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Edmonton Oilers Frontrunners To Sign KHL’s Mikko Koskinen

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Bob Stauffer of 630 CHED each have linked the Edmonton Oilers with being the frontrunners to sign KHL goaltender Mikko Koskinen as the team’s backup to starter Cam Talbot. Koskinen, who has been playing with the KHL for the past six seasons, made his intentions known a couple of weeks ago that he’d like to take his talents back to the NHL.

The 29-year-old, who was a second-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2009, came overseas and played two games in the ECHL, 41 games in the AHL and four games with the Islanders, but struggled and eventually opted to return to Finland. In 31 games for SKA St. Petersburg, the goaltender posted a 1.89 GAA and a .905 save percentage.

Koskinen could be a good fit with Edmonton, assuming Talbot can rebound after a tough season. The starter went from a 2.39 GAA in 2016-17 and dropped to a 3.02 GAA this year. One key factor is the amount of games the veteran has played. Talbot has appeared in 153 games in two years if you include the 2017 playoffs. If Talbot can return to form, Koskinen could be a solid backup option where the team struggled last year. Laurent Brossoit started the year as the backup, but lost his job when he posted a 3.24 GAA. The team then traded for veteran Al Montoya, who didn’t fare much better with a 2.94 GAA in nine appearances. Montoya is the only backup who is under contract for next year at $1.06MM.

The Edmonton Journal’s David Staples writes that a backup goalie is essential to a team’s success and compares the potential signing to that of Anders Nilsson, who also struggled after being drafted by the Islanders and went overseas before signing with Edmonton. However, Nilsson struggled as a backup as well and was traded away later that same season. However, Koskinen has six years in the KHL under his belt and would be a far more likely option to be successful as a backup with the Oilers.

Friedman reported the news on Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Minor Transactions: 3/25/18

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There have already been a couple early moves today as the league prepares for the second-to-last week of the regular season. Expect more to come as injuries and college additions continue to shift roster makeup. Others will be made to specifically prepare for key match-ups, such as major playoff position battles today between the Penguins and Flyers and Predators and Jets. Keep track of all the action here:

  • The Ottawa Senators have recalled forward Ben Sexton from their AHL affiliate in Belleville, marking the first big-league call-up for the 26-year-old. Sexton was a leader and top scorer as a college player at Clarkson University from 2010 to 2014, but the Boston Bruins, who had drafted him in the seventh round in 2009, moved on after just two disappointing minor league campaigns. Ever since, Sexton has been much more productive in the AHL and has finally earned his first NHL shot in his first season with the Senators after posting 10 goals and 21 points in 28 games so far in 2017-18.
  • Victor Ejdsell is also making his first trip to the NHL, not long after making his North American pro debut. The Chicago Blackhawks have announced Ejdsell’s promotion this morning and the 22-year-old Swedish forward could be in the lineup in short order, seeing as it was an emergency recall. Ejdsell was acquired by Chicago in the Ryan Hartman trade last month and only joined the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs last week. Ejdsell recorded 34 points in 50 games in the Swedish Hockey League this season before making the jump and notched an assist in his first AHL game.
  • With backup Al Montoya suffering through a minor ailment, the Edmonton Oilers announced they are recalling Laurent Brossoit on an emergency basis. The 25-year-old goaltender and one-time back-up this year has struggled in the NHL, posting a 3.22 GAA and a .886 save percentage in 13 games this year. He’s fared slightly better with the Bakersfield Condors with a 2.72 and a .912 save percentage in 22 games. The Oilers also announced they have sent forward Brad Malone to Bakersfield. Malone had been recalled Friday, but did not play Saturday.
  • The St. Louis Blues’ Samuel Blais has been up and down quite a bit in the past couple of days. The 21-year-old winger was called up Friday on an emergency basis and sent back down that night. He was recalled Saturday on an emergency basis and was assigned back to the San Antonio Rampage this morning, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He did not play in either Friday’s or Saturday’s games. The Blues have also assigned emergency fill-in Ville Husso to the San Antonio Rampage, according to NHL.com’s Lou Korac. The move suggests that Blues backup Carter Hutton, who has been out with a neck injury since Mar. 3, is ready to return to the team.

