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Brett Pesce

Metropolitan Notes: Pesce, Schmid, Foerster, Ristolainen

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Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff writes that Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to team practice after missing the last two games with an illness. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since last Tuesday and is mired in a seven-game point drought in what has been a disappointing offensive season for the pending unrestricted free agent. Pesce has just three goals and four assists in 41 games after posting a career-high 30 points last season in 82 games. His defensive metrics are still fantastic as Pesce remains the Hurricanes’ best option for the difficult defensive matchups against elite competition.

Pesce could suit up tomorrow night when the Hurricanes travel to Dallas to take on the Stars in their first of three games on the road. Carolina currently sits second in the Metropolitan Division with a 30-16-5 record and has begun to pull away from the teams behind them as they are 7-3 in their last ten games.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Akira Schmid from the Utica Comets of the AHL. Schmid dressed in 15 games for the Devils earlier in the season but struggled to hold onto an NHL job with a 5-7-1 record, a 3.26 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage. Schmid will serve as the likely backup to Nico Daws while Vitek Vanecek is sidelined due to a lower-body injury. Schmid was assigned to the AHL a month ago and has struggled in 12 games going 3-5-4 with an .885 save percentage and a 3.58 goals-against average.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are dealing with a couple of minor injuries as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Tyson Foerster will be sidelined until at least the weekend. Ristolainen has an upper-body injury and Flyers GM Daniel Briere is hoping he will be back by the weekend. Foerster has a lower-body injury and Briere is also hoping he can play this weekend as well. Ristolainen has struggled this season and has just a goal and three assists in 31 games while Foerster has posted career highs with 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games. The Flyers take on the Devils in the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday night.

Carolina Hurricanes Announce Multiple Injury Updates

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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta will likely miss “at least a couple weeks” with a lower-body injury, per head coach Rod Brind’Amour. Raanta is in the midst of a tremulous season that’s seen him placed on waivers, play two AHL games, and record a .872 save percentage in 24 NHL games. But he’s remained a pivotal piece of the Hurricanes lineup, playing in just one fewer game than the team’s de facto starter Pyotr Kochetkov, largely thanks to the string of injuries facing the Hurricanes crease.

Raanta, 34, is facing the worst save percentage of his NHL career this season – with his last save percentage below .900 coming in his rookie season in 2013-14. His 11-year career has been marred by injuries, with Raanta only appearing in more than 30 games in one season just three times. The inconsistent health has limited him to being a career backup, despite posting 139 wins and a .915 save percentage in 277 career games. This includes his 2017-18 season when Raanta posted a .930 save percentage and 21 wins through 47 games with the Arizona Coyotes.

The Carolina Hurricanes have also shared that defenseman Brett Pesce is questionable for the team’s Saturday night game against the New Jersey Devils due to illness, per team reporter Walt Ruff. That could give way for Tony DeAngelo to make his way into the lineup. The 28-year-old DeAngelo has appeared in 22 games this season and scored nine points – a far step down from his usual productivity. The team will also be getting star winger Andrei Svechnikov back on Saturday, though, with the 23-year-old making his return after missing the last six games with an upper-body injury. Svechnikov has 30 points through 29 games this season, making him just one of two Hurricanes players scoring at a point-per-game pace.

Evening Notes: Couture, Pesce, Kings, Johnsson

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Originally, Sharks captain Logan Couture wasn’t supposed to miss much time due to his lower-body injury.  However, he still has yet to play this season with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relaying that the middleman hasn’t just suffered one setback in his recovery but rather two separate ones last month.  GM Mike Grier added that they’re not in a position at this point to say if he’ll be back in a month or two, only that it’s something he’s not able to play through.  San Jose could certainly use Couture’s offensive skills – he’s coming off a 67-point showing last season – but clearly, he won’t be making his season debut anytime soon.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Hurricanes welcomed back Brett Pesce to the lineup tonight against Florida. He had missed eight straight games due to a lower-body injury, hardly an ideal start to a contract year.  Pesce had been in trade speculation dating back to the summer but that cooled off with the injury.  Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch as a result of Pesce’s return.  Carolina never put Pesce on the injured list despite him missing three weeks so no corresponding roster move needs to be made.
  • The near-daily roster shuffling in Los Angeles continues as the Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned defenseman Jordan Spence and center Jaret Anderson-Dolan to AHL Ontario. The moves get them out of LTIR for a day, allowing them to bank a tiny amount of cap space which will be useful when Viktor Arvidsson is cleared to return.  Los Angeles is back in action Saturday against Philadelphia and both players will almost certainly be back on the roster at that time.
  • As expected, veteran winger Andreas Johnsson has indeed signed with SHL Skelleftea, per a team release. The 28-year-old signed with Pittsburgh in the summer but cleared waivers in training camp and didn’t report to the minors.  The Penguins granted him his release earlier this week, paving the way for him to sign back home and play with his older brother.  It’s a four-year deal for Johnsson which means his days of playing in North America may very well be over.

