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Injury Updates: Miromanov, Senators, Killorn, Bedard, Raanta

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The Golden Knights welcomed back one of their blueliners for their game tonight versus Arizona as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated Daniil Miromanov from injured reserve.  The 26-year-old had yet to play with Vegas this season as he worked his way back from ACL and meniscus surgery in the summer.  He got into five games with AHL Henderson last month on a conditioning stint and fared quite well, notching a goal and five assists before being recalled a couple of weeks ago.  However, Vegas opted to play it safe with Miromanov, allowing him more time to skate with the team before officially having him suit up for his season debut with the big club.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • The Senators are expected to welcome back goaltender Anton Forsberg and defenseman Travis Hamonic for their next game on Saturday, relays Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). Forsberg is currently on LTIR and Ottawa will need to make some roster moves to get cap-compliant before activating him.  The 31-year-old has a save percentage of .889 in 16 games so far this season.  Meanwhile, Hamonic has missed the last couple of weeks due to an upper-body injury but has remained on Ottawa’s active roster so no roster move is necessary for him to return.  The 33-year-old has five points and 69 blocked shots in 40 appearances.
  • Ducks winger Alex Killorn skated before practice today as he works his way back from knee surgery, relays Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune (Twitter link). The 34-year-old had the procedure two weeks ago and it carried a four-to-six-week recovery period.  While he didn’t stick around for Anaheim’s full practice, the fact Killorn is back on the ice is a promising sign that his return date could come closer to the earlier part of that range.  He has 19 points in 34 games so far this season, his first with the Ducks.
  • While Connor Bedard has been holding out hope that he could return earlier than expected, Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson poured cold water on that idea today. He told reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link) that the rookie center’s return is unlikely to come before the original six-week mark.  Despite missing more than a month now, Bedard still leads all rookies in points with 33 in just 39 games.
  • After coming into tonight’s game in relief of Pyotr Kochetkov, Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta suffered a lower-body injury, per a team announcement (Twitter link). Raanta made nine saves in his lone period of work.  It has been a rough year for the 34-year-old who had a save percentage of just .870 coming into tonight’s action and cleared waivers back in December.

Anton Forsberg Nearing Return

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The Senators could get some help between the pipes when they play their first game after their bye week next Saturday.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Anton Forsberg is on track in his recovery from a groin injury and might be ready to be activated off LTIR for that game against Toronto.

The 31-year-old is in the second season of a three-year, $8.25MM contract that he signed back in 2022 while in the middle of his best year at the NHL level.  However, since then, Forsberg hasn’t played anywhere near as well and has struggled to the tune of a 3.35 GAA and a .889 SV% in 16 appearances so far this season.  That said, those numbers are better than what Mads Sogaard was able to do in his stint as Forsberg’s replacement so his return will still be an upgrade.

However, Forsberg returning to the lineup will once again bring Ottawa’s cap crunch to the forefront.  Per CapFriendly, the Sens are currently using $1.55MM of LTIR; that amount will need to come off their books before they can bring the netminder back onto the active roster.  That means that two players will need to be cleared off.

One of them is fairly straightforward as Kevin Mandolese, currently the second option on the depth chart after being recalled following Wednesday’s game, can go back to AHL Belleville.  That will clear $775K of that amount, leaving another $775K to come.

That one will be a little trickier to open up.  Ottawa has just two waiver-exempt players, defenseman Jake Sanderson and center Ridly Greig.  Both play key roles for the Senators so it’s safe to say that they won’t be going down.

Winger Zack MacEwen and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker both cleared waivers earlier this season but neither would be a lock to clear again.  MacEwen’s on a three-year deal but at the minimum salary, a team looking for extra grit could easily put in a claim.  Meanwhile, Bernard-Docker has been a regular on the third pairing most nights and as a young right-shot blueliner now with some NHL time under his belt, there’s likely a rebuilding team or two that would claim him now.  Either of them coming off the books would barely squeak them under the cap line, leaving no wiggle room for recalls if needed.

If GM Steve Staios doesn’t want to risk one of those two and doesn’t have a trade on the horizon, one other option might be to waive Dominik Kubalik.  The winger is believed to have been available for a couple of months now with no takers.  With a $2.5MM cap charge, he might pass through unclaimed and while that full amount wouldn’t come off their books, they’d open up $1.15MM in room, creating enough space to activate Forsberg.  It might not be the most desirable option but that could be a short-term fix.

With Ottawa being one of the few teams to play leading up to the All-Star break, Staios still has the better part of a week to determine how to make the money work.  But after being able to delay dealing with this cap crunch which was lingering back in training for more than half the season, it appears the time has come to deal with it.

Senators Recall Mads Søgaard, Anton Forsberg Likely Headed To LTIR

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The Senators recalled top organizational goalie prospect Mads Søgaard from AHL Belleville today, a team release states. As Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch points out, this is likely a precursor to number-two netminder Anton Forsberg being placed on long-term injured reserve, as the Senators would otherwise not have the cap space available to execute the transaction.

