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Paul Cotter

Devils’ Paul Cotter Suspended Two Games

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April 14: It’s a two-game suspension for Cotter, DoPS announced. He’ll miss New Jersey’s remaining regular season schedule but will be eligible for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Hurricanes.

April 13: Devils center Paul Cotter received a match penalty today against the Islanders and the league has decided that they want to take a closer look at it.  The Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter link) that Cotter will have a hearing on Monday for his illegal check to the head on defenseman Adam Pelech.

The incident (video link) occurred near the six-minute mark of the second period with Cotter being ejected for it.  Meanwhile, Pelech sustained an upper-body injury on the play and did not return.  Following the game, head coach Patrick Roy didn’t have an immediate update on Pelech’s condition but with just two games left in their season, it wouldn’t be surprising if they shut him down.

Cotter has not been suspended in his 217-game NHL career but this is the second time he received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head; the other instance came back in 2023 when he was with Vegas but no supplementary discipline came his way.  New Jersey has two games remaining this season so any suspension longer than that would mean he’d miss the beginning of their opening-round playoff series against Carolina.

Snapshots: Cotter, World Juniors, Murashov

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The Devils were looking for some more size and speed in their bottom six when they gave up former top-10 pick Alexander Holtz in a trade with the Golden Knights to acquire Paul Cotter, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now.

“For us today and what we wanted to accomplish, adding a guy like Paul Cotter, who we believe has upside and has a little bit of Miles Wood in him. He can skate and is physical,” Fitzgerald said. It’s easy to see the comparable drawn between the current and former Devil – both have 6’2″ frames and above-average straight-line speed. Cotter checks in nearly 20 lbs heavier than Wood, who left New Jersey in free agency in 2023 to sign a long-term contract with the Avalanche.

The 24-year-old played 138 NHL games over the last three seasons with Vegas before the trade, scoring 22 goals and 23 assists for 45 points while averaging 12:44 per game. He finished second on the Knights with 233 hits last year, which would have led the Devils by a long shot – Curtis Lazar was their leader with 179.

More from around the hockey world today:

  • Before NHLers return to the international stage at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off in February, the world’s top U-20 talents will convene again for the World Juniors in December and January. This season’s edition is in Ottawa, and well in advance of the event, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman took a crack at projecting what rosters may look like for the four traditional powerhouses.
  • After signing his entry-level contract last week, Penguins goalie prospect Sergei Murashov is ready for the jump to North America, he tells Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambling. The 20-year-old is hoping for a chance at NHL action this season, but he’s “ready to spend an entire season in the AHL.” “We’ll see how it goes,” Murashov continued. “It’s a new challenge for me. The Penguins’ coaches have told me about the specific aspects of playing in the AHL.” A 2022 fourth-round pick, Murashov has been one of the best goalies in the Russian junior circuit the past three seasons and had a .930 SV% and 24-4-2 record in 30 appearances with Loko Yaroslavl last season. In a six-game Kontinental Hockey League call-up to Lokomotiv, he continued his strong play with a .925 SV%, 1.84 GAA and his first professional shutout.

Vegas Golden Knights Make Several Roster Moves

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The Vegas Golden Knights have made a few roster moves in advance of their game against the St. Louis Blues. Per a team announcement, star forward Jonathan Marchessault will be out with a lower-body injury, and his status is considered day-to-day.

Additionally, the team has recalled forward Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Brayden Pachal from their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. Per CapFriendly, the team has also placed forward Paul Cotter on injured reserve.

The absence of Marchessault, 31, leaves a major hole in the Golden Knights lineup. Playing in his usual spot next to Reilly Smith and William Karlsson, Marchessault has scored very well this year, potting 14 goals and 27 points in 35 games. He’s one of the team’s most reliable and consistent offensive producers, so his status will be something for Golden Knights fans to monitor as they look to maintain their spot at the top of the Western Conference.

Marchessault’s place in the lineup is filled by the recall of Dorofeyev from Henderson. Per The Atheltic’s Jesse Granger, veteran forward Phil Kessel will take Marchessault’s spot on the “misfits line,” and Dorofeyev will slide onto the Golden Knights’ third line with Jonas Rondbjerg and Jake Leschyshyn.

Dorefeyev, 22, has just two NHL games on his resume, although he has been an impactful AHL player so far in his young career. He led Henderson in scoring last season, notching 27 goals and 52 points in 52 games, and has 12 points in 21 games this year. While the Golden Knights would undoubtedly prefer to have Marchessault in the lineup, his absence will provide them a quality opportunity to evaluate what Dorofeyev can do at the NHL level.