Snapshots: Eberle, Pesce, Perunovich

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The Seattle Kraken have shared that Jordan Eberle is doing alright after suffering a deep cut at the team’s Wednesday practice. He won’t play in the Kraken’s Thursday matchup against the Colorado Avalanche but is otherwise considered day-to-day by the team. The Kraken recalled Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton to the NHL lineup in response to Eberle’s injury.

Eberle has appeared in 13 games with the Kraken this season, netting four points, nine penalty minutes, and a -8. He’s appeared in roles throughout the Kraken lineup through the early season, as head coach Dave Hakstol has tried to help Eberle get it going. The 33-year-old winger scored 20 goals and 63 points in 82 games last season, ranking third on the team in scoring and fourth in goal-scoring. It also tied for Eberle’s second-highest scoring season and marked his first time scoring 60 or more points since 2014-15, when he was still with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Kraken received a waiver to the NHL/CHL transfer agreement that would have required Wright to be assigned to the OHL if he didn’t make the Kraken roster out of training camp. As a result, he’s started the season with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he’s scored four goals and six points in seven games. He’s tied for the Firebirds lead in goals. Wright will likely draw into the lineup if Eberle can’t go. He appeared in eight games last season, scoring two points.

Other notes from around the league:

Metropolitan Notes: Hughes, Hart, Couturier, Pesce, Kochetkov

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The upper-body injury keeping New Jersey Devils star forward Jack Hughes out of the lineup is a right shoulder ailment, Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com reports. Hughes, who remains tied for the NHL’s points lead with 20, remains out on a week-to-week basis after crashing into the boards in the first period of Friday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Notably, this is not an aggravation of the upper-body injury Hughes sustained during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Novozinsky adds. It’s great news for the Devils, who have relied heavily on their offense and power play to stay afloat this season. The 2019 first-overall pick is averaging over 20 minutes per game and has 15 assists in ten games, including nine power-play assists.

New Jersey is currently without Hughes and captain Nico Hischier due to separate upper-body injuries, meaning the team is down both of its top two centers. Dawson Mercer shifted to the middle, and Michael McLeod jumped up to center the second line in yesterday’s 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division today:

  • Injured Philadelphia Flyers cornerstones Sean Couturier and Carter Hart traveled with the team on their upcoming three-game California road swing, Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports. While not a guarantee, the door is open for the team’s first-line center and starting goaltender to return to the lineup sometime this week. The team listed both players as day-to-day on Friday with a lower-body and mid-body injury, respectively. Both players have missed the team’s last two games, a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday and a 5-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
  • Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to practice for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury nearly three weeks ago, Walt Ruff of the team’s official site reports. Sporting a no-contact sweater, Pesce is almost two weeks into his recovery from surgery undergone on October 24. His return to the lineup is not imminent, but he does appear on track to return in the two-to-four-week window following the surgery as initially expected. Pesce, 28, had two points in five games this season and is a pending UFA.
  • Sticking with Carolina, 24-year-old netminder Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to rejoin the team from his loan to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch before tomorrow’s contest against Buffalo, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal relays. Starter Frederik Andersen is not expected to be available as he is dealing with an undisclosed medical issue, and veteran Jaroslav Halák is not eligible to suit up while on a professional tryout, which he signed with the team this morning. Kochetkov, who has a 0-3-0 record and .836 SV% with the Hurricanes this season, will likely back up Antti Raanta in tomorrow’s contest.

Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce Undergoes Surgery, Out 2-4 Weeks

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3:24 p.m.: Pesce underwent surgery yesterday to correct the lower-body injury, the team announced. The surgery carries a recovery timeline of two to four weeks, more in line with a week-to-week diagnosis and much less severe than what Brind’Amour alluded to earlier today.

