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Caleb Jones

Avalanche Return Riley Tufte, Caleb Jones To Minors

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Nov. 2: Tufte and Jones were returned to AHL Colorado this morning, per an announcement from the Avs. Jones has yet to make his Avalanche debut, while Tufte logged 11:28 in last night’s win over the Blues, recording a -1 rating, four shots on goal and one hit.

Oct. 31: The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Riley Tufte and defenseman Caleb Jones. Both players have started the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where Tufte has scored six goals and eight points in six games and Jones has scored four points in eight games.

With this recall, Jones gets the chance to earn a roster spot on his third NHL team. If he does, this season will become his sixth in the NHL. Jones was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, earning his NHL debut three years later in the 2018-19 season. He became a solid member of the Oilers blue line in 2019-20, playing in 43 games and scoring nine points in his rookie year. He stayed for one more season in Edmonton, before getting coupled with a second-round pick and sent to the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for Duncan Keith and Tim Soderlund. Jones played his most NHL hockey while with the Hawks, combining for 124 games and 31 points for the club over two seasons. But he’s now struggling to find an NHL roster spot, earning a minor league assignment with Colorado to start the 2022-23 season.

Tufte’s scoring has been very impressive through the early season, as he’s currently tied for third in goals in the AHL despite playing fewer games than anyone else in the top 10. He’s received 13 NHL games between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, scoring his first NHL goal but failing to net any other points. Tufte joined Colorado via free agency this summer, signing a one-year, $775K contract that he’ll look to earn with this NHL recall.

Avalanche Acquire Caleb Jones From Hurricanes

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Defenseman Caleb Jones is headed from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for minor-league forward Callahan Burke, per a team announcement. Burke will remain on loan from Carolina to AHL Colorado, as the Hurricanes are without an AHL affiliate for this season. The trade comes after the Hurricanes had also loaned Jones to AHL Colorado earlier this week, but they’ve now transferred his NHL rights to Colorado too.

Jones signed a one-year, league-minimum deal with the Hurricanes this offseason but failed to make a dent in their defensive depth chart and did not earn a spot on head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s season-opening roster.

While he would have served as capable depth for the Hurricanes, it does appear that he has a stronger opportunity to make it back to the NHL (where he spent the entirety of 2022-23) in Colorado.

Since the Avalanche now consider Kurtis MacDermid a forward, the club is only carrying six defensemen on its opening-night roster.

Veteran Jack Johnson is currently slated to be the team’s third-pairing left-shot defenseman. He only played in 25 games last season, though, and at 36 years old the question of whether he’ll be able to keep up with the pace of the NHL for a full season is a fair one. Now that his NHL rights belong to Colorado, Jones has a clearer path back to the NHL.

For Carolina, this move accomplishes two things. First and foremost, it’s a courtesy to a player who spent all of last season in the NHL, as this move as mentioned provides Jones a stronger chance of cracking an NHL lineup.

Beyond that, while this trade doesn’t make any impact on the Hurricanes’ salary cap picture, it does save them quite a bit of actual cash.

Jones was signed to a one-way deal, meaning he is slated to be paid $775k this season, regardless of if he plays in the NHL or AHL. Burke, on the other hand, is on a two-way deal that owes him $125k at the AHL level.

So assuming Burke ends up playing the whole season with the Colorado Eagles, this move could end up saving the Hurricanes $650,000 in cash.

That’s not to say Burke won’t find his way to Carolina this season, in all fairness to him. Now 26, Burke is a capable player, having scored 39 points in the AHL last season. He even made his NHL debut for the Avalanche last season as well.

But a recall does have to be considered somewhat unlikely. In the case of injuries on Carolina’s NHL roster, the Organization could very well prefer to recall a player the Hurricanes have a longstanding investment in such as Jamieson Rees, rather than Burke.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Hurricanes Assign Coghlan, Three Others To Minor Leagues

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The Carolina Hurricanes have made their final roster cuts, assigning seven players to various leagues or injury designation. Dylan Coghlan (Springfield), Caleb Jones (Colorado), and Pyotr Kochetkov (Syracuse) have been assigned to various teams in the AHL. Domenick Fensore has been sent to Norfolk of the ECHL. 2023 Draft prospect Felix Unger Sorum was sent back to Leksands in Sweden. And Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki were assigned to the team’s injured non-roster list. The final Hurricanes lineup can be viewed here.

