Minnesota Wild Place Jared Spurgeon On IR, Recall Three
As expected, the Minnesota Wild have placed defenseman and captain Jared Spurgeon on injured reserve considering he’s likely to miss the next two to three weeks with a lower-body injury. Filling Spurgeon’s spot on the roster, and the two additional openings will be Travis Boyd, Brendan Gaunce, and Carson Lambos after being recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
Whether anticipated or not, Spurgeon’s time on injured reserve has significantly impacted the Wild over the past two seasons. Minnesota’s all-time highest-scoring defenseman played 79 games during the 2022-23 season but was limited to just 16 games last year due to back and hip problems that ultimately required surgery. This year, due to lingering issues from last season’s surgeries, and other injuries including the current one, Spurgeon has been limited to 32 of the Wild’s 40 games.
As the highest-paid defenseman on the roster this season with a salary of $7.575MM until 2026-27, Spurgeon could become a major drain on the Wild’s salary cap picture should he not be able to put together a full season. Spurgeon has recorded four goals and 13 points averaging 20:43 of ice time for the Wild this season.
Boyd and Gaunce’s recall may result in a spot in the lineup but they’re valuable forward depth regardless. The two haven’t combined for any points with the Wild this season over eight games but are one in two in scoring for the AHL Wild with 20 points and 17 points, respectively.
Lambos again earns a call-up rather than new high-end defensive prospect David Jiříček. The former 26th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft has struggled immensely since transitioning to professional hockey last year. The Winnipeg native didn’t achieve his NHL debut during his first recall from January 1st to January 5th and has only recorded six goals and 19 points in 96 career games for the AHL Wild.
Wild Assign Carson Lambos, Brendan Gaunce To AHL
The Minnesota Wild have assigned forward Brendan Gaunce and defenseman Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Russo points out that these moves could indicate that Minnesota could get multiple injured players back before they host St. Louis on Tuesday. Minnesota is facing an extensive list of absentees, including injuries to superstar Kirill Kaprizov, team captain Jared Spurgeon, and top-four defender Jacob Middleton. Both Kaprizov and Middleton could reasonably make it back for Tuesday’s game, should they hit an upswing in their recovery. Russo also shared that forward Devin Shore should be clear to practice, after being a last-minute scratch for Minnesota’s Saturday win over Carolina.
The focal piece of this move is former first-round pick Lambos, who will now have the first NHL call-up of his career cut short without an NHL debut. Lambos was the 26th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, selected with the pick Minnesota acquired after sending Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lambos was a smooth and diligent two-way defender in his draft year and managed double-digit goals and point-per-game scoring in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 WHL seasons, even captaining the Winnipeg Ice in the latter season. But unfortunately, that production has yet to appear at the pro flight. He scored 14 points in 69 games as an AHL rookie last season, but may not even reach that point this season – with five points in 27 games putting him on track for just 12 points in a full year. He’ll now return to the minors and continue fighting to improve his game-to-game impacts.
Lambos will be joined by Gaunce, who’s found far more success in the AHL this year. His 11 goals and 17 points through 22 games currently leads the Iowa Wild in goals and ranks second in points. Gaunce has stepped into the mix of depth forwards used to fill in for Wild injuries, playing in five NHL games but yet to score a point this season. His only notable stat changes stand as four penalty minutes and a -3.
Wild Recall Carson Lambos And Brendan Gaunce
5:31 PM: The Wild officially announced both recalls.
4:56 PM: With veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon expected to miss some time, the Wild are expected to bring up a blueliner from the minors. However, it appears it won’t be David Jiricek as expected. Instead, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Carson Lambos, one of their top prospects, will get the nod and be brought up from AHL Iowa.
The 21-year-old was a first-round pick of Minnesota back in 2021, going 26th overall. Lambos was a productive defender at the junior level, putting up 95 points in 112 games with WHL Winnipeg after being drafted. However, that production hasn’t carried over to the pros. After putting up 14 points in 69 games last season, Lambos is on a similar pace this year with five points in his first 27 appearances.