12:46 p.m.: Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter Walt Ruff is reporting that head coach Rod Brind’Amour has told the media that defenseman Brett Pesce’s lower-body injury is worse than originally thought, and the 28-year-old could be out long term. Brind’Amour’s exact words, when asked by reporters, were that the injury was bad and could keep Pesce out way longer than week to week.

At this time, little is known about how long Pesce could be unable to play. He has already missed two games with the ailment, which Brind’Amour had hoped would only cause him to miss a couple of games. However, after being re-evaluated today, the prognosis for Pesce is not good.

What exactly is ailing Pesce is also unclear, but for the Hurricanes, it compounds the issues the team has dealt with in what has been a bad start to the season. Carolina has struggled defensively, and losing Pesce will certainly add to those woes. He and Brady Skjei have logged more minutes at even strength than any of the Hurricanes’ other defensive pairings and have been the most effective. The duo has been on for five even-strength goals scored and just two against this season.

The situation must be especially frustrating for Pesce, who is not only sidelined from playing but also missing time during a contract season. The native of Tarrytown, New York, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and is in line to get a lucrative long-term deal next summer. How lucrative that contract will be remains to be seen, but Pesce was no doubt hoping to maximize his earnings with a solid year in Carolina, but now it appears he could miss a substantial portion of the season.

Evening Notes: Toews, Hurricanes, Mechura

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Adrian Dater wrote on X today that the Colorado Avalanche and Devon Toews have made some progress toward a contract extension for the pending free-agent defenseman, but he is hearing that they aren’t nearing a deal yet. Dater added that he isn’t sure if Toews will negotiate into the regular season, but his sense is that both sides will continue talking.

Toews has been widely regarded as one of the NHL’s best bargains over the last few seasons since joining the Avalanche in 2020. He is in the final season of a four-year contract that carries an AAV of $4.1MM and could come close to doubling his cap hit on a long-term deal. The 29-year-old has posted 29 goals and 109 assists in 199 games as a member of the Avalanche and has received Norris Trophy consideration in each of the past three seasons.

In other evening notes:

  • Cory Lavalette of The Athletic tweeted today that Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Don Waddell has said that the team is not actively shopping any of their defensemen. The Hurricanes currently have four defensemen who are pending unrestricted free agents in Tony DeAngelo, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, and Jalen Chatfield, and appear uninterested in moving out any of their depth. While Waddell said the team isn’t actively trying to move out anyone, he didn’t close the door on a trade should a team come along with a good offer for one of the team’s rearguards.
  • Mark Divver of NHL.com is reporting that the Providence Bruins have signed 20-year-old undrafted center Adam Mechura to a two-year AHL contract. The native of Pisek, Czech Republic played for the Bruins at the Prospects Challenge before he was invited to the Providence training camp. The 6’4” 208-pounder spent last season in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans where he posted 26 goals and 26 assists in 58 games. The Bruins are looking for creative ways to build depth after spending many years moving out future assets, with this move they essentially get a young player with size into their AHL lineup without giving up an asset.

Carolina Takes Brett Pesce Off Of Trade Block

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In his recent 32 Thoughts article, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that Brett Pesce is no longer available to teams – at least, for the time being. The veteran defender, and soon-to-be free agent, was given permission to talk to other teams during the summer but Carolina is going all-in this season, and that includes Pesce’s help.

Above all else, this decision provides clarity to the Hurricanes’ back end. The team is full of defensive talent, with their depth including Caleb Jones, Jalen Chatfield, Domenick Fensore, Dylan Coghlan, and recent PTO-signee Nathan Beaulieu. That’s a lot of competition for six blue-line spots that already seem occupied. And the list doesn’t even include top prospect Alexander Nikishin, who’s started the KHL season with SKA St. Petersburg rather than attending training camp.

But despite the potential for a logjam, Carolina remains invested in Pesce. And that’s certainly not a surprise;  Pesce has played over 20 minutes per night since his sophomore season way back in 2016-17. He’s become an integral piece of the team’s top four, serving a responsible, defense-focused role. And though Pesce himself has never been much of a scorer, he did record a career-high 30 points last season, marked by 25 assists.

