Sabres Recall Kale Clague, Move Jeff Skinner To IR
5:30 PM: The Sabres have sent Clague back to the AHL after the defenseman served as a healthy scratch for the team’s Monday win over the San Jose Sharks.
9:00 AM: The Sabres have recalled defenseman Kale Clague from AHL Rochester, per a team announcement. To create the necessary space on the active roster, the team moved star winger Jeff Skinner to injured reserve, according to CapFriendly.
The latter move is purely for roster management purposes and does not change Skinner’s recovery timeline. He remains listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Clague’s recall comes after defenseman Mattias Samuelsson took an elbow to the head from Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek early in the second period of Saturday’s 1-0 loss. Samuelsson did not return to the game and is likely out for this afternoon’s contest against the Sharks.
The 25-year-old Clague isn’t projected to dress against San Jose, but he does provide some needed defensive depth on the NHL roster. Buffalo lost multiple defenders to injury at points during the loss to Vancouver, namely Connor Clifton and Rasmus Dahlin. At one point during the contest, after Dahlin and Samuelsson had both exited the contest to go into concussion protocol due to separate hits to the head, veteran blueliner Erik Johnson was ineligible to play for five minutes after fighting Canucks center J.T. Miller, whose hit knocked Dahlin out of the game. That gave the Sabres only three available defensemen for a stretch, leading depth forward Zemgus Girgensons to play some shifts on the blue line. Head coach Don Granato confirmed both Clifton and Dahlin are cleared to play in today’s contest against the Sharks, although Samuelsson will remain out.
Clague, a second-round pick of the Kings in 2016, re-joined the Sabres on a one-year deal a few days after becoming a UFA in July. It was his second straight season without receiving a qualifying offer, which allowed the Sabres to sign him to a new deal at a slightly discounted cap hit. He’s in his second season in the Sabres organization after spending the first five seasons of his pro career with the Kings and Canadiens.
This is his first recall of 2023-24 after clearing waivers at the end of training camp. The puck-moving blueliner leads Rochester defensemen in assists (15) and points (17) this year in 31 games. It’s the most minor-league action he’s seen since he played 49 games with AHL Ontario in 2019-20.
In 33 games with the Sabres last year, Clague posted four assists while averaging 15:06 per game, all coming at even strength. He posted the best possession metrics of his career in a decent sample, per Hockey Reference – a 52.7% Corsi share, 50% expected goals for, and a +0.1 expected rating at even strength, to be exact. If he can replicate those, there are much worse options to have as an injury fill-in.
Sam Reinhart To Prioritize Term In Extension Talks With Panthers
In recent memory, few have taken advantage of their pending UFA status like Panthers winger Sam Reinhart. The 28-year-old has exploded in his third season in South Florida, producing at a 61-goal, 106-point pace through his first 42 games. He’ll shatter his previous career highs of 33 goals and 82 points, set during his first campaign with the Panthers in 2021-22.
That production has elevated Reinhart to the title of the league’s best pending UFA, at least with Maple Leafs winger William Nylander off the market. As such, most expected Reinhart’s camp to push for a deal closer to his Toronto counterpart’s eight-year, $92MM deal that carries a $11.5MM AAV. However, in his latest for The Athletic, Pierre LeBrun says that won’t necessarily be the case.
Firstly, he stresses that only preliminary extension discussions between Panthers GM Bill Zito and Reinhart’s agent, Newport Sports’ Craig Oster, have taken place. But, in LeBrun’s words, Reinhart “really, really wants to stay in South Florida,” and that could cause a potential extension to come in below the $10MM-plus AAV mark that some are expecting. While tax advantages in contract signings with certain teams are generally overblown in public discourse, there is a documented history of players taking discounts on market value in no-income-tax states like Florida, Dallas and Tennessee that LeBrun points out.