The other recall the Golden Knights made was of a defenseman, Pachal. The 23-year-old undrafted defenseman has just four NHL games on his resume, but this recall puts him in a position to add to that number. Granger notes that Pachal could take a spot next to Alec Martinez on the team’s bottom pairing, and in that role, Pachal will likely be in his comfort zone.

The six-foot-one blueliner provides physical, defense-first play in the AHL, and head coach Bruce Cassidy could likely expect him to bring the same on his bottom pairing, especially if the experienced Martinez can help shelter him a bit.

The final move the team made, as reported by CapFriendly, is the placement of Cotter on injured reserve. Cotter has been out on a day-to-day designation for almost the past week. An impressive training camp and preseason earned the 2018 fourth-rounder a spot in Vegas’ lineup, and while his production (six points in 22 games) isn’t anything to write home about he has definitely shown flashes of promise.

The 23-year-old now lands on injured reserve, and the hope will be that he can return to health quickly and continue his growth into an everyday NHL contributor.

Golden Knights Notes: Pietrangelo, Pachal, Cotter

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The Golden Knights will welcome Alex Pietrangelo back to the lineup tonight after missing the last three weeks due to an illness in the family.  Jesse Granger of The Athletic provides (Twitter link) some details on the situation, noting that his three-year-old daughter caught the flu which eventually became a brain lesion, leading to a loss in motor function.  Fortunately, her condition has improved considerably over the last couple of days, making the veteran comfortable enough to return to the lineup for Vegas.  Pietrangelo has 21 points in 23 games this season while logging over 23 minutes a night on the back end as their top defender so his return will certainly be a welcome one, especially with Zach Whitecloud being placed on LTIR earlier this week.

More from Vegas:

  • In a corresponding roster move, the team announced (Twitter link) that they re-assigned defenseman Brayden Pachal to Henderson of the AHL. The 23-year-old played in two games after being recalled on Monday when Jack Eichel was placed on injured reserve, picking up an assist while averaging a little under 16 minutes a night.  Pachal has spent the bulk of the year with the Silver Knights, collecting two goals and five assists in 25 contests.  He is in the final year of his entry-level contract.
  • Forward Paul Cotter is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury that was sustained on Thursday against Chicago, Granger notes in a separate tweet. The 22-year-old has acquitted himself well in his first season of full-time NHL duty, picking up six points in 22 games thus far while playing inside their bottom six.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated that the good news for Cotter is that while he might miss a few days, the injury isn’t as bad as they initially feared.

Vegas Golden Knights Sign Jake Leschyshyn, Paul Cotter

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The Vegas Golden Knights have announced a pair of three-year contract extensions, keeping Jake Leschyshyn and Paul Cotter in the organization for the next few seasons. Both players will earn the league minimum in all three years (PuckPedia adds that Cotter’s first year will be a two-way contract). Leschyshyn was a restricted free agent, meaning his deal starts in 2022-23, while Cotter was going into the last season of his entry-level contract, meaning this extension starts in 2023-24.

Leschyshyn, 23, was part of the Golden Knights’ inaugural draft class, selected 62nd overall in 2017. He Played 41 games for the team this season in his first taste of NHL action and managed six points in the process. The minor league portion of his year was much more productive with 27 points in 34 games but he enters next season in the mix for a full-time bottom-six role with Vegas.

While the team does have some forward prospects with a bit higher ceiling – namely Brendan Brisson – Leschyshyn represents a nice homegrown talent that can help fill out the lineup in the years to come. Any regular playing for the league minimum is providing surplus value, meaning if there can be any increase in production out of the young center, this contract could actually be quite a bargain for the Golden Knights moving forward.

The same might be said about Cotter, who managed to make it to the NHL for seven games this year and scored two goals in the process. Given this will be his age-23 season (he turns 23 in November), he is signing away nearly all of his restricted free agent years at the league minimum. It gives him some nice security to have one-way contracts in 2024-25 and 2025-26 but if he can take another step forward that too could be a nice bargain for the Golden Knights.

Cotter had 20 goals and 35 points in 59 games this season for the Henderson Silver Knights, while also racking up 62 penalty minutes (including two fighting majors).