Nonetheless, this should be a good chance for the Wild to evaluate Lambos and assess his NHL readiness. With the trade deadline coming up in a couple of months and Minnesota among the stronger teams in the league, they’ll likely be wanting to shore up their back end at some point. Having a better understanding on what Lambos can do at the top level will only help determine what they might want to do.
Meanwhile, Russo adds (Twitter link) that veteran forward Brendan Gaunce is also set to be recalled from Iowa, taking the place of Kirill Kaprizov who landed on IR today. The 30-year-old has played in four games with Minnesota this season, logging just under ten minutes a night but has been held without a point. Gaunce has been productive in the minors, however, tallying 11 goals and six assists in 22 games; three of those goals came just last night.
Wild Reassign Brendan Gaunce
The Wild reassigned veteran forward Brendan Gaunce to AHL Iowa today, per a team announcement. He’s been on the roster for most of the past couple of weeks as a depth option up front, but after serving as a healthy scratch Sunday night in Joel Eriksson Ek‘s return to the lineup, he’s once again a minor-leaguer.
Gaunce appeared in four games while up in Minny, all of which came with fourth-line usage. He never logged more than 11 minutes of ice time in a game and averaged 9:59 across the quartet of games. The 30-year-old pivot went without a point and posted a -3 rating while taking a pair of minor penalties and recording three shots on goal. The Wild were also out-attempted 51-22 with the journeyman on the ice at even strength.
The appearances marked the fourth straight season in which Gaunce has seen NHL ice, although he hasn’t appeared in more than 25 games since suiting up in 30 with the Blue Jackets in 2021-22. He posted eight points in 35 games in Columbus over the past three seasons before signing in Minnesota as a free agent over the summer, instead spending most of his time in the AHL in Cleveland. As usual, the 6’3″, 214-lb two-way forward was a strong offensive producer at the minor-league level, posting 85 points in 102 games for Cleveland.
While Gaunce has consistently put up impressive totals offensively in juniors and in the minors, it’s never come close to translating to the NHL. A late first-round pick by the Canucks in 2012, Gaunce managed only 15 points in 117 games for Vancouver before they eventually non-tendered him in 2019.
The Ontario native now returns to Iowa, where he’s served as an alternate captain and has 14 points in 21 games this season, good for third on the team. He’s been on the roster for 10 days and played four games since clearing waivers during preseason, so he can be rostered for another 20 days or play six games before he needs them again to head back to the aHL.
Wild Recall Brendan Gaunce, Devin Shore
Dec. 27: Both Gaunce and Shore are back on the Wild roster ahead of their road trip, the team announced Thursday night. Their active roster now stands at 22 players.
Dec. 24: The Wild announced Tuesday that they’ve reassigned forwards Brendan Gaunce and Devin Shore to AHL Iowa. Their spots on the active roster will remain open over the holiday break, and the pair of demotions will allow them to exit their LTIR pool and begin accruing cap space again over the next few days. One or both could find themselves back on the roster for Friday’s game against the Stars, depending on the health of injured forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Jakub Lauko.
Gaunce inked a two-year, two-way deal in free agency and was recalled from Iowa last week after clearing waivers during training camp. He has no points in three appearances with an unsightly -3 rating given his limited ice time. The veteran Gaunce has also fallen a tad short of expectations in the AHL, posting eight goals, six assists, 14 points, and a -10 rating in 21 games. He’s producing just 0.67 points per game after clicking at 0.83 over the past three seasons in Cleveland while with the Blue Jackets organization.
