Morning Notes: Demko, Carlsson, Fabbro
The Canucks are back in the win column and continue to pace themselves for their best regular season since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. Their 113-point pace can be credited mainly to Thatcher Demko, who will undoubtedly get Vezina Trophy consideration in a few months thanks to an uncontestable top-five showing. Unfortunately, they’ll be without their star netminder for a slight stretch as he’s set to miss “a few games” with an undisclosed injury, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. More specifically, it’s a knee issue, per Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The Canucks will recall a goaltender from AHL Abbotsford, likely waiver-exempt Arturs Silovs, ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Avalanche.
After a breakout 2021-22 campaign that placed him seventh in Vezina voting, last year marked a significant downturn for Demko, who struggled through a knee injury that limited him to 32 starts and dropped his numbers to the average-to-mediocre range. He’s back to form this year, though, recording career highs in wins (34), SV% (.917), GAA (2.47), and shutouts (5). His 20.4 goals saved above expected are second in the league only behind Jets star Connor Hellebuyck‘s 27.9, per MoneyPuck. The Canucks do not have enough cap space for a recall with $125K remaining in their LTIR salary pool, but Silovs is eligible for a $0 roster emergency exemption as he carries a cap hit of $850K or less. Unlike skaters, teams do not have to play short a goaltender for one game before being eligible to use this rarer emergency recall.
More things to note as the 2023-24 campaign chugs on past the trade deadline:
- Ducks rookie center Leo Carlsson is set to return to the lineup for Thursday’s game in Minnesota, meaning he’ll miss a sixth straight game with a concussion when they take on Chicago tomorrow, GM Pat Verbeek said. Carlsson, 19, has settled nicely into NHL work after being selected second overall in the 2023 draft and is already the Ducks’ best two-way center by the numbers. His concussion, a right MCL sprain, and an early-season load-management plan have limited him to 40 games on the year and likely pushed him out of Calder Trophy consideration. Still, he’s posted decent secondary scoring numbers with nine goals and 23 assists while ranking second among qualified Ducks skaters with a 51.6 CF% and a team-high +1.7 expected rating. The Ducks, again in the draft lottery conversation with 49 points, have gone 2-3-0 without Carlsson in this latest stretch and have conceded six goals in back-to-back games.
- The Predators were on the losing end of a wild finish yesterday in Minnesota, as Wild head coach John Hynes pulled the goalie in overtime for an extra skater and took home a crucial two points thanks to a Matt Boldy game-winner. However, it wasn’t the only loss they suffered yesterday, as newly-extended defenseman Dante Fabbro sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. This is Fabbro’s first injury of the season; all his previous absences have been due to healthy scratches. The 25-year-old, who inked a one-year, $2.5MM extension on deadline day, has not yet been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Jets. Tyson Barrie could re-enter the lineup instead of Fabbro after serving as a healthy scratch against Minnesota if the latter isn’t cleared to play.
Five Key Stories: 3/4/24 – 3/10/24
The trade deadline has come and gone and as expected, it wound up being a busy few days across the league. The full Friday activity is recapped here while several of the biggest swaps are specifically noted in our key stories.
Shakeup In Colorado: Heading into the trade deadline, the Avalanche were thought to be looking for center help and perhaps a backup goalie. They wound up being quite active. They picked up Sean Walker from Philadelphia in exchange for Ryan Johansen and Colorado’s 2025 first-round pick. With an extra defender and a hole down the middle, they then moved blueliner Bowen Byram to Buffalo for Casey Mittelstadt in one of the biggest moves of the week. Byram, a former top-four pick, is a big loss but Mittelstadt gives them a legitimate offensive threat to anchor the second line. GM Chris MacFarland then shook up his bottom six group with a trio of moves, acquiring winger Yakov Trenin from Nashville and winger Brandon Duhaime from Minnesota while moving Ben Meyers to Anaheim to cap a busy few days. All that and they wound up not getting the goalie.