Forsberg, 31, left last night’s loss against the Sabres late in the first period with a groin injury and did not return. Head coach Jacques Martin told TSN 1200 this morning that Forsberg’s absence was not expected to be short-term, although he did receive an MRI today to determine the extent of the injury and, correspondingly, a recovery timeline.

It’s been a tough season for Ottawa’s goalie tandem of Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, but more so for Forsberg. After missing the last 32 games of the 2022-23 season with a freak double MCL tear, the Swede was looking to re-establish himself after proving he could be a capable NHL option since joining the Sens in 2020.

Instead, he and Korpisalo have been among the ten worst goalies in the league this season. Korpisalo has allowed the third most goals above expected with 9.5, per MoneyPuck, trailing only the Maple Leafs’ Ilya Samsonov and the Devils’ Vítek Vaněček. Forsberg is seventh on the list with 7.9 goals allowed above expected, despite playing in 16 games compared to Korpisalo’s 26. His box stats read out as a 7-8-0 record, .889 SV%, 3.35 GAA, and one shutout.

An LTIR placement rules Forsberg out through the All-Star break in early February. He would be eligible to return to action for the team’s February 10 home game against Toronto.

That means the 23-year-old Søgaard is in for a month-long stint on the NHL roster, his longest of the season. The 6-foot-7 Dane had been recalled on two occasions this year to serve as short-term injury insurance but has not appeared in an NHL game since playing in 19 of them last season. In his first example of extended NHL action, Ottawa’s 2019 second-round pick posted an 8-6-3 record and .889 SV% being an injury-depleted team at the tail end of the campaign.

This season in Belleville, Søgaard’s numbers are pristine. His .920 SV% in 16 games is tied for sixth among AHL netminders with at least ten appearances, and it’s a significant leap forward from his pedestrian numbers in his first two full professional seasons. Carrying that momentum forward into some appearances with Ottawa could help him steal the lion’s share of the starts away from Korpisalo, at least until Forsberg returns.

Injury Notes: Gibson, Kochetkov, Forsberg

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Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson left the team’s Thursday night game with an upper-body injury, being replaced by backup Lukas Dostal. Gibson has missed time for a variety of reasons this season, being placed on the non-active list earlier in the year for the birth of his child, missing one game due to illness, and now nursing an injury that could limit him further. The absences have kept Gibson to just 26 appearances this season, with the former William Jennings Trophy-winner recording a 7-17-0 record and .900 save percentage on the season. He leads the league in losses.

While Dostal has shown promise, his stat line doesn’t fair much better than Gibson’s, with the 23-year-old goaltender setting a 7-9-1 record and .903 save percentage in 19 games this season. Dostal entered the season with just 23 NHL games under his belt, setting a combined .902 save percentage since making his debut in the 2021-22 season. The Ducks acquired Dostal in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He was the sixth goalie to be taken that year and currently carries the most games played of any goalie in the class.

Other injury notes:

  • The Carolina Hurricanes also lost their goaltender, with Pyotr Kochetkov leaving the team’s game after a collision with Anaheim’s Isac Lundestrom. Kochetkov was hit in the head but seemed to get his leg awkwardly stretched, making it hard to speculate what injury he could be facing. The 24-year-old has played in 23 games this season, goin 11-7-3 and setting a .900 save percentage.
  • Ottawa Senators’ goaltender Anton Forsberg also joined the long list of injuries to occur on Thursday, leaving the team’s game after apparently tweaking something in his groin. The 31-year-old has managed 16 games, a 7-8-0 record, and a .889 save percentage this season.

Goalie Notes: Forsberg, Leinonen, Schwab

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Ottawa Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg is geared up for the upcoming training camp, telling The Athletic’s Ian Mendes he’s fully recovered from a double MCL tear sustained during a goalmouth collision in February.

“I’ve been back to 100 percent for a long time,” Forsberg told Mendes. “I would have been back last year if we made the playoffs.” He’ll be entering next season as part of what Ottawa hopes is a more fortified goalie tandem, with Joonas Korpisalo replacing Cam Talbot as Forsberg’s partner in the crease. Forsberg has given Ottawa some solid play since once again breaking out as a full-time NHLer in Canada’s capital, accumulating a 33-28-6 record, .912 save percentage, 2.98 goals-against average, and three shutouts over the past two seasons. He says he can return to that level of play, as he told Mendes he doesn’t feel any lingering effects from the major knee injuries – a remarkable statement given they occurred just six months ago. If he can maintain the solid numbers and challenge Korpisalo for the lion’s share of the starts, Ottawa does have a true shot at breaking through into the postseason for the first time since losing in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.