Minor Transactions: 02/21/18

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After a busy night in the NHL, the league has just three games on tap for today. Instead, teams might use their time off to cement their status for the trade deadline and make inquiries around the league. All the minor moves we’ll keep track of right here. Refresh the page throughout the day to make sure you stay up to date on all the comings and goings.

Minor Transactions: 02/01/18

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It’s February, the most exciting month of the year for many hockey fans. Over the next few weeks, clubs will make decisions that will help or haunt them for years to come. The trade deadline this season falls on February 26th, and should have some interesting names on the move. Until then, we’ll continue to focus on the minor moves around the league, cataloging today’s right here.

Revisiting The January Trade Market

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As front offices around the league call and text trying to find the right fit for their rosters, fans are waiting with bated breath wondering who could be pulling on their favorite sweater in the next few weeks. Will a superstar change hands and take over as the new face of a franchise? Will a veteran finally find his way to the Stanley Cup promised land? The deadline is now less than six weeks away.

We may not have to wait until the very end to answer these questions though, as January has been a busy month for trade action in the past. We’ve already had two moves this year, and several more could be finalized before the calendar turns over. For now, let’s take a look back at the last few years to see what kind of moves are made in the dawn of the new year.

2018:

January 4th: Edmonton acquires Al Montoya from Montreal in exchange for a 2018 conditional fourth-round pick.

January 10th: Chicago acquires Anthony Duclair and Adam Clendening from Arizona for Richard Panik and Laurent Dauphin.

2017:

January 1st: Arizona acquires Mitchell Moroz from Edmonton in exchange for Henrik Samuelsson.

January 11th: Anaheim acquires Jhonas Enroth from Toronto for a 2018 seventh-round pick.

January 13th: Nashville acquires Cody McLeod from Colorado in exchange for Felix Girard.

January 19th: Nashville acquires Andrew O’Brien from Anaheim for Max Gortz.

January 21st: Los Angeles acquires Cameron Schilling from Chicago for Michael Latta.

January 24th: Ottawa acquires Tommy Wingels in exchange for Zack Stortini, Buddy Robinson and a 2017 seventh-round pick.

January 26th: Montreal acquires Nikita Nesterov from Tampa Bay in exchange for Jonathan Racine and a 2017 sixth-round pick.

Obviously 2017 wasn’t filled with the most blockbuster trades in the month of January, but several teams did add small pieces for potential playoff runs. Nesterov didn’t really work out in Montreal, and Wingels couldn’t find his scoring touch in Ottawa.

2016:

January 3rd: Chicago acquires Richard Panik from Toronto in exchange for Jeremy Morin.

January 6th: Los Angeles acquires Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn from Philadelphia in exchange for Jordan Weal and a 2016 third-round pick.

January 6th: Nashville acquires Ryan Johansen from Columbus in exchange for Seth Jones.

January 7th: Montreal acquires Max Friberg from Anaheim in exchange for Dustin Tokarski.

January 8th: Vancouver acquires Emerson Etem from New York in exchange for Nicklas Jensen and a 2017 sixth-round pick.

January 14th: Ottawa acquires Conor Allen from Nashville in exchange for Patrick Mullen.

January 15th: Montreal acquires Victor Bartley and John Scott from Arizona in exchange for Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier.

January 15th: Arizona acquires Victor Bartley from Nashville in exchange for Stefan Elliott.

January 16th: Anaheim acquires David Perron and Adam Clendening from Pittsburgh in exchange for Carl Hagelin.

January 21st: Anaheim acquires Ryan Garbutt from Chicago in exchange for Jiri Sekac.

2016 was a much more active January, with big names like Lecavalier, Johansen and Jones all dealt. While the Nashville-Columbus trade might have had the biggest impact long-term, Pittsburgh’s acquisition of Hagelin was a big part of their Stanley Cup run, as he scored 27 points down the stretch and added another 16 in the playoffs.

There is certainly value to be had in January trades, and it’s clear that teams like Nashville and Anaheim aren’t scared of making an early move. While those two might not be the most watched teams on the trade market this year, don’t rule them out of making tweaks once again.

