-round pick of the Canucks last year but had his signing rights dealt to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade. He inked his entry-level deal back in March and, given his November birthday, will be eligible to suit up full-time with the Wranglers next season. He finished the year with 92 points in 67 games for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.

East Notes: Pageau, Nylander, Forbort, Jensen, Sandin, Iorio

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The Islanders expect veteran center Jean-Gabriel Pageau back tonight as they try and even their first-round series against the Hurricanes at one apiece. He practiced today and took line rushes in his usual third-line role, per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. After missing Game 1 with a lower-body injury sustained early in the final game of the regular season, the 31-year-old will center a line with captain Anders Lee and Pierre Engvall. Winger Hudson Fasching is projected to come out of the lineup after riding shotgun with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri on the second line on Saturday, while 22-year-old Simon Holmström will be reinstated into the top-six on his natural wing after suiting up at center over the weekend. Center Kyle MacLean, who scored the Isles’ only goal in the 3-1 loss, slides down to fourth-line duties with Pageau returning. The Ottawa native had 11 goals and 33 points in the regular season, skating in all 82 games.

Other updates ahead of a pair of Game 2s in the East tonight:

  • Maple Leafs winger William Nylander took a big step toward returning from an undisclosed injury today, participating in practice after participating in an optional skate yesterday. However, he didn’t take line rushes and will be a game-time decision against the Bruins tonight, head coach Sheldon Keefe said (via ESPN’s Kristen Shilton). If Nylander can’t go, no lineup changes are coming for Toronto, which dropped Game 1 Saturday 5-1 despite outshooting Boston 36-25. He skated nearly an hour today, a good sign for his availability when the series shifts back to Toronto for Game 3 on Wednesday.
  • The Bruins brought defenseman Derek Forbort back from his LTI conditioning loan to AHL Providence this morning, but he won’t be coming off long-term injured reserve just yet. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters today that the veteran isn’t an option for tonight’s contest but will travel with Boston north of the border (via The Boston Globe’s Conor Ryan). Even if healthy, it’s unclear whether he’ll draw into the lineup ahead of Andrew Peeke or Kevin Shattenkirk on the Bruins’ bottom pairing.
  • Capitals defensemen Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin remain in non-contact jerseys in today’s practice, NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reports. It’s not a good sign for the pair’s availability for Game 2 against the Rangers tomorrow. Both have been sidelined for at least a few games with upper-body injuries, and the Caps have already been forced to dip deep into their defensive well by playing rookie Vincent Iorio and farmhand Dylan McIlrath in Game 1’s 4-1 loss. Iorio left that game with an injury as well, which may force yet another player from AHL Hershey to suit up in postseason action for Washington. He’s now listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is questionable to play tomorrow, head coach Spencer Carbery said.

Bruins Recall Derek Forbort From LTI Conditioning Loan

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The Bruins have recalled veteran defenseman Derek Forbort from his LTI conditioning loan to AHL Providence, per the minor league’s transactions log. Boston hasn’t yet taken Forbort off long-term injured reserve, but after he played in two games with the P-Bruins without incident, they likely will ahead of tonight’s Game 2 against the Maple Leafs.

That’s not necessarily an indication that he’ll return to the lineup, though – Boston has gotten good advanced results from their current bottom-pairing rotation of Andrew Peeke, Kevin Shattenkirk and Parker Wotherspoon since the trade deadline. Forbort’s season has been marred by a lingering lower-body injury, which has kept him out of the NHL lineup since March 2. He was limited to four assists in 35 games throughout the campaign, his lowest total since the 2019-20 season.

Forbort largely provided decent value for the Bruins across the first two seasons of his three-year, $9MM contract, though. A competent penalty killer, Forbort totaled 26 points and a +14 rating in 130 games for Boston between 2021-22 and 2022-23 while averaging nearly 18 minutes per game. His possession metrics were okay, given his shutdown role at even strength, especially in his inaugural season.

That continued in 2023-24. He didn’t control raw shot attempts at 5-on-5, logging a 45.0 CF%, but managed to limit the quality of chances against quite well with a 52.7 xGF%, per Natural Stat Trick. If his services are needed during the postseason, there are certainly worse options to toss into a playoff lineup.

With the emergence of the younger Wotherspoon and the acquisition of Peeke, though, Forbort will likely head to the open market in a few months. The 32-year-old pending UFA has nine years and 496 games of NHL experience with the Bruins, Flames, Jets and Kings.

Senators Reassign Angus Crookshank

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The Senators reassigned winger Angus Crookshank to AHL Belleville today, according to a team announcement. His minor-league assignment comes a few days delayed because he missed the last two weeks of the season with a lower-body injury, from which he’s evidently been cleared to return.

