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Metro Notes: Ersson, Johnson, York

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Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson is currently managing a minor groin injury (as per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic). Ersson’s condition isn’t expected to sideline him for long, though it’s not yet clear when he’ll return to full participation. The 25-year-old left his last start against the Boston Bruins with what was being called a lower-body injury, but now with that injury defined, it appears that the issue could cost the young netminder some time.

Ersson has shown a lot of promise this season and has arguably taken over the Flyers’ starting role. Given that, the Flyers are likely to take a cautious approach to ensure he avoids further issues. With the demands on goaltenders, groin-related injuries can be particularly limiting and difficult to predict. The Flyers will undoubtedly monitor Ersson’s progress as they continue building a solid roster of younger talent. So far this season, Ersson has dressed in nine games and is sporting a 4-2-1 record, with a .901 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Kent Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets participated in a skate after practice today (as per Blue Jackets reporter Jeff Svoboda). Johnson’s return to the ice is a good sign of progress, even in a limited capacity. Johnson has been kept out of action with a shoulder injury since October 17th and isn’t expected to get back into the lineup until the end of November. He was fortunate to avoid surgery but will ultimately miss around six weeks of the regular season with the ailment.
  • Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Cameron York will be travelling with the team, hinting at his availability for upcoming games (as per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic). York’s presence on the road is promising for the Flyers but head coach John Tortorella wasn’t sure whether the 23-year-old would play. York has been dealing with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of action since October 23rd and was off to a decent start to the year with two goals and an assist in his first seven games.

East Notes: Senators, Michkov, Rust

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The Senators are .500 through their first 10 games, but that’s been enough to stay on the verge of a playoff position in an Atlantic Division that’s been mainly underwhelming to begin the season. Injuries have played a significant factor, with new starter Linus Ullmark missing a few games and other essential pieces, namely center Shane Pinto and right-shot defenseman Artem Zub, currently sidelined with significant but not ultra-long-term ailments.

Those latter two absences have led the Senators to consider adding more depth to those positions in particular, general manager Steve Staios told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen yesterday. That’s likely an action item for later in the season, though. Staios still wants to give some runway to their internal options to prove they can step up in relief. “I believe that leads to stability as well as confidence in the group,” he said.

So far, those internal options have done the job and likely lessened Staios’ urgency to make a move. Depth pivot Adam Gaudette has five goals in nine games as an injury fill-in after spending most of last season in the AHL, while 24-year-old Jacob Bernard-Docker has posted solid possession numbers (57.7 CF%, 50.0 xGF%) while relieving Zub on the back end.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • It’s been a bit of a rough stretch for current Calder Trophy frontrunner Matvei Michkov over the past couple of games. After going point-per-game through his first nine appearances and taking home NHL Rookie of the Month honors for October, he’s gone without a point in his past four and recorded a season-low 13:56 on Thursday against the Blues before posting a -3 rating in a shutout loss to the Bruins earlier today. That’s led to intermittent benchings from John Tortorella, something neither coach nor player views as a real cause for concern, writes Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. “I just wanted him to sit (on the bench), relax, think about what I said to him,” Tortorella said. “I think it was two or three rotations, we put him back out there. He may miss games, who knows? I don’t know what’s going to happen. But that’s part of the development of a 19-year-old kid.“
  • Penguins winger Bryan Rust skated today for the first time since landing on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 32-year-old has now missed a pair of games with the injury, which he sustained on Oct. 26 against the Canucks. He’ll be eligible to come off IR anytime but is still listed as week-to-week. He had three goals and an assist in eight appearances before exiting the lineup.

Lower-Body Injury For Ersson Versus Boston

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Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson suffered an injury in the first period of today’s game against Boston and did not return.  Following the game, the team clarified (Twitter link) that the netminder sustained a lower-body injury.  It has been a tough year between the pipes for the Flyers who came into this game with a combined save percentage of just .863 (including empty-netters allowed), the lowest in the Eastern Conference.  However, Ersson has had a reasonable start to his year, putting up a 2.72 GAA with a .897 SV% heading into today’s action.  Aleksei Kolosov came on in relief while Ivan Fedotov, who has struggled mightily in his limited NHL action so far, is also on the active roster should Ersson miss any more time.