Vegas Goes All In: It has been a rough go as of late for the Golden Knights who have slipped to a Wild Card spot in the West. That didn’t stop GM Kelly McCrimmon from going for it. First, he picked up winger Anthony Mantha (with 50% retention) from Washington for a second-round pick and a fourth-rounder. The Golden Knights then added defenseman Noah Hanifin from Calgary for a 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2025 third-rounder, and blueliner Daniil Miromanov, then flipped a 2024 fifth-rounder to Philadelphia to get Hanifin’s cost down to 25% of his AAV. That gave them enough room to make the most surprising move of trade deadline day, acquiring center Tomas Hertl along with a pair of third-round picks from San Jose in exchange for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick; San Jose retained 17.05% of Hertl’s AAV in the swap. Hertl is out for a few more weeks at least but if Vegas is able to hold onto a playoff spot, they certainly have strengthened their lineup and could be a force in the West.
Devils Fire Ruff: The week wasn’t all about trade-related activity. The Devils elected to make a coaching change, firing head coach Lindy Ruff while promoting Travis Green to the interim role. Ruff, who had signed a multi-year extension back in October, was in his fourth season behind New Jersey’s bench with the team playing to a 128-125-28 record. Last season, he helped lead the Devils to a 112-point campaign, their best in franchise history but this year, the team had underachieved and is on the outside looking in at a playoff spot which resulted in the change. Green, meanwhile, was New Jersey’s associate coach this season and has head coaching experience from his time with Vancouver. He’ll be in the role for the remainder of the season and GM Tom Fitzgerald will re-assess from there.
Extensions: At this time of year, there are often plenty of extension as players often find themselves in ‘extend or be traded’ situations. There were several of those as Nashville took center Thomas Novak off the market after signing him to a three-year, $10.5MM extension, a nice reward for a player who was a regular in the minors a year and a half ago. The Flyers inked Nick Seeler to a four-year, $12.8MM extension, quite a raise for a player making the minimum on a two-way contract which helped pave the way for the Walker trade. Seattle had one of the more tradable wingers on deadline day in Jordan Eberle but instead of moving him, they agreed to a two-year, $9.5MM extension, one that is a small pay cut but gives him full no-trade protection in return.
The extensions weren’t all just extend or be traded players, however. The Capitals opted to not wait for the summer to work out a new deal with defenseman Rasmus Sandin, giving him a five-year, $23MM extension that buys them three extra years of club control. Meanwhile, the Panthers took care of one of their key pending unrestricted free agents as they handed blueliner Gustav Forsling a max-term eight-year, $46MM extension. Claimed off waivers in 2021, Forsling has gone from a depth defender to one of the anchors on the back end for Florida.
More Big Moves: There were several other big moves across the league. The league-leading Panthers made a notable acquisition up front, acquiring winger Vladimir Tarasenko for a 2025 third-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-rounder. Tarasenko had full trade protection and made it known that he wanted to go to Florida which didn’t help Ottawa in terms of maximizing his value. The Hurricanes, not a team that typically goes after prominent rentals, broke that trend as they added winger Jake Guentzel (who is nearing a return from his upper-body injury) along with blueliner Ty Smith from Pittsburgh for winger Michael Bunting, forward prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasiliy Ponomarev, and Cruz Lucius, a conditional 2024 first-round pick, and a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick. The first-rounder becomes a second if Carolina doesn’t make the Stanley Cup Final while the fifth only moves if Carolina wins the Stanley Cup.
Some Western teams made key splashes as well. Edmonton elected to add to their center depth by bringing in Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from Anaheim in exchange for a 2024 first-round selection as well as a conditional 2025 fifth-round selection that becomes a fourth if the Oilers win the Stanley Cup. In order to get a total of 75% retention on Henrique, the Oilers also flipped Tampa Bay a conditional 2025 fourth-rounder. Winnipeg made one trade of note last month with the addition of Sean Monahan but made another one when they sent a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 third-rounder to New Jersey for Tyler Toffoli. All players acquired in this section by contenders are pending unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marcus Sylvegard
With the trade deadline now behind us, the focus will shift in the coming weeks and months to the undrafted free agent market. We’ve already seen several major junior players sign while college free agency will pick up soon as well. Meanwhile, there are some international free agents that will also garner interest.
