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Austin Wagner

SHL’s IK Oskarshamn Signs Austin Wagner

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IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Hockey League announced they’ve signed forward Austin Wagner for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Wagner had attended NHL training camp on a PTO with the Penguins, and while he was never officially released from his tryout, he did not sign a standard contract with Pittsburgh.

Wagner, 26, split last season between the Kings and Blackhawks organizations but only appeared in NHL games with Chicago. The Calgary-born natural winger posted a goal and an assist in seven games with the Blackhawks last season, averaging 12:08 per game and posting a -2 rating. Wagner, who also recorded 12 points in 24 games with AHL Ontario last year, could not secure a roster spot in Pittsburgh over veteran additions like Noel Acciari and Matthew Nieto nor in-house options like Drew O’Connor.

Wagner has split his time in the pro leagues almost evenly in the NHL and AHL since turning pro in 2017. A 2015 fourth-round draft choice of the Kings, Wagner has 178 games of NHL experience dating back to 2018, recording 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points. After giving the Kings some solid depth production while on his entry-level deal, his effectiveness diminished after signing a three-year, $3.4MM extension with the team in 2020, a deal that he played most of in the minors. While slated for restricted free agency last summer, the Blackhawks did not issue him a qualifying offer after acquiring him via trade from the Kings on deadline day in March.

Oskarshamn is off to a tough start this season, sitting second-to-last in the league with a 3-9-2-0 record and 13 points. The club, which earned promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan in 2019, will need to kick things into high gear to avoid relegation back to the second-tier league next Spring. Wagner joins an offense currently led by former Senators prospect Viktor Lodin, who has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 14 contests.

Players Still On Training Camp Tryouts

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While there have been many players who had been in training camps on tryout deals cut over the past week or so, there are quite a few whose fates have not yet been determined.  Here’s a rundown of players who are still on PTO agreements with their respective teams.

Boston Bruins

F Danton Heinen

Edmonton Oilers

F Adam Erne
F Sam Gagner

Gagner did not play in the preseason as he works his way back from hip surgery.

Florida Panthers

F Brett Ritchie

New York Islanders

F Jackson Cates

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Libor Hajek
D Mark Pysyk
F Austin Wagner

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Austin Watson

Toronto Maple Leafs

F Noah Gregor

Vegas Golden Knights

F Max Comtois

Some of these players will likely receive an NHL contract but cap-strapped teams will wait until it’s absolutely necessary to convert them to a guaranteed deal, either to optimize their LTIR pool or to try to save a day or two worth of cap space.  Meanwhile, other teams could also come calling if a waiver target doesn’t make it to them.  One way or the other, their fates will likely be decided soon.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Austin Wagner To PTO

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In addition to signing defensemen Libor Hajek and Mark Pysyk to professional tryouts, as initially reported by CapFriendly last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced they’ve also signed winger Austin Wagner to a PTO.

A fourth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2015, Wagner burst onto the scene as a 21-year-old rookie in 2018-19 with a solid showing in a fourth-line role. It was somewhat of an unlikely promotion – he would notch 12 goals and 21 points in 62 NHL games that year in his second pro season after scoring just ten goals and 17 points in 50 games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign the year prior.

Nonetheless, most thought Wagner displayed the potential to be a solid, two-way bottom-six winger – especially after he put up solid production in an extremely limited role at such a young age. The following two seasons didn’t go nearly as well, unfortunately. Throughout the COVID-affected 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Wagner would fail to eclipse his rookie production despite playing in 109 total games, recording just 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points. He wasn’t a liability defensively, but he wasn’t a strong enough penalty-kill specialist or shutdown winger to cancel out the decrease in production.

That led to Wagner failing to make the team out of camp in 2021-22, just one season into a three-year, $3.4MM extension. He was waived and assigned to the AHL’s Ontario Reign, where he spent the next season and a half before the Kings dealt him to the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2023 trade deadline in exchange for future considerations. The Blackhawks would recall him after the trade, giving him his first taste of the NHL in 22 months, and he notched a goal and an assist in seven appearances down the stretch of the regular season.