While Pesce’s contract negotiations haven’t resulted in an extension yet, Friedman didn’t rule it out given Carolina’s renewed investment. The team is projected to enter next summer with a staggering $31.65MM in cap space and 13 free agents to work with. This includes anchors of the Canes top-six in Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis. Carolina will also be faced with what to do with their defense, with only Dmitry Orlov, Burns, and Jaccob Slavin on contract beyond this year. It’ll be an interesting summer, and extending Pesce early would certainly make it an easier one to navigate. But for Carolina, all sights are set on this season – one they’re hoping ends with some hardware.

Hurricanes Notes: Pesce, Teravainen, DeAngelo

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Hurricanes blueliner Brett Pesce has switched agents, reports Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.  After working with Edge Sports Management, the defenseman is now represented by Wasserman’s Judd Moldaver.  The timing of the change is notable since the 28-year-old is entering the final year of his contract.  Pesce has emerged as a quality top-three defender over the past few years and set a new career-high in points last season with 30.  He’s undoubtedly in line to land a sizable raise on his current $4.025MM AAV but with Brady Skjei also in need of a new deal, Carolina probably won’t be able to afford to keep both.  Pesce made it clear that his preference is to remain with the Hurricanes but earlier this summer, GM Don Waddell noted that the team wasn’t close to re-signing any of their pending UFAs.

Elsewhere in Carolina:

  • Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer wonders if Carolina would be better off just letting winger Teuvo Teravainen play out the final year of his deal and then move on next summer. The 29-year-old is coming off a down year that saw him score just 12 goals in 68 games but has a good enough track record that it would still cost more than his current $5.4MM AAV to extend him.  With Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis both restricted free agents next summer, they may need Teravainen’s money to get those two locked up to long-term agreements.
  • In his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link), Cory Lavalette sat down with blueliner Anthony DeAngelo, a mid-summer signing after his contract was bought out by Philadelphia. Despite their strong defensive depth, he opted to go back to an organization that he was comfortable with over one where he would have had a better shot at a bigger role and more playing time.  After what he called a season full of inconsistent play with the Flyers, he’ll be looking to stabilize things somewhat before testing the market again next summer.

Poll: Which Team Will Acquire Brett Pesce?

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Now that the trade market for defensemen has been set after the blockbuster trade landing defending Norris Trophy winner, Erik Karlsson, with the Pittsburgh Penguins, one of the most oft-rumored names on the market headed into next season is Brett Pesce of the Carolina Hurricanes. Already carrying a rather deep defensive core, the Hurricanes added to it even more, bringing in Dmitry Orlov, Anthony DeAngelo, and Caleb Jones via free agency this summer.

For the 2023-24 NHL season, Pesce will be starting his ninth in Carolina, becoming one of the mainstays on their blue line during the team’s rise to stardom in recent years. However, with players such as Teuvo Teravainen, Martin Necas, and more than half their defensemen needing contracts beyond this season, the Hurricanes dollar may be better spent somewhere else.

In June, Cory Lavalette of The Athletic theorized that Pesce’s next contract would be in the eight-year, $52MM ($6.5MM) range, which seems fair factoring in comparable players and Pesce’s age. This is not a massive increase on Pesce’s current $4.025MM AAV, but with an extension already kicking in for Sebastian Aho next summer, Carolina will need all the wiggle room they can to keep their other talent.

In analyzing the market for Pesce, it would be wise to start with the two teams that reportedly missed out on Karlsson. Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Seattle Kraken had an interest in Karlsson, and both could use some longer-term answers to the right side of their blue lines. Toronto currently has John Klingberg and T.J. Brodie at the top of their hierarchy on the right side and should consider Pesce to be an improvement to both of those players. Similarly, in Seattle, Pesce would be a solid long-term answer on the right side once Justin Schultz’s contract comes to an end next summer.

Even if it is not in the Hurricanes’ best interest to hold onto Pesce long-term, it seems to be the most appropriate option to hold onto him for the entirety of next season, given the team’s popularity as a Stanley Cup favorite. Much like how the New Jersey Devils handled the pending unrestricted free agency of Damon Severson, the team may be better spent employing Pesce for the upcoming season and recouping some value for him via a sign-and-trade before July 1, 2024.

Which Team Will Acquire Brett Pesce?
Other (Comment Below) 32.33% (471 votes)
Seattle Kraken 25.26% (368 votes)
Toronto Maple Leafs 22.10% (322 votes)
Carolina Hurricanes 20.32% (296 votes)
Total Votes: 1,457

Click here to vote if you can’t access the poll above.

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