This season was the 24-year-old’s first in the NHL. He scored twice and added an assist in 13 games. He did so in limited minutes, posting a -3 rating and 4 PIMs while averaging 10:07 per game. Crookshank was effective at getting the puck toward the net, managing 1.5 shots on goal per game despite the fourth-line usage and totaling 33 shot attempts.

It was a positive initial showing for the 2018 fifth-round pick, who missed the 2021-22 campaign with a knee injury. That would have been Crookshank’s first entire professional season after three years at the University of New Hampshire, one that was hotly anticipated after he ended 2020-21 with 16 points in 19 games on a tryout with Belleville.

Two years later, Crookshank is nearly a point-per-game producer in the minors. The left wing was Belleville’s best skater in the regular season, finishing second on the team in scoring with 46 points in 50 appearances. His 24 goals led the team outright.

Nearing the expiration of his entry-level contract, Crookshank isn’t a traditional restricted free agent this summer. Because of his missed 2021-22 season, he doesn’t have the number of professional seasons required for proper restricted free agency. Instead, he carries a 10.2(c) designation, meaning he’s ineligible to receive or sign offer sheets from other teams. His only option is to re-sign in Ottawa.

The North Vancouver native will join Belleville in the Calder Cup Playoffs, where they’re set for a best-of-three First Round series against the cross-province Toronto Marlies this week. It will be his first postseason experience since turning pro.

Lightning Recall Max Crozier

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The Lightning recalled defenseman Maxwell Crozier from AHL Syracuse on Monday, per a team release. There are no added injury designations to their blue line after yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Panthers in Game 1 of their first-round series, so he’s only up to provide additional depth over the next few days.

Crozier, 24, received his first NHL call-up on January 12 and debuted the following night, recording one block in 13 minutes of ice time against the Ducks. He played 12 more games throughout the season as he alternated between the majors and minors, totaling two assists, a -2 rating, 7 PIMs and 13 shots.

The 2019 fourth-round pick hasn’t made an NHL appearance since before the March 8 trade deadline, and it’s doubtful he’ll draw into the playoff lineup unless an avalanche of injuries occurs on defense. Syracuse, which finished third in the North Division, wrapped up their regular season with a 5-2 loss to Utica over the weekend. Crozier could be reassigned to them by Friday when they kick off their best-of-five Division Semifinal series against Rochester.

He isn’t the only defender Tampa is adding into the fold for now. Haydn Fleury, who hasn’t played since a mid-ice collision with referee Steve Kozari on April 6, was a full participant in today’s practice and could be an option ahead of Tuesday’s Game 2 in Sunrise, notes the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina.

Crozier ended his regular season with Syracuse on a tear offensively with 10 points in 10 games but somehow managed to post a -8 rating in that span. That includes a career-high three points against Toronto on April 13, a game he inexplicably finished with a -4 rating as the Crunch lost to the Marlies 6-5 in a shootout.

He wraps up his first professional season with four goals, 17 assists, 21 points, 43 PIMs and a +1 rating in 49 minor-league appearances. The Calgary native signed his entry-level contract in March 2023 after four seasons with Providence College, where he totaled 71 points and a +35 rating in 119 games while serving as captain in his senior season.

Crozier didn’t look entirely out of place in his limited minutes. He didn’t receive tough matchups by any stretch, deployed primarily on bottom-pairing situations alongside rookie Emil Martinsen Lilleberg and averaging 12:56 per game. But his possession numbers were good across the board at 5-on-5, recording a 53.9 CF% and 59.2 xGF%, per Natural Stat Trick. The Lightning controlled 54.9% of overall scoring chances with Crozier on the ice, but none of that was reflected in his actual -2 rating (6 GF, 8 GA).

Listed at 6’1″ and 197 lbs, Crozier has one season left on his ELC with an $867.5K cap hit. He’ll be an RFA in 2025, and the Lightning will retain team control up to the 2027 offseason.

Five Key Stories: 4/15/24 – 4/21/24

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With the regular season ending and the playoffs beginning, there was no shortage of storylines across the NHL this past week including Arizona’s relocation being made official.  We recap the biggest ones in our key stories.

St. Louis Extended: The Canadiens haven’t had much on-ice success in recent years since their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.  However, that didn’t stop the team from exercising a two-year contract option on head coach Martin St. Louis.  The Hall of Fame winger has spent parts of three seasons behind the bench in Montreal, originally coming on as an interim coach during the 2021-22 campaign.  His teams have played to a 75-100-26 record, good for a points percentage of just .438 with the team in the middle of a full-scale rebuild.  However, quite a few key young players have shown improvement under his tutelage including 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky who put up 50 points in 82 games this season after notching just 10 in 39 appearances in his rookie year.  Montreal will be counting on St. Louis to continue to get those young core players to improve.