One of those appears to be Swedish winger Marcus Sylvegard. The 24-year-old is putting the finishing touches on arguably his best SHL season as he has 23 goals and 18 assists in 50 games so far with Vaxjo with one game remaining on the schedule. It’s his second straight season reaching the 40-point mark after failing to reach 20 in his first five seasons at that level which likely helped get him on the NHL radar.
SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the Panthers, Avalanche, and Flames are among NHL teams who have shown interest in his services so far with Florida believed to have shown the most interest at this point. A signing won’t be imminent, however, with Sylvegard indicating that his focus will be on the upcoming league playoffs so it stands to reason that he won’t choose his next team until after his postseason comes to an end.
Regardless of whomever he signs with, Sylvegard will be subject to entry-level restrictions. He’ll be entering his age-25 year next season so he will be capped at inking a one-year deal; the maximum compensation for an entry-level deal in 2024-25 is $975K plus performance bonuses.
John Tortorella Suspended For Two Games
The NHL has suspended Flyers head coach John Tortorella for two games and fined him $50K for unprofessional conduct directed at the officials during last night’s 7-0 loss to the Lightning.
Tortorella was assessed a bench minor and a game misconduct for abuse of officials at 10:49 of the first period after Lightning center Brayden Point scored a power-play goal to increase Tampa’s lead to 4-0 early in the game. Broadcast video captured Tortorella on the bench continuing to fight with officials after the misconduct was assessed, appearing to say, “I’m not f****** leaving” multiple times to referee Wes McCauley (video link via Bally Sports Sun).
The Flyers have publicly supported Tortorella since last night’s ejection, with team governor Dan Hilferty pledging to cover his fine if one was assessed. Flyers assistant Brad Shaw told reporters this morning that Tortorella was simply expressing dissatisfaction with the calls and not going so far as to threaten the on-ice officials, while captain Sean Couturier claimed his head coach “didn’t say much” (via Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports).
Philadelphia’s grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division has slipped to only four points ahead of the Islanders, who have three games in hand on the Flyers. They’ll now be without their Jack Adams candidate for a two-game homestand against the Sharks and Maple Leafs as they try to keep pace in the playoff race.
The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco first reported the suspension; Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first with the fine amount.
Blue Jackets Recall Carson Meyer Under Emergency Conditions
The Blue Jackets summoned forward Carson Meyer from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters on an emergency loan Sunday, per a team release. As such, his recall does not count toward Columbus’ four permitted post-deadline recalls.
Justin Danforth‘s illness-related absence forced Columbus to play a skater short against the Predators yesterday in a 2-1 loss. Despite the roster limit no longer being in place and having ample cap space, the Blue Jackets have opted to carry a trim roster and leave as many players with their AHL club as possible as they approach the postseason.
Meyer, 26, will slot into the lineup on Tuesday against the Canadiens if Danforth isn’t ready to return, which seems likely given they’ve recalled him multiple days in advance of the contest. It’s his first recall of the season after being waived and assigned to Cleveland during training camp.
A 2017 sixth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, the Ohio native is in his fourth season of pro hockey after two seasons with Miami University and two more with Ohio State. He’s second on the Monsters in goals, scoring 22 times and adding 15 assists for 37 points in 55 games with a -1 rating. He has a goal and four points in 27 NHL games since debuting in the 2021-22 campaign.
Meyer’s possession numbers have been okay in his major-league time, recording a 49.2 CF% and a 42.0 xGF% in his limited even-strength minutes. He’s been used exclusively in a fourth-line role, averaging nine minutes per game throughout his NHL action.
Columbus signed Meyer to a third straight one-year deal last summer, paying him $775K in the NHL and $190K in the minors with a $210K guarantee. He’ll remain under team control this summer as an RFA with arbitration rights.
Blackhawks Sign Landon Slaggert
The Blackhawks have inked one of their more intriguing prospects, signing forward Landon Slaggert to a two-year, entry-level deal, per a team announcement. The deal, which begins immediately, carries a $912.5K cap hit, per Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports.