Throughout his career, the now-30-year-old Gaunce has been an expert top-six producer in minor-league action but has never carved out anything above a fringe fourth-line role at the NHL level. In 180 appearances in parts of nine seasons with Vancouver, Boston, Columbus, and Minnesota, Gaunce has 13 goals, 15 assists, 28 points, and a -16 rating while averaging 10:43 per contest. He had a career-high five goals and seven points in 30 games with the Jackets in 2021-22.
Shore, 30, signed a two-way deal over the summer and, like Gaunce, failed to secure a depth role out of camp. He’s passed through waivers twice this season without being claimed and has one assist in 16 games for Minnesota over the past month or so, locking down a more steady fourth-line role for the time being with injuries affecting their forward group. He’s averaged 8:14 per contest and has 19 hits, but he has been a pretty apparent defensive liability. The Wild only control 37.6% of shot attempts with Shore on the ice at 5-on-5.
Waiver Wire: 9/30/24
Another 12 players have hit the waiver wire today as part of training camp cuts across the league, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. All of the 25 players on waivers yesterday cleared without incident, he adds.
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd
F Brendan Gaunce
F Devin Shore
San Jose Sharks
F Justin Bailey
D Jimmy Schuldt
St. Louis Blues
Utah Hockey Club
Minor Free Agent Signings: Central Division
With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Central Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.
Chicago Blackhawks
none
Colorado Avalanche
F Joel Kiviranta (one year)
Dallas Stars
D Kyle Capobianco (two years)
F Cameron Hughes (one year)
F Kole Lind (one year)
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd (one year)
D Joseph Cecconi (one year)
D Cameron Crotty (one year)
F Brendan Gaunce (two years)
G Troy Grosenick (one year)
F Ben Jones (two years)
F Devin Shore (one year)
F Reese Johnson (one year)
Nashville Predators
D Nick Blankenburg (two years)
F Vinnie Hinostroza (two years)
F Jake Lucchini (two years)
G Matt Murray (one year)
St. Louis Blues
none
Utah Hockey Club
D Kevin Connauton (two years)
F Miko Matikka (three years, $870K entry-level cap hit)
Winnipeg Jets
none
Wild Sign Eight Players To Two-Way Deals
The Wild have signed forwards Travis Boyd and Devin Shore, supplementing their depth on offense after bringing in Yakov Trenin on a four-year deal earlier today. Both are two-way deals. Boyd’s pays him $775K in the NHL with a $550K guarantee, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo, while Shore’s pays him $775K NHL/$400K AHL with a $450K guarantee, per PuckPedia.
Boyd found a comfortable spot among the Arizona Coyotes’ bottom six over the last three seasons, kicked off by his career-high 17 goals and 35 points in 2021-22. Boyd followed that up with 15 goals and 35 points last year, though he was held to just 16 games this year after a torn pectoral ended his season in December. Boyd still scored eight points in the outings – sticking with his recent propensity for scoring – though he remains hard to gauge. Now 30, Boyd is a bit hard to project coming off injury; likely the reason for his two-way deal. But he’ll be in a prime position to bounce back next season, among a Wild bottom six in need of an impact center.
If Boyd can’t hold onto a role, Minnesota has hedged their bets with Shore – who got demoted to the AHL after 21 games in the NHL this year. He responded well to the send-down, though, recording 25 points across 39 regular season games and 13 points in 18 playoff performances. Shore has totaled 443 NHL games across the last nine seasons, though he’s managed just 139 points – and hasn’t surpassed 15 points in a year since 2018-19. Boyd’s scoring over the last two years will give him an advantage on the depth chart, though both players will compete for a consistent role at the bottom of Minnesota’s lineup.
Minnesota also inked 27-year-old right-shot defenseman Joseph Cecconi to a two-way deal ($775K NHL/$325K AHL), per PuckPedia. He had 13 points in 58 AHL games played last season with the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ top minor-league affiliate.
The organization also announced two-way deals with forwards Brendan Gaunce, Reese Johnson, Ben Jones, defenseman Cameron Crotty, and goaltender Troy Grosenick. All eight players should open the season with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, and serve as valuable depth for Minnesota if the team succumbs to injury at any point during the 2024-25 NHL season.