After going unqualified by Chicago upon the expiration of the aforementioned extension earlier this summer, Wagner finds himself on the UFA market at age 26 and will look to land a contract with the Penguins (or their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) during training camp. In the minors, he’d scored 34 points in 79 games over the past two seasons with Ontario while adding 140 penalty minutes.

There’s no clear path for Wagner to earn an NHL role in Pittsburgh, even as an extra forward. The team’s financial situation is tight, especially to start the season with Jake Guentzel on injured reserve, and the limited fringe spots they do have will go to non-waiver-exempt, higher-ceiling talent such as Alexander Nylander. He could bolster a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton squad that finished eighth in their division and missed the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, however.

West Injury Notes: Dubois, Blackhawks, Simek

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Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois missed practice today, but is expected to play tomorrow. John Lu of TSN reported that his absence from practice was just a maintenance day and he will suit up against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday. Dubois is having a strong season, scoring 24 goals and 55 points in 61 games for the Jets this season. He missed three games before returning to face the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. When he missed practice, it was initially feared he would be out of the lineup yet again, but that is not the case.

The Jets need his presence in their lineup. The team has been struggling lately and has dropped to third in the Central Division standings with the Colorado Avalanche right on their heels. They are 2-6-2 in their past ten games, and will look to get back on track against a divisional rival tomorrow night. Fortunately, it will be with Dubois in the lineup.

  • According to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Blackhawks will be without a couple of depth players for the foreseeable future. Andreas Englund has a pulled hamstring and will not travel with the team on their upcoming road trip. The team’s next home game is March 14th. Austin Wagner was acquired by the Blackhawks on trade deadline day and the team was aware he had an injury that had become infected. He is meeting with doctors to try and determine a clearer timeline on when he can make his debut with the Blackhawks.
  • Radim Simek is listed as week-to-week with a concussion, per Corey Masisak of The Athletic. The 30-year-old defenseman missed nearly two months earlier this season before returning to the San Jose Sharks lineup on February 28th. He has played three games since then, but will be out long term due to the concussion that sidelined him earlier this season.

Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Austin Wagner

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The Los Angeles Kings, after making a handful of moves the last few days, have slipped one in just before the buzzer. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that Austin Wagner has been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations.

Wagner, 25, was a regular in the Kings lineup for three seasons, playing 171 games between 2018-2021. But after failing to really establish himself as much more than a fourth-line forward, he was back in the AHL last season, playing all year for the Ontario Reign. This time around has been much of the same, with Wagner playing 24 games for Ontario so far, scoring nine goals and 12 points in the process.

The physical, scrappy forward will get a better chance in Chicago than he was ever going to get again in Los Angeles, and his trade clears some cap off the books for the Kings. The forward is in the final season of a three-year deal with a cap hit of $1,133,333—just over the $1,125,000 that can be buried in the minor leagues. He’s due a qualifying offer of $1.36MM at the end of the season to keep his rights as an RFA, something the Kings weren’t going to do, given his place on the organizational depth chart.

For Chicago, they need someone to play the rest of the year, and why not take a look at Wagner to see if they can coax some NHL production out of him again. Even if they don’t want to hand out that qualifying offer, they could still sign him to a cheaper extension in the coming months.

Alex Iafallo Moved To LTIR, Austin Wagner Shuttled

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October 24: The Kings have now loaned Wagner back to the Reign, according to the team. The Kings did not have a game yesterday, and Wagner’s recall was likely just a paper transaction to optimize LTIR relief.

October 23: The Los Angeles Kings announced a series of roster moves this afternoon, headlined by forward Alex Iafallo, who has been moved from regular IR to LTIR. In addition to Iafallo, the Kings have loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to the Ontario Reign of the AHL and recalled forward Austin Wagner. The move gives Los Angeles 14 forwards to go along with seven defensemen on its active roster.

Iafallo had already been out and on IR since October 18th with a lower-body injury which he suffered in a game on October 17th against the Detroit Red Wings, but placing him on LTIR will create additional cap space that allows the Kings to call up Wagner, who carries a $1.133MM cap hit while sending down Moverare and his $762.5K cap hit. Prior to the transaction, Los Angeles had $521K in cap space. Of note, due to Iafallo’s $4MM cap hit, his trip to LTIR will give the organization more than enough room to work with on the salary cap front while he’s out. Despite the injury, Iafallo has had a tremendous start to the season, contributing two goals and three assists in four games.