Matvei Michkov Named NHL Rookie Of The Month

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One player has taken a clear lead in the heated race for the 2024-25 Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie. The Philadelphia Flyers announced rookie forward Matvei Michkov has been named the NHL Rookie of the Month for the opening month of the NHL calendar.

He’s also gotten off to an impressive start in the possession game with a 49.3% CorsiFor% at even strength. This metric adds even more credibility to Michkov’s Calder pursuit considering the Flyers are 24th in the league in the category with a 47.8% mark.

[SOURCE LINK]

Evening Notes: Senators, Rizzo, Musty

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The Ottawa Senators announced that they loaned forwards Adam Gaudette and Zack Ostapchuk to their American Hockey League affiliate the Belleville Senators. The move comes on the heels of a two-goal game for Gaudette last night against the St. Louis Blues. Gaudette has had an excellent start to the season with Ottawa, posting four goals and an assist in eight games this season.

Ostapchuk on the other hand had an assist in last night’s 8-1 win, in what was his first NHL game of the season. It was a special moment for the 21-year-old as the assist represented his first NHL point. Ostapchuk dressed in seven games last season for Ottawa, going pointless.

The move is likely to be a paper transaction as the Senators don’t play again until Friday against the New York Rangers and could very well recall either player in the next few days.

In other evening notes:

  • San Jose Sharks forward prospect Quentin Musty has returned to the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League and is expected to play this weekend (as per Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News). San Jose re-assigned Musty back to the OHL in late September, but a week later, it was reported that the 2023 first-round pick (26th overall) had requested a trade. That same day, Sudbury released a statement talking about Musty’s trade request, saying that they would field trade offers but would also welcome Musty back if he changed his mind. Musty’s return will be a big boost for the Wolves, who have started the OHL season with a 7-5 record.
  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Massimo Rizzo has reportedly suffered an appendicitis that required him to have surgery a few weeks ago to get his appendix removed (as per Flyers reporter Bill Meltzer). The early reports indicate that Rizzo will require a six to eight-week timeline to recover from the appendectomy. The 23-year-old is slated to play in the AHL for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but has yet to dress in a game this season. Rizzo was originally drafted in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes but was dealt to the Flyers in August 2023, along with a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for forward David Kase.

Garnet Hathaway Fined For Elbowing

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Flyers winger Garnet Hathaway has avoided a suspension for his elbow to the face of Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek in yesterday’s win. He didn’t go without punishment, though, and is now $5K lighter in the wallet after being fined the maximum allowable under the CBA by the NHL Department of Player Safety.

The incident in question occurred early in the second period of what ended up being a 7-5 win for the Flyers. While the Wild were cycling the puck on a power play, Hathaway elbowed Eriksson Ek in the face while battling for net-front positioning. Eriksson Ek had notably missed a pair of games earlier this month with a nasal fracture. Officials assessed Hathaway a minor penalty for roughing, not elbowing, on the play.

Flyers Recall Alexei Kolosov, Emil Andrae; Place Cameron York On IR

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7:04 PM: The Flyers organization confirmed the transaction of Andrae and Kolosov’s recall. Additionally, the team announced they’ve placed York on injured reserve as he will miss the next few weeks with an upper-body injury.

6:49 PM: The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled defenseman Emil Andrae and goaltender Alexei Kolosov from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, per Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco. Di Marco adds that Kolosov is expected to start for the team on Sunday, though NHL.com’s Kevin Kurz wasn’t ready to ensure that role. Kolosov stands as one of many high-profile goalie prospects in Philadelphia’s system. He’s started all four of Lehigh Valley’s regular season games so far this season, allowing 13 goals on 104 shots – good for an .875 save percentage.

Kolosov, 22, moved to the AHL at the end of last season, playing in two games with the Phantoms and allowing six goals on 52 shots. The spot starts came after Kolosov spent the season starting for the KHL’s Dynamo Minsk, where he posted a .907 through 47 games. It was his second season of starting for Dynamo, having posted a .912 in 42 games the year prior – after growing through the team’s junior ranks. He’d ultimately total a .909 save percentage through 120 games, and four seasons, at Russia’s top-level – though he became popular with strong performances for Team Belarus internationally. He joined the team at the World U18 Championship in 2019, Division A of the World Junior Championships in 2020 and 2022, and the World Championship in 2021. Of all of the international trips, it was the 2022 Division-A World Juniors that saw Kolosov shine the brightest – posting a .932 save percentage and flawless record through five games.