Blue Jackets Place Brendan Gaunce On Waivers
May 27: Gaunce cleared waivers today and was subsequently assigned to AHL Cleveland, per a team announcement.
May 26: The Columbus Blue Jackets have placed forward Brendan Gaunce on waivers, per PuckPedia (Twitter link). The move was confirmed by CapFriendly (Twitter link). Gaunce captained Columbus’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, this season, helping to lead the team to a first-place finish in the league’s North Division. The Monsters are now set for the Calder Cup’s Eastern Conference Finals, with that series set to begin on Thursday.
This is the second time Gaunce has been placed on waivers this season, having cleared them to join Cleveland in October. He spent the majority of his season in the minor leagues, appearing in 46 games with the Monsters and recording an AHL career-high of 19 goals and 39 points. Gaunce also appeared in 24 NHL games this season, scoring four points. It was the most time that Gaunce had spent in the NHL since his first year with Columbus in the 2021-22 season, when he totaled 30 games and seven points.
Gaunce has been on the NHL roster since March. Assuming he clears waivers, he’ll rejoin a Monsters lineup that’s breezed through the Calder Cup Playoffs, beating the Belleville Senators 3-1 after a first-round bye and sweeping the Syracuse Crunch in the North Division Finals. Gaunce has provided stout scoring and plenty of veteran leadership from the team’s second line. Those are the traits they’ll need as Cleveland takes on a Hershey Bears lineup with an identical record in these playoffs.
Blue Jackets Modify Brendan Gaunce’s Recall, Reassign Trey Fix-Wolansky
The Blue Jackets are down to two post-trade deadline recalls after they covered Brendan Gaunce‘s emergency recall into a standard one Sunday, per a team release. The club also assigned winger Trey Fix-Wolansky to AHL Cleveland.
Gaunce, 29, has been in the majors since an emergency summons on March 12 in the wake of depth forward Justin Danforth exiting the lineup due to a suspected concussion and a brief illness sidelining Kirill Marchenko. The 6-foot-2, 217-lb center has played in all seven Blue Jackets games since, recording a goal and a -2 rating while averaging 12:19 per game.
The 2012 first-round pick is on his third NHL organization, ending up with Columbus in 2021 after stints with the Canucks, Bruins, and the Swedish Hockey League’s Växjö Lakers HC. He hasn’t been overtly impressive in major-league minutes while with the Blue Jackets, posting 7-5–12 in 50 games over the last three seasons with a -3 rating while averaging under 10 minutes per contest, but keeping him around allows younger prospects like Fix-Wolansky to play out the stretch run of the minor-league campaign with Cleveland and log high-end minutes.
Gaunce, who remains third on Cleveland in scoring with 19-20–39 in 46 games, is in the back half of a two-year, $1.525MM extension signed in June 2022. He carries a cap hit of $762.5K but earns a slightly higher base salary of $775K in the NHL due to the league minimum increasing by $25K last offseason.
Fix-Wolansky was the first post-deadline standard recall for the CBJ, coming up to the majors on March 8 after lighting up the minors at over a point-per-game pace (23-31–54 in 51 GP). The 5-foot-8 winger could not convert that success to the majors, however, posting one assist in eight games with a -2 rating. His only other NHL appearance this season came during a brief recall in November, and he was held without a point in a loss to the Coyotes.
The 24-year-old will return to spark Cleveland as they jockey for playoff positioning in the AHL’s North Division, in which they sit second with a 35-21-3-3 record. He’s appeared in NHL games in three straight seasons, a solid feat for the 2018 seventh-round pick.
Fix-Wolansky is in the first season of a two-year, $1.55MM extension he inked shortly before reaching restricted free agency last summer. He earns a $350K salary while in the minors but is guaranteed at least $425K in salary this year.