Sending Moverare down simply gives the Kings more flexibility when setting a lineup by subtracting their eighth defenseman for another forward, flexibility they’ll continue to need in Iafallo’s absence. The defenseman had yet to play a game this season in the NHL, but does have a pair of AHL contests under his belt in 2022-23, prior to his call-up on October 18th. Wagner on the other hand, is receiving his first call-up of the season after starting the year with Ontario. There, he has two points in three games to start.

Waivers: 09/29/22

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Waivers will officially open today, meaning teams around the league can start cutting eligible players with the purpose of sending them to minor league clubs. While the full list will come out at 2 pm ET, some have already started announcing their initial placements. You can see all of the day’s cuts here, but we’ll also keep track of just the waiver portion in this post.

Arizona Coyotes

F Michael Carcone
F Jean-Sebastien Dea

Colorado Avalanche

F Charles Hudon
F Spencer Smallman
D Andreas Englund
D Brad Hunt
D Joshua Jacobs
G Jonas Johansson

Los Angeles Kings

F Austin Wagner

New York Islanders

F Richard Panik
G Kenneth Appleby

New York Rangers

F C.J. Smith
F Turner Elson

This page will be updated throughout the day

39 Players Clear Waivers

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Oct 11: Barre-Boulet, Brooks, Brown, and Jonsson-Fjallby were all claimed, but the other 39 players cleared and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Oct 10: On the final day to waive players before opening-night rosters are due, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports these 43 players have been placed on waivers:

F Sam Carrick (ANA)
D Jacob Larsson (ANA)
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (BUF)
D Eric Gelinas (CAR)
D Maxime Lajoie (CAR)
F Josh Leivo (CAR)
F Stefan Noesen (CAR)
F C.J. Smith (CAR)
D Gabriel Carlsson (CBJ)
D Mikko Lehtonen (CBJ)
F Kevin Stenlund (CBJ)
G Collin Delia (CHI)
G Malcolm Subban (CHI)
D Jacob MacDonald (COL)
D Alexander Petrovic (DAL)
F Riley Barber (DET)
F Taro Hirose (DET)
D William Lagesson (EDM)
F Kyle Turris (EDM)
D Lucas Carlsson (FLA)
G Christopher Gibson (FLA)
D Austin Strand (LAK)
F Austin Wagner (LAK)
F Frederik Gauthier (NJD)
G Connor Ingram (NSH)
F Michael McCarron (NSH)
F Andrew Agozzino (OTT)
D Nick Seeler (PHI)
F Alex Barre-Boulet (TBL)
D Fredrik Claesson (TBL)
D Andrej Sustr (TBL)
F Adam Brooks (TOR)
F Justin Bailey (VAN)
D Madison Bowey (VAN)
F Phillip Di Giuseppe (VAN)
D Travis Hamonic (VAN)
F Sven Baertschi (VGK)
F Patrick Brown (VGK)
F Gage Quinney (VGK)
G Zachary Fucale (WSH)
F Garrett Pilon (WSH)
D Nelson Nogier (WPG)
F Dominic Toninato (WPG)

Read more

Los Angeles Kings Extend Austin Wagner

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The Los Angeles Kings have obviously been impressed with Austin Wagner over the last two years and have decided to reward him. The team has announced a three-year contract extension for the 23-year old which will carry an average annual value of $1.133MM. Wagner was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this offseason when his entry-level contract expired.

While the deal provides Wagner with some stability, it also represents a chance for huge excess value in the Kings eyes. Wagner has only registered 32 points in 127 NHL games but possesses blazing speed that represents a tantalizing weapon for Los Angeles.

A little over a year ago, Wagner expressed his desire and belief that he can become a perennial 20+ goal scorer for the Kings if he keeps working hard with the development staff. Those comments were followed by just a six-goal campaign (in 65 games) but were actually some marked signs of improvement. Wagner generated nearly twice as many shots on goal as the year prior while increasing his average ice time to nearly 12 minutes.

The Kings obviously still believe in the young forward, who only turned 23 in June and can provide some value on the defensive end even when he isn’t scoring.

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