As such, Slaggert will be eligible to make his NHL debut for Chicago down the stretch. The 21-year-old was a third-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2020 and had his collegiate career with Notre Dame end yesterday after Michigan eliminated him and the Fighting Irish in the Big 10 Tournament. The South Bend, Indiana native ended his stint at Notre Dame with a 20-goal, 31-point showing in 36 games, both of which were career highs.
Slaggert is already decorated internationally, capturing the gold medal as a depth forward with Team USA at the 2021 World Juniors. He returned to the team for the 2022 tournament where he was among their best, posting six points in five games while serving as an alternate captain.
A speedy forward with decent size (6-foot, 190 lbs), Slaggert can play both wing and center but likely slots in at left wing at the NHL level. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler left Slaggert out of Chicago’s top 15 prospects in his latest pipeline ranking in February, while Dobber Prospects lists him as their fourth-best left-wing prospect. If he hits his long-term ceiling, he’s a good fit on a two-way third-line that can be relied upon for depth scoring and checking situations. He has a decent shot but will likely be most effective in the pros with his ability to create puck retrievals out of board battles.
Slaggert will be an RFA when his ELC expires in 2025.
Blues Recall Matthew Kessel
The Blues announced that they have recalled defenseman Matthew Kessel from AHL Springfield ahead of tomorrow’s game in Boston. St. Louis only has $485K in cap space, less than the $884K needed to add Kessel’s contract to the roster, so a corresponding transaction is coming in the form of a reassignment or LTIR placement. With no Blues out of the lineup due to injuries, the former is more likely.
Kessel, 23, will look to build on a decent stretch of NHL play earlier this season. Filling in for Justin Faulk when the veteran was out with a lower-body injury for much of January and February, the right-shot youngster notched two assists and a -4 rating in 22 games while logging 17:25 per game. The Phoenix-born blue-liner is in his third season of pro hockey after signing his entry-level deal with St. Louis in 2022.
The 2020 fifth-round pick is in the final season of that contract, which pays him $832.5K in the NHL and $80K in the minors, along with a $92.5K signing bonus paid out last summer. A pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, Kessel also has two goals, seven points, and a +1 rating in 34 games with Springfield.
Bringing up Kessel burns the second of the Blues’ four post-deadline standard recalls. They used the first of them on 2021 first-round pick Zachary Bolduc, who they briefly ferried to Springfield to make him eligible for the AHL’s postseason, just after the 2 p.m. CT Friday cutoff.
Kessel’s possession numbers weren’t much to write home about in his NHL stint, posting a 43.2 CF% at even strength and a 40.7 xGF% despite receiving more offensive zone time than you’d expect from someone in a shutdown role. Nonetheless, he’s been on a solid development track in the minors will get a few more chances to show he can be an effective shot-suppression talent.
Senators Notes: Bernard-Docker, Kubalik, Belleville
The Ottawa Senators had a quiet deadline – only moving winger Vladimir Tarasenko – but it wasn’t from lack of trying, with Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reporting that teams called about defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker but weren’t willing to pay Ottawa’s high asking price. What that asking price was isn’t clear, though there’s no doubt that Ottawa highly values their former first-round pick, despite his struggles at the top level. Garrioch added that Ottawa likely wasn’t eager to move the 23-year-old, happy to continue letting him grow now in a full-time NHL role. Bernard-Docker, the 26th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, is still searching for a groove in the league, with just four goals and 12 points in 53 games this season. It’s his first full season in the NHL, entering the season with just 32 career games across the last three years.
Other Senators trade notes:
- Garrioch also reports that Ottawa continued to try and find a trade for winger Dominik Kubalik, who the team has been shopping around since December. Garrioch adds that Kubalik will likely be out the door when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. The 28-year-old winger has 10 goals and 14 points in 58 games this season, netting double digit goals for the fifth-straight season, despite a down-year in overall production. Kubalik has managed 92 goals and 175 points across 341 career NHL games.