LeBrun also doesn’t believe Zito would be willing to entertain a deal that stretches into the $10MM range, given the team’s salary structure. The team’s longer-term commitments to their stars are clearly laid out – captain Aleksander Barkov carries a $10MM cap hit through 2030, last season’s team MVP Matthew Tkachuk carries a $9.5MM cap hit for the same length, and starting netminder Sergei Bobrovsky carries a $10MM cap hit through 2026. He won’t be willing to give Reinhart a deal that eclipses any of the above.
However, despite Reinhart being likely to receive offers of $10MM-plus per year from other teams on the open market, LeBrun posits Reinhart may be amicable to Zito’s desires. That’s because he’s likely to prioritize contract length in his discussions, says LeBrun, and it’s easy to see why. While he’s got ten seasons and over 650 NHL games under his belt, he’s never signed a contract longer than three years, and he’s now wrapping up his third deal signed after his entry-level contract expired in 2018.
So, if Zito is willing to go eight years on an extension, that could get Reinhart locked in at a cheaper price than most expected after his breakout year. There’s some recent precedence in terms of team salary structure that could offer insight into what Reinhart’s final extension could look like, too.
Take the Canadiens last summer, who needed an extension for star RFA sniper Cole Caufield after the completion of his entry-level contract. While his 2022-23 campaign was nearly halved due to a shoulder injury, he produced at a 46-goal pace through his 46 appearances. Given he was just in his third NHL season on a rebuilding team, few would have batted an eye if his extension was signed in the $8MM-$9.5MM range per season.
Instead, he took an eight-year deal with a slight discount in the cap hit department at $7.85MM. It was $25K less per season than captain Nick Suzuki, who Canadiens GM Kent Hughes obviously believes should be the team’s highest-paid forward at this stage in their rebuild. While Suzuki and Caufield are a younger duo, it wouldn’t be a far-fetched comparison to project that difference onto the potential difference in cap hits between Reinhart and Tkachuk. Could an eight-year deal worth $9.25MM per season be enough to keep Reinhart from heading to market on July 1?
Zito has a busy few months ahead of him. He also needs to hold extension talks with defensemen Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour, who are currently locked into a combined bargain price of $6.17MM. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who leads Panthers defensemen in points at the halfway mark of the season, is also a pending UFA earning only $2.25MM. Getting Reinhart done for seven figures per season would open a precious few thousand dollars to devote to the future of their defense corps.
Patrick Kane Will Not Return To Game Tonight
In tonight’s Original Six matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, an injury took place in the first period that may change the trajectory of Detroit’s season. Early on in the period, the Red Wings announced that forward Patrick Kane would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury.
The injury in question took place over two moments, with Pontus Holmberg delivering a solid body check to Kane along the boards, and Holmberg once again guiding Kane into a collision with the net in the Red Wings’ defensive zone.
Obviously, with the nature of the collisions, and Kane’s past injury history, Detroit’s main concern will be with Kane’s hip. Infamously, this past summer, Kane became one of a handful of players to undergo hip resurfacing surgery, delaying his eventual return to the NHL until December 7th.
If Kane is set to miss time away with this injury, it would be a tremendous blow to a Red Wings team that had just recently rebounded from a slow stretch in December. After a 2-8-1 showing in Kane’s first 11 games with Detroit, the team holds a 5-1-1 record in their last seven contests.
Since signing a one-year contract with the Red Wings back on November 28th, Kane has scored seven goals and 16 points in 18 games, with four of those points coming on Detroit’s powerplay. Although sitting 20th on the team in games played, Kane has climbed up to 14th on the team in scoring.
In Detroit’s view, there will be a lot of hope coming from the organization that Kane does not miss any action beyond tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs. However, although Kane has silenced many doubters in his return from hip resurfacing surgery, the poor track record of the surgery in the NHL still looms large.
Vegas Golden Knights To Place Jack Eichel On Injured Reserve
Although nothing has been officially confirmed by the team, Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that the Vegas Golden Knights have placed Jack Eichel on injured reserve. Since Eichel has not played a game since January 11th against the Boston Bruins, he will be able to return on January 20th against the Pittsburgh Penguins, only missing three games in total.