Some other goalie-related items of interest:

  • Buffalo Sabres goalie prospect Topias Leinonen will miss the beginning of 2023-24 due to injury, The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski relays. Buffalo selected the massive 6-foot-5, 234-pound netminder in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, but he struggled last season with just a .885 save percentage in the Finnish junior circuit. He’ll miss around the first two months of the Liiga season, although he’s expected to take on a backup role for JYP once he returns.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have confirmed the last of their remaining extensions for their assistant coaches, signing goalie coach Corey Schwab to a multi-year deal. Schwab is one of the Coyotes’ longest-tenured organizational members at this point, serving with the team as a coach in some capacity since 2015. While the team hasn’t had much success during his tenure, goaltending has been far from an issue – names like Adin Hill, Darcy Kuemper, Antti Raanta, and Karel Vejmelka have all churned out solid performances under Schwab’s tutelage.

Injury Notes: Barzal, Romanov, Caufield, Forsberg, Norris

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The New York Islanders have a tall task ahead of them in their first-round playoff matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, as they’re looking to eliminate a club many view as a Stanley Cup contender. They will get some crucial help, though, as one of the team’s top offensive players, Mathew Barzal, is set to return from injury for Game One. (via The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz) Barzal hasn’t played since a February contest against the Boston Bruins, and was on a hot streak with six points in four games before going down with his injury.

In total, Barzal scored 51 points in 58 games this season. He flashed chemistry with mid-season trade acquisition Bo Horvat, and is a proven playoff performer with 38 points in 49 career contests. As relayed by The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner, Barzal said today that he’d been feeling good for a while, but wanted to make sure he was 100% ready to return before entering the lineup once again.

Some other injury notes from across the league:

  • Although the Islanders will get Barzal back in time for the playoffs, the same can’t be said for another one of the team’s young talents. Head coach Lane Lambert told the media today, including Kurz, that defenseman Alexander Romanov will not be available for the first game of their series against Carolina. Romanov has been skating by himself and is inching closer to a return, but remains unavailable. Acquired by the Islanders at the 2022 draft, Romanov last played on April 1st and has scored 22 points this season playing nearly 20 minutes a night.
  • Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield updated the media, including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, on the state of his injury recovery today. Caufield said that he’s cleared to play golf as of June 1st, and that he’d “definitely” be back to shooting pucks before then. Caufield’s rehab from the shoulder injury that ended his season is an important storyline for Canadiens fans to monitor, seeing as he’s one of the team’s brightest young talents and has an important summer of contract negotiations set to begin.
  • As relayed by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan, Ottawa Senators netminder Anton Forsberg is doing well in his recovery from his season-ending injury and will be back on the ice by July. Forsberg suffered a torn MCL in February, which ended his season. The 30-year-old signed a contract extension to remain a Senator last summer and should be expected to remain in the team’s offseason plans for its crease, assuming his recovery continues to move in the right direction.
  • Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports word from Senators center Josh Norris that the 23-year-old’s shoulder is feeling good and that he expects to be back on the ice in the next month. Norris played just eight games this season due to a shoulder injury. It was initially reported that Norris would not need surgery, and the optimism that he could return peaked when he was activated and played three games in January. Norris did ultimately need to undergo shoulder surgery, though, and the operation ended his season. That means that 2022-23 ended up a lost season for Norris, who scored 35 goals and 55 points in 2021-22.

Injury Notes: Blackwell, Forsberg, Roy

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Without much to play for down the stretch, injured players with the Chicago Blackhawks may start opting for clean-up surgeries to ensure they are ready for training camp next season. That seems to be the case with Colin Blackwell, who has undergone sports hernia surgery this week after last playing in February.

Blackwell, 29, signed a two-year, $2.4MM contract with the Blackhawks last summer, meaning he’ll carry a $1.2MM cap hit as one of the team’s bottom-six options next season. After two nice offensive seasons, his production dropped this year, resulting in just two goals in 53 games. The surgery comes with a recovery timeline of 12 weeks, meaning his season is over early.

  • The same thing can be said about Anton Forsberg and Parker Kelly of the Ottawa Senators, as Claire Hanna of TSN reports they have been ruled out for the rest of the regular season. The Senators, of course, could still technically make the playoffs, though they’d have to leapfrog three teams to do so. Both players are already signed for next season, so they can work toward full health for 2023-24.
  • Nicolas Roy, meanwhile, has been activated from injured reserve for the Vegas Golden Knights and will be available to them tonight against the Calgary Flames. Roy last played on February 21 and gives the Golden Knights another interesting forward option that can play up and down the lineup.

Cam Talbot Scratched Late Due To Injury

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Tonight’s Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators matchup has had a couple of interesting developments just hours before game time. Mads Sogaard will now be get the start for the Senators as Ottawa netminder Cam Talbot has been scratched with what TSN 1200 is reporting as a minor lower body ailment. Talbot had a slow start in his first season with Ottawa but has been better as of late for the Senators, having won his last three starts.

