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Alexander Volkov

Minor Transactions: 02/14/20

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Valentine’s Day yields a relatively light schedule in the NHL tonight with only four games on the docket but there should still be a lot of roster movement with a busy Saturday on the horizon.  We’ll keep track on those moves here.

  • The Blue Jackets announced that they have recalled winger Jakob Lilja from AHL Cleveland while returning center Liam Foudy to OHL London. The Knights are in action tonight and under CHL emergency recall rules, players can only be up with the NHL when their junior team isn’t action which warrants Foudy’s second return to them this week.  Meanwhile, Lilja has been back and forth between the NHL and AHL in his rookie season.  He has just four points in 27 games with Columbus but has been more productive with the Monsters with 13 points in 22 contests.
  • After having a very limited role in recent weeks, the Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have sent center Filip Chlapik to AHL Belleville. The 22-year-old has played in 30 games with Ottawa this season but has averaged just 8:37 per night in largely a fourth line role.  He has been more productive in the minors with 14 points in 24 contests while spending a lot of time in Belleville’s top six.
  • The Lightning announced that they’ve returned winger Alexander Volkov to AHL Syracuse. The 22-year-old has gotten into nine games with Tampa Bay this season, recording one assist. The move suggests that one of their injured forwards – Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Anthony Cirelli – could be ready to return for Saturday’s game in Philadelphia.
  • The Avalanche have recalled winger T.J. Tynan from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, reports Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link).  The 27-year-old leads the Eagles in scoring with 40 points (4-36-40) despite spending 14 games with the Avs earlier this season.
  • Joey Keane’s strong start to his first professional season has earned him an NHL chance as the Rangers announced (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from AHL Hartford.  The defenseman earned an All-Star nod and has been quite promising offensively with 28 points in 48 games with the Wolf Pack this season.  This will be Keane’s first opportunity in the NHL.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled Cody Glass and Nicolas Roy from the AHL, as Alex Tuch deals with an injury. Tuch had testing done on his leg today, but these recalls likely mean he’ll miss at least some action.
  • Lawrence Pilut has been sent back to the minor leagues, with the Buffalo Sabres off until Sunday evening. With Zach Bogosian on waivers, Pilut may find himself back in the NHL before long.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned Morgan Frost back to the AHL for the time being, as they prepare for tomorrow’s early game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have won nine in a row, meaning the Flyers have quite the task ahead of them.

Atlantic Notes: Bobrovsky, Rasmussen, Seider, Clifton, Volkov

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Many have noticed that the play of Florida Panthers newly signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky hasn’t started his tenure the way everyone had hoped. The 31-year-old, who signed a seven-year, $70MM contract this summer, has put up very pedestrian numbers for a player the Panthers believe to be a franchise goaltender. In 35 games with Florida this year, Bobrovsky has posted a 3.22 GAA and a .898 save percentage — far from his 2.58 GAA and .913 save percentage with Columbus last season.

However, The Athletic’s Alison Lukan (subscription required) breaks down the play of the netminder and notes there are several reasons for Bobrovsky’s early struggles beside just the fact that he often struggles early in the year as well as the fact that he’s already 31 years old. However, the scribe believes that the biggest difference is that he is still adjusting to life without Columbus’ top defense. The Florida Panthers defense has increased Bobrovsky’s workload to levels he isn’t used to, which has forced the goaltender to change the way he plays. Between Bobrovsky making adjustments and the eventual hope that coach Joel Quenneville will re-design the defense into something more impressive down the road, the hope is that the goaltender should bounce back.

  • In a mailbag piece, the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James suggests that one of the biggest reasons the team has not recalled top prospects Michael Rasmussen and Mortiz Seider to aid the struggling franchise, is the success that the AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, is having. The team remains poised for a playoff run, but with Seider back from the World Junior Championships and Rasmussen finally back from a two-month long back injury, the team has a chance to make a run, which could be good for both their long-term development. Rasmussen, in particular, is training to return to the center position before returning full-time to the NHL.
  • Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy revealed that defenseman Connor Clifton is expected to be out until at least February, according to Matt Kalman of WEEI.com. Clifton has been out with an upper-body injury since Dec. 29 and has served the team as a third-pairing defenseman. While the 24-year-old doesn’t provide much offense (two goals in 30 games), Clifton has provided a physical presence with 85 hits already this season.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have always considered forward prospect Alexander Volkov as a mystery, who has the talent to be a top-six forward, but has struggled with consistency throughout his career. The team hoped to change that when they brought up Volkov on two separate occasions, but after assigning him to Syracuse on Friday, the 22-year-old responded with a hat trick, which The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) feels might be a sign that the forward is starting to come around.

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