Currently, the Golden Knights have not reported exactly the exact injury that Eichel is dealing with, but it will be the first time he has been placed on the injured reserve since December 12th, 2022. In another largely healthy season for Eichel, he is leading Vegas in scoring, putting up 19 goals and 44 points in 43 games.
Eichel joins a growing list of Golden Knights who are missing time due to injury, as Adin Hill, William Karlsson, and William Carrier all find themselves on the team’s injured reserve, and Shea Theodore is still placed on the long-term injured reserve. Staying relatively healthy for most of the beginning of the season, Vegas’ incredible 11-0-1 start has turned into a still respectable 24-14-5 record on the year.
Fortunately for the Golden Knights, the team just recently passed the halfway point in the season, and all players currently injured are still expected back by the end of the season. Reminiscent of last year’s Colorado Avalanche, Vegas is having its organizational depth challenged only a year removed from winning the Stanley Cup.
With Chandler Stephenson likely sidelined for the team’s game tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators with an illness, the Golden Knights may have to rely on Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio to center the top two lines unless they are comfortable moving Ivan Barbashev off of the wing.
Snapshots: Kulikov, Hagg, Blidh
Continuing with their five-game homestand this week, the Florida Panthers may be without defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tomorrow night against the Anaheim Ducks (X Link). It is unclear what exactly is plaguing Kulikov, but he only managed a tad under 14 minutes of ice time in the team’s most recent loss to the New Jersey Devils.
If Kulikov is unable to play on Monday, it likely means that Josh Mahura will join the bottom-pairing on defense, after serving as a healthy scratch since December 16th. Although there is an argument to be made that Mahura is ultimately the more well-rounded defenseman comparatively, Kulikov’s recent work on the penalty kill has given the Panthers little choice but to put him in the lineup.
Already operating as the fifth-best penalty kill in the league, Florida’s penalty kill has allowed only four goals in the last 17 games, as they’ve been operating at over 90% efficiency for over a month. The penalty kill unit as a whole is bigger than just one defenseman, but Kulikov’s ability to shut down the other team’s top power-play units has been a tremendous boon to the Panther’s defensive core this season.
Other snapshots:
- Per the AHL transactions page, the Ducks have returned defenseman Robert Hagg to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Hagg was originally recalled on an emergency basis on January 9th, in correspondence with Anaheim’s trade of Jamie Drysdale to the Philadelphia Flyers only a day prior. Fortunately for Hagg, he was ultimately able to make his Ducks’ debut, playing in two games overall, with no points to show for.
- The New York Rangers have assigned forward Anton Blidh to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, per a team announcement. It was a brief stay with the Rangers for Blidh, who was originally recalled on an emergency basis to suit up in last night’s game against the Washington Capitals. In only a little over five minutes of ice time, Blidh had very little effect on the outcome of the game, and will now return to a Hartford team where he has nine points in 29 games on the season.
Pacific Notes: Markstrom, Kuznetsov, Golden Knights
With trade season now in full swing, one member of the Calgary Flames who has found his name mentioned in several rumors is goaltender Jacob Markstrom. As the Flames enter a transitionary period in their organization, and with goalie prospect Dustin Wolf ready to make the jump to the NHL, the logic behind moving Markstrom has never been more clear for Calgary.
However, in an article by James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now, he includes a quote from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman pouring cold water on the idea of the Flames moving Markstrom as he says, “From what I understand, Calgary has a very high bar here in terms of they’re not going to bother Markstrom with just anything. It would have to be something massive for them or somewhere they absolutely believe Markstrom would want to go before they would even consider going to him. I think that’s where things stand with Markstrom, the Flames, and anything right now”.
Assuming that Friedman is accurate, Calgary’s asking price for Markstrom may push too many teams away, although something could come together over the offseason. With teams such as the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, and New Jersey Devils all looking to upgrade their situation in the crease, it would be incredibly rare for a team to part with a substantial amount of assets during the regular season.
