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West Notes: Patera, Blackwell, Kärki

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The Vancouver Canucks announced today that netminder Jiri Patera has been recalled on an emergency basis from their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Patera, 26, has played each of the last two seasons exclusively at the AHL level, though an injury did cost him a chance to earn NHL games last season, as he was limited to just seven games played. He’s already up to five games played so far this season, posting a .894 save percentage, 3.10 goals-against average, and 1-2-2 record.

CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reported on this recall in some additional detail, noting that while netminder Kevin Lankinen is not currently injured, Thatcher Demko “may need a maintenance day.” And since the Canucks have back-to-back games to play on Saturday and Sunday, recalling Patera allows the team to be cautious and give head coach Adam Foote an additional goaltender to work with in case Demko is not able to play in one of the team’s two upcoming games. Dhaliwal did also note that Demko “is not hurt.” While he hasn’t yet played for the Canucks, Patera does have some NHL experience. The 26-year-old played in eight games across two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights, posting a .902 save percentage.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The Dallas Stars might have to deal with the loss of Colin Blackwell due to an injury, reports Stars Thoughts’ Robert Tiffin. Per Tiffin, Blackwell “took a heavy shot last night in the leg/foot” and did not practice today. While there has not been any official update from the Stars, it appears entirely possible that Blackwell will miss some time due to injury. The 32-year-old veteran of over 300 NHL games isn’t much of an offensive producer (he has one point through 14 games) but has been a key contributor on the penalty kill. He leads all Stars forwards in short-handed ice time per game so far this season, and ranked second in 2024-25, just behind Sam Steel.
  • Vegas Golden Knights prospect Arttu Kärki, who ranked No. 13 in the team’s system by Elite Prospects in August, has signed a contract to transfer to Jukurit in Finland’s Liiga. The deal runs through next season, and should give the 20-year-old blueliner a more consistent place to play moving forward. The 2023 third-round pick was drafted by Vegas out of Finland’s U20 circuit, but spent the following season in the OHL. He split last season between Tappara and Assat, and now will play for his fourth Liiga team in two years. Kärki has only played in one game so far this year, a Sept. 9 victory for HIFK Helsinki over Jukurit of all teams, and Kärki scored a goal and played in just under 18 minutes of ice time. The Golden Knights maintain the exclusive rights to sign Kärki to an entry-level deal until June 1, 2027, and Elite Prospects scout Lassi Alanen wrote in August that “if everything breaks right” Kärki could “end up as a No. 5 NHL defenceman.”

Morning Notes: Berard, Nabokov, Kärki

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Rangers winger Brett Berard played through most of his rookie season with a labrum tear, he told Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

He sustained the shoulder injury back in November in what was just his fourth career NHL game, but it wasn’t significant enough to keep him out of game action through the remainder of the regular season. While he was initially named to the United States’ roster for the 2025 World Championship on the heels of his first taste of NHL hockey, he ended up pulling out to fully rehab the injury as he aims to crack New York’s opening night roster for the first time in the fall.

“Just kind of lingered all year, wore a brace all year,” Berard said. “It was good to kind of get that situated. It feels good, it feels strong. So just trying to get it all better, but we feel a lot better now.”

Berard, who turns 23 in September, scored six goals and 10 points in 35 appearances for the Rangers last season while averaging 10:43 per game. The 2020 fifth-round pick will likely build on that deployment this season, as the Blueshirts’ roster turnover over the last few months means there are a couple of top-nine spots for the taking, one of which he’ll hope to grab. The diminutive but high-energy lefty also scored 23 points in 30 games for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack last season.

More from around the league:

  • Avalanche goaltending prospect Ilya Nabokov has officially put pen to paper on a one-year deal to keep him in Russia for 2025-26 with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the league announced. Nabokov signed his entry-level contract with Colorado in May, but it was quickly reported that the Avs planned to loan him back to Metallurg for the upcoming season. While he was initially draft-eligible in 2021, he was finally selected in the second round in 2024 on the heels of a dominant postseason for Metallurg that earned him a Gagarin Cup championship, playoff MVP honors, and the KHL’s Rookie of the Year award. He’ll likely compete for the No. 2 job behind Mackenzie Blackwood when he comes to North America in 2026-27.
  • Golden Knights defense prospect Arttu Kärki is on the move in his native Finland, with HIFK announcing they’ve signed him to a two-year contract. Vegas selected Kärki in the third round of the 2023 draft but hasn’t yet signed him; they have until June 1, 2027, to do so before they lose his rights. The 20-year-old lefty got his first taste of professional hockey last season and split the campaign between Tappara and Ässät in Finland’s top league, recording 14 points and a -11 rating in 43 games. The shot-minded rearguard will look for more offensive success as he remains in Liiga with HIFK.

Golden Knights Prospect Arttu Kärki Commits To OHL’s Soo Greyhounds

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Vegas Golden Knights defense prospect Arttu Kärki has signed an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement with the Soo Greyhounds, bringing him to North America for the 2023-24 season. The Greyhounds selected Kärki with their first-round pick in the 2023 CHL Import Draft.

Kärki, 18, went off the board to Vegas with the final pick of the third round (96th overall) in this summer’s NHL Draft. A high-end offensive-minded defender in the Finnish junior circuit, Kärki confirms his move to North America just a day before OHL training camps begin.

Hailing from Viiala, Finland, the 6-foot-2, 176-pound defenseman recorded 13 goals and 26 assists for 39 points in 36 regular-season games with Tappara U20 of the U20 SM-sarja Finnish league. He led his team’s defensemen in goals and finished second in goals from defensemen in the entire league.

Vegas took Kärki around where most public scouts expected him to go. They haven’t signed him to an entry-level contract yet, and since he was drafted out of Finland (not the CHL), they have four years to sign him before letting his exclusive signing rights expire.

That said, Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis is quite high on Kärki and expects the transition to North American major junior hockey to be a positive thing for his development. “Arttu has all the tools of an elite defenseman,” Raftis said. “His size, skating ability, and high-end puck skills make him a threat all over the ice.”

The Greyhounds currently have three other NHL-drafted prospects expected to suit up for them next season: Detroit Red Wings defenseman Andrew Gibson, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev and New York Rangers center Bryce McConnell-Barker.

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