While Kolosov joins the battle for starting minutes, Andrae will once again return to the fight for a blue-line role. The 22-year-old defender played in four scoreless games with Philadelphia last season, but ultimately spent the bulk of his season in the minors. His 32 points in 61 games led all Phantoms defenders in scoring and brought Andrae up to 38 points in 71 career AHL games. He recorded an assist in his sole AHL appearance this year, and will now back the Flyers D-corps as they prepare for weeks without Cameron York. Andrae will fight for games with Erik Johnson and Yegor Zamula.

Tortorella's Job Not In Jeopardy Despite Slow Start

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  • Despite a slow start to the season that saw the Flyers collect just one win in their first seven games, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that head coach John Tortorella has the complete and total support of the team. The veteran bench boss is in his third season with Philadelphia with the expectations potentially being a bit higher last season after the rebuilding Flyers nearly made the playoffs last year.  Tortorella is signed through 2025-26 but was inherited by GM Daniel Briere who was a special assistant to the GM at the time the 66-year-old was hired.

Cam York To Miss At Least Two Weeks

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The Flyers will find themselves without a key defender for the next little while.  The team announced (Twitter link) that Cam York will miss at least the next two weeks due to an upper-body injury.

York sustained the injury late in Wednesday’s game against Washington on a hit from Nic Dowd.  The 23-year-old had a breakout showing last season with 30 points in 82 games while recording 174 blocked shots, all career highs.  His 22:37 ATOI was also his best by a considerable margin as he established himself as a top-pairing player alongside Travis Sanheim.

It has been more of the same for York in the early going this season.  He has two goals and an assist along with ten blocks in seven appearances so far.  Meanwhile, his playing time is up to 22:56 per night, good for the team lead in that regard (just ahead of Sanheim).  Accordingly, his absence is a big one for a team that has already struggled out of the gate, winning just once through their first seven games.

For the moment, York has not been placed on injured reserve and veteran Erik Johnson will take his place in the lineup today against Minnesota.  However, with the team now down to just six healthy rearguards, they’ll likely want to add a seventh in which case they may opt to put York on IR to create the roster spot to do so.

While York will be out of the lineup, the same can’t be said for winger Travis Konecny.  Listed as day-to-day yesterday with what head coach John Tortorella termed a ‘body injury’, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays (Twitter link) that Konecny will be in the lineup today.  He’s tied with Matvei Michkov for the team lead in goals with three and sits tied for second in points with four.

Flyers Return Jett Luchanko To OHL

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Few expected prospect center Jett Luchanko to make Philadelphia’s roster in training camp but his training camp performance allowed him to do exactly that.  However, the team has decided that returning to junior is the best move for development; the team announced that they’ve assigned him to OHL Guelph.  GM Daniel Briere released the following statement on the move:

The decision to send Jett back is something we strongly believe is the right path for him and his development. His work-ethic, preparedness and play during training camp and preseason was something we were extremely impressed with and felt he earned the right to make our roster and start the season with us. Ultimately, we feel it is more valuable for Jett to be put in the best possible position to prepare himself for an NHL career, and right now that is with his team in Guelph.

The 18-year-old had a strong showing with the Storm last season, notching 20 goals and 54 assists in 68 regular season games along with three assists in four playoff appearances.  That had him rated by many outlets as a first-round pick outside of the lottery.  But the Flyers felt differently about his upside, ultimately selecting him 13th overall, signing him to an entry-level contract less than two weeks later.

Luchanko got into four preseason games with Philadelphia, picking up two assists and playing his way onto the opening roster.  He suited up in four regular season contests as well – making him the youngest player in the league – but was held off the scoresheet while playing just over 14 minutes per game on average.  However, after being scratched for three of their seven games, it seemed likely that he’d eventually return to junior where he can play significant minutes in all situations and push for a spot at the World Juniors in December.

Since Luchanko won’t get into ten or more NHL contests this season, his contract won’t officially begin this season after all and he will still have three years remaining on it with a slightly lower cap hit heading into 2025-26.  The Flyers now have one vacancy on their active roster and can either promote someone from AHL Lehigh Valley to fill it or operate with 22 players for the time being.

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