Other notes:
- Staying in Calgary, the Flames announced earlier today that they have sent down defenseman Yan Kuznetsov to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Kuznetsov was recalled for the second time this year on January 9th and would make his NHL debut the same day against the Ottawa Senators. Skating in just under 12 minutes of the game against Ottawa, Kuznetsov was held scoreless in his debut, as he put two shots on the net and also blocked one.
- After sending him down earlier this morning to make way for Brendan Brisson, the Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Byron Froese on an emergency basis due to the possibility of Chandler Stephenson missing time with an illness (X Link). Producing a 3-7-0 record in their last 10 games, the Golden Knights’ depth continues to be tested, as more and more of their typical players continue to miss games for the team.
- In more news coming from Vegas, both Adin Hill and Jiri Patera are not ready to return to the team, although both goaltenders are currently skating (X Link). Relying on goaltender Logan Thompson heavily over the last few weeks, the Golden Knights are now relying on their fourth-string goaltender to serve in the backup role, as 23-year-old, Isaiah Saville was recalled yesterday on an emergency basis.
Blue Jackets Activate Sean Kuraly Off IR, Assign Brendan Gaunce To AHL
The Blue Jackets have activated forward Sean Kuraly off injured reserve, GM Jarmo Kekäläinen announced today. To keep their active roster at the 23-player maximum, forward Brendan Gaunce was assigned to AHL Cleveland in a corresponding transaction.
Kuraly is set to re-enter the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks. The 30-year-old missed eight games with a scary rib cartilage injury that required the attention of paramedics on December 23 against the Maple Leafs.
He’s projected to return in a fourth-line role alongside Emil Bemström and Justin Danforth. Now in his third season with the Blue Jackets since signing a four-year, $10MM contract in 2021, he’d notched six goals and 11 points in 35 games with a -2 rating before the injury, predominantly playing fourth-line minutes with significant penalty kill time.
That’s solid offensive production for someone used almost exclusively as a shutdown specialist at even strength. He’s averaged only 26.9% of his zone starts in the offensive end since joining the Blue Jackets, a number that hasn’t deviated much this season.
Gaunce, 29, heads back to Cleveland, where he’s played most of his hockey since signing in Columbus in 2021. The veteran of 482 combined NHL and AHL games has six goals and 15 points in 24 games with the Monsters this season. The move ends his only recall of the season thus far, which began when he was brought up under emergency conditions on December 18. He appeared in eight out of 11 Blue Jackets contests during his recall, posting a goal and two assists with a -2 rating in 10:59 of average ice time.
Red Wings Activate Klim Kostin From Injured Reserve
The Red Wings have activated winger Klim Kostin from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs, per a team announcement. The 24-year-old missed 11 games across nearly a month with an upper-body injury.
While he’s eligible to play tonight, it’s unclear if he actually will. The offseason trade addition from the Oilers has decidedly settled into 13th-forward status for the Wings, recording two goals and one assist in 23 games this season while averaging a paltry 8:40 per game.
It’s less of a role than the Wings expected Kostin to play after inking him to a two-year, $4MM contract extension hours before free agency opened last July 1. Both his production and usage had declined from last year’s career-best season with the Oilers when the 2017 first-round pick finally showed the true effectiveness of his power-forward game with 11 goals, 21 points, and 66 PIMs in 57 games. He kept it going with a decent showing in the Oilers’ two-round playoff run, notching five points in 12 appearances.
Detroit has lacked the even-strength possession game necessary to be a playoff lock, and poor play from two out of their three goalies in Ville Husso and James Reimer hasn’t helped. They remain within striking distance of a berth, though, and Hockey Reference still tabs them with a 47% chance to make the postseason.
It’s hard to imagine Kostin working his way back into a regular role down the stretch after the in-season addition of Patrick Kane, though. Detroit’s fourth-line wingers are currently Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong, both of whom have double-digit goal totals this season and are producing over 0.6 points per game. Depth scoring has been the team’s biggest strength this season, something Kostin’s limited usage and lack of production diminishes.
Kostin is slated to be an RFA with arbitration rights when his current deal expires in 2025.