Granato Fired: The Sabres’ playoff drought reached 13 years after they failed to make the postseason.  That resulted in the team electing to make a coaching change as they fired Don Granato before his extension signed back in 2022 had even started.  Granato led Buffalo to a 122-125-27 record over parts of four seasons having taken over during the 2020-21 campaign.  Expectations were higher for the Sabres coming into this year after they narrowly missed making the playoffs the year before but instead, several of their key young players took steps back offensively, resulting in a drop-off of 50 goals, a gap that was too much to overcome.  Buffalo will now be searching for their eighth head coach since last reaching the postseason.

Sticking Around: It was expected that this season would be Marc-Andre Fleury’s last but that won’t be the case.  Instead, 2024-25 will be as the veteran goaltender signed a one-year, $2.5MM contract extension and indicated that he will retire at the end of that season which will be his 21st at the NHL level.  The deal does not contain any performance bonuses while Fleury receives a full no-move clause.  The 39-year-old struggled this season, posting a 2.98 GAA with a save percentage of just .895, a career-low.  With Filip Gustavsson still under contract for two more years and top prospect Jesper Wallstedt looking like he’s ready for a longer look, Minnesota will at least have strong depth at the goaltending position next season.

Not Sticking Around: Veteran center Jeff Carter has elected to not see what type of offers he could have received in free agency, instead announcing his retirement at the end of Pittsburgh’s final game, one he scored in.  The 39-year-old struggled this season, notching just 11 goals and four assists in 72 games while seeing his ice time dip to a career-low 12:34 a night.  However, that shouldn’t take away from what was a very strong career overall; in 19 seasons, Carter amassed 442 goals and 409 assists while also winning a pair of Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 with Los Angeles.  Meanwhile, Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz confirmed he’s also retiring.  He missed all of this season and most of last season with groin and knee injuries.  When healthy, he was a very effective netminder, posting a .919 SV% in 73 career NHL appearances, all with Colorado.

Johansen Unlikely To Play Next Season: When Philadelphia took back Ryan Johansen as part of the Sean Walker trade last month, it was expected that he wouldn’t play for the Flyers and that they’d try to move him elsewhere.  However, it was revealed after the swap that he had a hip injury, one that kept him out for the stretch run and now, all of next season as well; GM Daniel Briere indicated that the veteran isn’t expected to play at all in 2024-25.  The 31-year-old struggled with Colorado this season, notching just 13 goals and 10 assists in 63 games, making him a possible buyout candidate this summer.  But due to the injury, that won’t be an option as injured players can’t be bought out.  Instead, the Flyers will be forced to carry him on the NHL roster next season although he will be eligible for LTIR if Philadelphia needs to use it.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

College Transfer Roundup: Leddy, Benoit, Emerson, Croteau, Muszelik

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While college signings have slowed down in recent days, that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been college activity, as several NHL prospects continue to find new homes for next season.  Here’s a rundown of some recent moves on that front.

  • Devils prospect Charlie Leddy has transferred to Quinnipiac, notes Cameron Levasseur of The Quinnipiac Chronicle (Twitter link). The 20-year-old blueliner was a fourth-round pick by New Jersey two years ago (126th overall) and spent his first two NCAA campaigns at Boston College.  This past season, he had eight assists in 39 games.
  • Wild blueline prospect Nate Benoit has also transferred to Quinnipiac, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. The 2021 sixth-round pick was limited to just 19 appearances at North Dakota this season, collecting a single assist which was not the freshman year he was certainly hoping for.
  • Hurricanes youngster Michael Emerson has committed to Merrimack, reports Mike McMahon of College Hockey News (Twitter link). The winger was a sixth-round pick last year, going 190th overall.  He started the season at North Dakota but left after six games, opting to go back to USHL Chicago, where he posted 20 points in 27 contests.
  • Canadiens goalie prospect Emmett Croteau announced (Twitter link) that he has transferred to Dartmouth. A sixth-rounder two years ago, the 20-year-old had a very quiet first season in college, getting into just six games with Clarkson. There, he struggled, putting up a 3.53 GAA and a .835 SV%. Dartmouth lost their starter to the pros when Cooper Black signed with Florida, so Croteau may have an easier path to playing time next season.
  • Panthers prospect Tyler Muszelik is on his way to UConn, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. The netminder was a 2022 sixth-rounder, going 189th overall after spending time in the U.S. National Team Development Program.  Muszelik spent the last two seasons at the University of New Hampshire but in a backup role.  UConn’s tandem has both moved on (Ethan Haider to the pros and Arseni Sergeyev via the portal) so the 19-year-old should have a better path to playing time next season.

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