- Tarasenko’s move opened up space on the Senators lineup that the team hopes to fill creatively. While they did claim bottom-six staple Boris Katchouk off of waivers, Senators general manager Steve Staios shared that the team could give top Belleville Senators prospects – including Tyler Kleven, Zack Ostapchuk, and Oskar Pettersson – a chance at the majors as well. He told Garrioch, “All of those players have progressed nicely. They’re worthy of an opportunity to play.” Ottawa currently sits second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, with just 25 wins on the season. With a quiet deadline not providing much change, they could be well-poised to try out their top young names.
Logan O’Connor To Undergo Hip Surgery, Out For Season
Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor will undergo hip surgery this week and will not return this season, Ryan Boulding of NHL.com reports. O’Connor, who last played on March 4, has been dealing with the injury for most of the season, head coach Jared Bednar said.
Bednar issued multiple other injury updates Sunday, confirming that veteran winger Zach Parise is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and that Ross Colton, Jack Johnson and Artturi Lehkonen did not practice due to illness but will travel with the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Depth center Chris Wagner, who sat out Friday’s game against the Wild with an upper-body injury, will be available on the trip if needed, Bednar said.
Before exiting the lineup last week, O’Connor missed a four-game stretch in February and a two-game stretch in November with a lower-body injury. Bednar’s comments imply that O’Connor sustained the initial injury as late as Nov. 20, the game immediately prior to his first absence of the season.
Despite the injury, O’Connor has managed the best season of his career and was a necessary stabilizing force with many Avalanche depth forwards either missing significant time or underperforming. He managed 13 goals, 12 assists and 25 points in 57 games, a career-best 0.44 points per game pace, although he’d failed to get on the scoresheet in his last seven games.
Aside from his point totals, O’Connor also recorded career-highs in ATOI (14:57) while putting up good even-strength possession stats (54.5 CF%, 54.3 xGF%) in shutdown usage. He was also a significant part of the Avs’ top-10 penalty kill, averaging 2:17 per game.
Luckily for Colorado, GM Chris MacFarland went big-game hunting at the trade deadline. Their acquisitions of Casey Mittelstadt and Sean Walker will draw the most attention, but a targeted move to snag Yakov Trenin from the Predators should help balance out O’Connor’s absence. The 27-year-old Trenin hasn’t scored at O’Connor’s rate this year, posting 14 points in 61 games, but he does have double-digit goal totals and is comfortable in defensive usage and penalty-kill scenarios. He’ll slot seamlessly into the third-line right wing O’Connor was projected to occupy behind Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen down the stretch and in the postseason.
O’Connor is in the second season of a three-year, $3.15MM extension signed with the Avs in 2021 that began in the 2022-23 season. He costs $1.05MM against the cap, which the Avalanche could use to increase their financial flexibility down the stretch by placing him on LTIR, but are unlikely to do so with a $2.1MM cushion still remaining from Pavel Francouz‘s and Gabriel Landeskog‘s combined $9MM cap hits.
Devils Recall Nolan Foote From Conditioning Stint
Left winger Nolan Foote led the New Jersey Devils onto the practice sheet today as he was officially recalled from his AHL conditioning stint. Foote has been working his way back from a preseason upper-body injury that held him out until February 26th, when he was assigned to the Utica Comets. Foote has appeared in four games with Utica, scoring three goals and four points. He’ll now have a chance to establish himself in the NHL, back with the Devils for the first time since late March of last season.
Foote is still new to his professional career, making his AHL debut in the 2020-21 season. He’s since spent the majority of his time in the minors, including 55 games in each of the last two seasons, though he’s received six or seven NHL games every year. In total, he’s managed 86 points across 134 career AHL games, on top of five goals and seven points in 19 NHL games.
Foote’s return comes at an apt time, coming right after the team traded top-scoring winger Tyler Toffoli to the Winnipeg Jets. That’s left a hole in the lineup that’s currently being filled by utility player Kurtis MacDermid, who has just two goals in 33 games this season. Foote should be able to compete for that role, though he’ll need to take advantage of his opportunity, with the Devils on the tail ends of the playoff race.