Lightning Reassign Three To AHL
The Lightning have reassigned right defensemen Maxwell Crozier, Philippe Myers and left winger Gage Goncalves to AHL Syracuse, vice president and GM Julien BriseBois said today.
With Tampa Bay now in a four-day break until their next game, they’ve opted to send the three recent call-ups to the minors to make them eligible to play in Syracuse’s game tomorrow against Utica. They’ve combined for only seven NHL games this season.
Crozier, 23, was called up from Syracuse on Friday after top-four blueliner Erik Černák was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury for the second time this month. He made his NHL debut in yesterday’s 5-1 drubbing of the Ducks, recording one blocked shot in 13 minutes of ice time alongside another recent Syracuse call-up, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg. Crozier, a fourth-round pick of the Lightning in 2019, remains waiver-exempt.
This move ends the third recall for Myers, 26, since he was waived and assigned to Syracuse early in October before the season began. He can be on the Lightning roster for nine more days before he’ll need waivers again to return to the minors. A pending UFA with a $1.4MM cap hit this season, Myers was a healthy scratch in three straight and hadn’t played since January 6 against the Bruins. He has a -2 rating and six shots on goal in four games with the Bolts this year, averaging 13:08 per game.
Goncalves also returns to Syracuse, ending his first in-season recall. The 22-year-old played in his first two NHL games after he was summoned from the minors on Thursday, recording a lone shot attempt and six PIMs while averaging 9:58 per game. His unit with Tyler Motte and Conor Sheary was pristine defensively in an extremely small sample size, failing to allow a single expected goal against in just over 13 minutes together, per MoneyPuck. The team’s 2020 second-round pick now looks to build on his team-leading 23 assists and 30 points in 33 games with Syracuse.
Whether all of these three are recalled back to Tampa later this week depends on the health of Černák and winger Tanner Jeannot, who is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury but is eligible to come off injured reserve ahead of their next game, which takes place on January 18 against the Wild. The transactions bring the Lightning’s roster size down to 20, including the injured Černák.
Blues Loan Tyler Tucker To AHL On Conditioning Assignment
The Blues have assigned defenseman Tyler Tucker to AHL Springfield on a conditioning loan, Blues president of hockey operations and GM Doug Armstrong announced today.
Tucker, 23, has not played since facing the Panthers on December 21. He has been a healthy scratch in nine straight games.
The 2018 seventh-round pick signed a two-year extension worth $1.6MM last June, shortly before reaching restricted free agency. He had put up strong scoring chance suppression numbers in a 26-game stint while playing depth minutes last season, earning himself a spot on the team’s roster out of training camp to begin 2023-24. His pairing with current Springfield blueliner Calle Rosén led all Blues in expected goals against per 60 minutes last season with 2.32, according to MoneyPuck data.
Tucker scored a goal in the Blues’ season opener against the Stars, but he struggled to replicate last season’s shutdown effectiveness and came out of the lineup by the team’s sixth game of the season. After playing in St. Louis’ first five games, he’s been a healthy scratch in 26 out of 36 contests. Now most commonly paired with veteran Marco Scandella, that pairing has controlled just 37.3% of expected goals when on the ice. Per MoneyPuck, that’s the seventh-worst in the NHL this season among pairings with at least 100 minutes together. Scandella has fared slightly better when paired with the more offensively-inclined Scott Perunovich, boasting a 42.8% expected goals share.
Through his 15 games this season, Tucker has one goal, one assist and 22 penalty minutes with ten shots on goal. He’s averaged 12:31 per game, down from last season’s 14:39.
By consenting to a conditioning loan, Tucker will remain on assignment to Springfield for up to 14 days. He will remain on the Blues’ active roster and count against the salary cap. After 14 days, the Blues must recall Tucker from his loan or, if they wish to keep him in Springfield, place him on waivers.
The Blues also have center Nikita Alexandrov in Springfield on a conditioning loan. That means while their roster size is at the maximum of 23, only 21 players are eligible to suit up in an NHL game. Alexandrov has four days remaining on his loan, which has been successful with two goals and five assists in six games.