Oilers Acquire Al Montoya

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The Oilers have made a move to bolster their backup goaltender position, announcing that they have acquired Al Montoya from the Canadiens in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2018.  Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston notes (Twitter link) that Montoya must play in seven games with Edmonton in the regular season for Montreal to receive the fourth-rounder.  If he does not, the Oilers will send a 2018 fifth-rounder instead.

Al MontoyaIt’s not surprising that Edmonton was looking to upgrade their backup goalie as Laurent Brossoit has struggled in that role so far this season.  In 13 appearances, he has a 3.22 GAA and a .886 SV%, numbers that are below-average for a number two netminder.  It appears likely that he will be heading for waivers once Montoya gets the green light to be activated off injured reserve.

Montoya has seen very limited action this season, making just four appearances before suffering a concussion in early November.  While his numbers this year are worse than Brossoit (a 3.77 GAA with a .863 SV%), the veteran has a much longer track record of being a capable second option.  In 159 career regular season games between the Coyotes, Islanders, Jets, Panthers, and Canadiens, he has a 65-47-22 record with a 2.63 GAA along with a .908 SV% and seven shutouts.

The 32-year-old carries a cap hit of $1.0625MM and is signed through 2018-19 so Edmonton is making a commitment to Montoya for more than just the second half of this season.  While they have more than enough cap space to take on his deal this year, this trade now puts them with 13 players signed for next year with a combined cap charge of nearly $61MM.

As for Montreal, the trade means that the Canadiens will likely stick with Antti Niemi, who was acquired via waivers while Montoya was injured, as their backup for the time being while opening up a spot for Charlie Lindgren, who impressed in an early-season stint, to take over the backup job next season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Morning Notes: Vilardi, Montoya, Wisniewski

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The OHL trade of Los Angeles Kings’ prospect Gabe Vilardi is now official, and also includes New York Rangers draft pick Sean Day. The pair will head from the Windsor Spitfires to the Kingston Frontenacs in exchange for 16-year old Cody Morgan and eight draft picks that stretch all the way to 2028. Windsor is tearing apart the program a year after hosting and winning the Memorial Cup, a common practice in the CHL.

Vilardi, the 11th-overall pick in 2017 has recently been cleared to return to game action after a back injury kept him out for the first half of the season. He’ll bring an intense offensive presence to the Frontenacs, while Day gives them a veteran defenseman with good two-way upside. Day was allowed into the OHL at just 15 years old, but hasn’t found quite the same heights as his fellow “exceptional talents” like John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad and Connor McDavid. The pair should make Kingston a tough team to face as the league heads towards the playoff push.

  • Al Montoya was back at Montreal Canadiens practice today for the first time since being ruled out with a concussion on November 9th. As Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports, the injury had occurred several days earlier, but symptoms developed slowly. The Canadiens currently employ Antti Niemi as their backup to Carey Price, but could potentially waive the netminder once again when Montoya is ready to return. Niemi has played for three teams already this season, and could find himself on the move again.
  • The official roster for Team USA at the Pyeongchang Olympics will be announced today during the Winter Classic in New York, but apparently former NHL defenseman James Wisniewski has made it. That’s according to former teammate R.J. Umberger and TSN’s Darren Dreger, who both tweeted congratulations to the 33-year old. Wisniewski spent last season split between the AHL and KHL after attempting a comeback, and skated in the DEL’s second tier this year in his attempt to make the Olympic squad. A former 51-point defenseman for Columbus, Wisniewski was once a deadly powerplay quarterback and could assume that role again in the February Games.

Montreal Canadiens Claim Antti Niemi

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With Carey Price and Al Montoya still not back at practice with the team, and Zach Fucale serving as an emergency backup the team has claimed Antti Niemi off waivers from the Florida Panthers. Price today said that he was getting closer to a return, but with Montoya still out indefinitely the team needed a more experienced backup. Fucale, a prized prospect, needs to get back to starting in the minor leagues.

Niemi is onto his third team this year after being previously waived by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers. That follows a summer that saw him bought out by the Dallas Stars, another team that could deal with his lackluster performance any longer. The Stars will pay him $1.5MM this year as terms of the buyout, but now Montreal will pick up the remainder of his $700K hit—that is, if they were to keep him.