Several Players Placed In COVID Protocol

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The Vegas Golden Knights announced that they have placed forward Michael Amadio, defenseman Zach Whitecloud, and assistant coach Ryan McGill in COVID protocol ahead of tonight’s game at the Minnesota Wild. In what would appear to be a related move, the team has also called up forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Zack Hayes and Daniil Miromanov (link). While the team only placed two players in COVID protocol, the earlier trade of Evgenii Dadonov frees up some additional salary cap space to allow them to call two players up.

In losing Amadio and Whitecloud, Vegas loses two NHL regulars who help Vegas to roll out a complete lineup each night. However, it could certainly open up an opportunity for several young players to shine. Regardless, in these situations, the health of the player always comes first.

Unrelated to Vegas’ COVID protocol players is Buffalo Sabres’ forward John Hayden, who was placed in COVID protocol earlier today (link). While the Sabres don’t play tonight, COVID protocol affects all elements of a player’s involvement with the team, so an announcement of Hayden’s unavailability on an off day makes sense.

AHL Shuffle: 03/21/22

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It’s certainly a busy day in the NHL today with the trade deadline just hours away plus four games on the schedule.  There will be considerable roster movement on the trade front while there will be plenty of paper moves made prior to the 2 PM CT deadline made to give players eligibility to play in the minors down the stretch.  We’ll keep track of those moves here.

Atlantic Division

 

Metropolitan Division

  • The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. The 25-year-old has three points in a dozen games this season with Pittsburgh while adding 15 points in 31 minor league contests.
  • The Washington Capitals re-assigned forward Brett Leason to the Hershey Bears of the AHL (link). Leason had just been recalled by the Capitals yesterday, but the re-assignment could be to simply keep Leason’s AHL eligibility for the remainder of the season intact.

Central Division

  • The Predators have sent defenseman Jeremy Davies back to Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. Davies was brought up on Saturday but with Nashville adding Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle late on Sunday, the 25-year-old can head back to the minors.
  • The Dallas Stars have sent goaltender Adam Scheel back to the AHL after acquiring Scott Wedgewood yesterday. Scheel, 22, has up as an emergency backup and never actually saw any NHL action. The young netminder is in his first full season of professional hockey.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned Ville Heinola, Jeff Malott, and Kristian Reichel have all been reassigned to the minor leagues, making them eligible. Notably, Cole Perfetti is not with this group, suggesting that his time in the minor leagues is over after impressing so far.
  • After making several trades in the past 24 hours, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled two players from the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL: forward Michael Carcone and goaltender Josef Korenar. Carcone has played just two games at the NHL level, both coming this season, however he has been a productive AHL player, tallying 24 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Tuscon this season. Korenar has not played in the NHL yet this season, but did play in 10 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 and was moved to Arizona this offseason as part of the Adin Hill trade.
  • Having traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Delia has had a solid season playing for Rockford, but has only appeared in two NHL games thus far in 2021-22.

Pacific Division

  • The Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Kole Lind from AHL Charlotte. Lind has played in seven games with Seattle this season after being their pick in expansion from Vancouver but has spent most of the year in the minors.  Seattle has also activated winger Joonas Donskoi off injured reserve.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL after he played a game with the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. The 32-year-old is actually the captain of the minor league club, but after converting his contract to an NHL deal has played six games for the Oilers.
  • Jake Leschyshyn and Brayden Pachal are heading back up to the Vegas Golden Knights. Leschyshyn’s seen a lot of NHL opportunities this year, getting into 27 games this year and notching his first five NHL points. Pachal made his NHL debut recently before immediately getting sent back down, but he may get another chance here in some NHL games.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have re-assigned goaltender Zach Sawchenko to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. In addition to this, the team recalled forward Sasha Chmelevski and defenseman Ryan Merkley from the Barracuda, and activated Radim Simek off of injured-reserve.
  • After placing Michael Amadio and Zach Whitecloud in COVID protocol and trading away Evgenii Dadonov, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have called up four players: forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes. Of this group, only Hayes does not have any NHL playing experience, spending this season and last in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, and the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL before that.
  • The Vancouver Canucks also made a flurry of AHL assignments, primarily for the purpose of keeping players’ AHL ability alive. The organization announced it assigned forwards Sheldon Rempal, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nic Petan, as well as defenseman Noah Juulsen to the Abbotsford Canucks. Podkolzin and Petan were immediately recalled back to Vancouver.
  • The Anaheim Ducks announced they have recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. O’Regan, 28, has played parts of four seasons dating back to 2016-17, including four games this season with Anaheim.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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