Kevin Mandolese has been called up from Belleville (AHL) but will likely not make it down to Chicago in time for the game. Mandolese has been quite good for the Senators this season with a 1-1 record and a .928 save percentage. The 22-year-old netminder last dressed for Ottawa in a loss to the Boston Bruins on February 20th, a game in which he stopped 29 of 32 shots.

For this evening, Ottawa may have to dress an emergency backup goaltender (EBUG). In Chicago, that would be Scott Foster, who famously backstopped the Blackhawks to a 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in 2018. Foster stopped all seven shots he faced in his one NHL appearance, and was named the game’s first star despite not being credited as the goalie of record.

Foster was signed by Chicago back in March 2018 to an amateur tryout contract because presumed started Anton Forsberg was sidelined at the time with an injury. Should he dress tonight for Ottawa, he would once again be working in as an emergency backup goaltender for a team that employs Forsberg.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Francouz, Forsberg

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, led by New York Rangers superstar Artemi Panarin. The 31-year-old winger had nine points in four games including a five-point effort against the Carolina Hurricanes in a very important game. With that, he’s up to 59 points in 53 games and once again on pace to break 90 this season.

Even that might not catch second place though, as Erik Karlsson once again gets a star as his incredible season continues. The San Jose Sharks defenseman is up to 73 points on the season, an 82-game pace of 110 points. It’s hard to follow that, but Clayton Keller did his best to earn third, after scoring seven points in three games for the Arizona Coyotes. Despite the Coyotes’ struggles, Keller has a chance to set career highs in goals and points this season.

  • The Colorado Avalanche have listed Pavel Francouz out with a lower-body injury, and recalled Jonas Johansson from the AHL to replace him. It is not clear how long the former will be out, but it likely means that Alexandar Georgiev will be starting tomorrow’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Avalanche on a back-to-back Wednesday in Minnesota, Johansson’s services may be required.
  • After Anton Forsberg needed a stretcher to leave the ice for the Ottawa Senators, the worst was feared. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia gives something of a promising update though, reporting that the veteran goaltender will actually not require surgery on his knees. His recovery timeline is set at two to three months as he recovers from MCL tears in both legs.

Anton Forsberg Out Indefinitely With Torn MCL

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02/12/23: Senators general manager Pierre Dorion announced that Forsberg has torn his MCL in both his left and right knee, and will as a result be likely out for the rest of the season. This announcement comes as a devastating blow for both the 30-year-old netminder and the Senators as a team.

Such a significant, season-ending injury is always horrible news, and it’s made especially so since Forsberg was in the midst of another solid season. While his save percentage had declined from last season’s .917 mark (he has a .902 in 28 games this season) that decline was more of a product of the play in front of him than any decline in talent on Forsberg’s part. Public sources such as Moneypuck.com are still bullish on Forsberg’s performance, with him ranked 16th in the entire NHL in goals-saved-above-expected, above Darcy Kuemper, Stuart Skinner, and Ville Husso, among others.

He’ll now have to focus on his recovery rather than stopping pucks, with the aim of returning to full health by the start of the 2023-24 season so that he can help the Senators get off to a strong start and possibly even get into the hunt for a playoff spot.

02/11/23: Saturday’s matinee against Edmonton didn’t go well for Ottawa as they dropped a 6-3 decision.  On top of that, goaltender Anton Forsberg had to be stretchered off the ice after suffering what appeared to be a knee injury just before the sixth goal was scored.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch noted postgame that an update on Forsberg isn’t expected until Sunday.

Forsberg has been a nice story for the Senators as he was picked up on waivers in 2021 (the third time in barely two months he had been waived and claimed) and has played his way into a regular role between the pipes.  Last season, he had a 2.82 GAA along with a .917 SV% in 46 appearances, earning himself a three-year contract extension along the way.  Things haven’t gone as well this season, however, as he entered today’s action with a 3.13 GAA and a .905 SV% in 27 games.

On top of Forsberg being injured, Cam Talbot remains out of the lineup with a lower-body injury for at least a few more days so the short-term starting role will fall to rookie Mads Sogaard.  Ottawa now sits nine points out of the final Wild Card spot so they will have their work cut out for them if they want to get back into the mix.

The Senators will need to recall a goaltender in advance of their next game on Monday against Calgary.  There are two options in Kevin Mandolese and veteran Antoine Bibeau.  The 22-year-old has split the season between AHL Belleville and ECHL Allen and has a save percentage of just .879 with the Baby Sens.  Bibeau, meanwhile, just made his first appearance today in the minors after missing more than two months due to an injury.  However, the 28-year-old has considerably more professional experience and even a handful of NHL appearances over the years and might be a better option to partner with an inexperienced Sogaard for the time being.

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