GM Marc Bergevin spoke on the situation today after practice:

[Niemi] gives us some depth. Not knowing how far off [Montoya] is, he gives us a safety net. When Carey is back, we’ll re-evaluate our goalie situation, and same thing when [Montoya] is back.

This move seems destined to lead to another waiving of the 34-year old goaltender as soon as Price returns, unless they decide that having Charlie Lindgren in the minor leagues is better for his development. The young Lindgren has performed admirably in his four starts, showing that he’s ready for an NHL job of some sort.

Niemi of course has history with Bergevin from their days in Chicago. As a rookie in 2010, Niemi led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup while Bergevin served as Director of Player Personnel.

Morning Notes: Price, Soshnikov, GMs

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Carey Price says he would be in the lineup if tonight’s Montreal Canadiens game was a playoff contest. Price hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury in warm-up before the Canadiens’ November 2nd game, and doesn’t have a clear timeline yet.

Skating by himself once again, he’ll need to rejoin the team in practice before suiting up for a game. That slow process is being helped by the play of Charlie Lindgren, who now carries a .964 save percentage through his four starts. The 23-year old Lindgren looks ready to take on at least a backup role in the NHL, which will complicate things with Al Montoya when all three goaltenders are back to full health. Montoya is under contract through next season, but has played poorly in his small sample this year.

  • Nikita Soshnikov was called up to the Maple Leafs earlier today because of his KHL clause that would have allowed him to return to Russia, but Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that the team isn’t out of the woods in that respect just yet. The clause allows Soshnikov to request a loan to the KHL at any future point this season if they try to send him back down. That, along with the fact that he’ll become waiver-eligible after playing in three games, complicates things for the Maple Leafs. While Soshnikov has done little offensively in his 67 NHL games (14 points), he is off to a fast start in the AHL this season at nearly a point-per-game pace.
  • Sean McIndoe of Sportsnet breaks down the current GMs that are feeling the heat, listing four among the “Smoke, sparks and fire alarms” group. One of those members, John Chayka of the Arizona Coyotes wouldn’t have been considered in trouble a year ago when the team was going through a slow rebuild. That was accelerated this summer when they made some supposed win-now moves like bringing in Derek Stepan and Niklas Hjalmarsson, but it hasn’t paid off at all. The Coyotes have still yet to win a game in regulation, and look even further away from contention than they did before giving up the seventh-overall pick this summer.

Snapshots: Nyquist, Makar, Price

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The Detroit Red Wings have dropped below .500 again with their loss last night to the Ottawa Senators, and the groans from hockey fans in Michigan are beginning again. Yesterday, our Nate Brown took a look at the coaching staff’s part in the sluggish start, and today Craig Custance of The Athletic went in depth on the trade value of a certain first-line asset.

Gustav Nyquist is an interesting piece for the Red Wings, under contract through the end of next season. The 28-year old forward was once one of the hottest scoring threats in the league, registering 48 points in 57 games in the 2013-14 season. That garnered him some Hart Trophy votes and a place on the Swedish Olympic team, but he hasn’t had quite the same impact since. Custance has some great quotes from scouts and front office types around the league on his perceived value, which isn’t as high as it could be if he can find some kind of consistency over the next few months.

  • Cale Makar is off to quite a start at UMass reports Craig Button of TSN. The fourth-overall pick of 2017 is a shining light for the Colorado Avalanche in their continued defensive struggles. Makar is the kind of defenseman who can bring you to your feet at any moment, and is starting to adapt to playing against higher competition. It will be interesting to see how long he stays in the college ranks, before being recruited to jump to the NHL with the Avalanche.
  • Although it’s clearly not serious, Carey Price wasn’t present at Montreal Canadiens practice today as he nursed a lower-body injury. The team is expected to recall a goaltender and will have Al Montoya start on Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets. It might be good for Price to get some time off, as he’s struggled mightily through the early part of the season. With an .877 save percentage through 11 games, he’s leading the league in goals allowed and losses. About to start an eight-year, $84MM contract extension next season, the Canadiens need Price to get back to his all-world ways as soon as possible.
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