The process of assigning players to the minor leagues has been a tricky one for Carolina, who are without an AHL affiliate for the season after the Chicago Wolves opted to go independent. This has meant that every player Carolina wants to assign to the AHL must be loaned out, explaining why Coghlan, Jones, and Kochetkov were dispersed.

Unger Sorum was an exciting name to follow throughout Carolina’s training camp. The winger was just barely eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft, being born a day before the cutoff. That means that he only turned 18 on September 14th. And yet he was able to carve out a significant role for much of the team’s camp, even earning speculation over whether he was ready to join the NHL lineup. Instead, he becomes one of their final roster cuts and will rejoin Leksands in Sweden. Unger Sorum primarily played for Leksands’ U20 team last year, appearing in 42 games and recording 46 points. He also played in seven SHL games, although he didn’t manage to record any points. The 2023 second-round pick will be an exciting international name for Canes fans to follow throughout the 2022-23 campaign.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Caleb Jones

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5:44 pm: The Hurricanes have made the deal official via team release. General manager Don Waddell said Jones’ “NHL experience will help boost our depth on defense.”

3:39 pm: Luke Fox of Sportsnet is reporting that the Carolina Hurricanes and defenseman Caleb Jones are in agreement on a contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Shortly after that, PuckPedia says that the deal will be a one-year, $775K contract.

Right off the bat, it is fair to start wondering exactly how much depth the Hurricanes need on their blue line. Already carrying eight NHL-ready defensemen on their active roster, Jones joins the list as a defenseman that should receive minutes next season.

Playing on a below-average Chicago Blackhawks team last season, Jones averaged just over 19 minutes of ice time per night, sitting fourth among defensemen in that category. Only scoring 16 points in 73 games, Jones was much more respected for his play on the defensive side of the puck rather than any offensive contributions.

Much unlike his last four seasons in the NHL prior to last year, Jones also racked up 118 blocked shots and threw 116 hits, by far the most he’s ever achieved in either category up to this point. In Chicago, Jones also spent time on both the powerplay and penalty kill units, not something that should be expected of him in Carolina.

Even though Jones is a serviceable defensive option for most teams around the NHL, he is going to need to compete heavily in the Hurricanes training camp to be an everyday player. Unlike Chicago, Carolina is considered to be one of the heavy favorites to win the Stanley Cup next season.

Free Agent Profile: Caleb Jones

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It’s hard to believe it, but the NHL season starts in just over two months. For some NHLers they will soon be making plans to return to their respective cities to begin the upcoming season, for others like defenseman Caleb Jones, his plan is to try to find an NHL job in the next nine weeks.

It was surprising to see Jones go unqualified, as the Chicago Blackhawks elected to let him become a free agent rather than offer him a qualifying offer. Chicago needed to tender the 26-year-old at $1.35MM, but he was made a free agent when Chicago didn’t make the offer. Now, almost a month into free agency Jones remains unsigned, a somewhat surprising development for a player who has shown promise in his young career.

Jones, the younger brother of Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones, was originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the fourth round back in 2015 and played 93 games over parts of three seasons with the club before he was traded to Chicago in July 2021 as part of the Duncan Keith trade. Jones then dressed in 124 games over the past two years with the Blackhawks, putting up 9 goals and 22 assists.

Last year was a career year for Jones, as he had four goals and 12 assists in 73 games while playing over 19 minutes a night. Jones was tasked with playing second-pairing minutes on a very bad Chicago team and faired well despite not contributing much offensively. Jones led the defense core in many analytical categories and did a decent job controlling the play when he was on the ice.

Jones has typically demonstrated a good ability to move the puck well, utilizing his skating to push the puck up the ice and can keep himself mobile in the defensive zone to be a disruptive force on both the penalty kill and at even strength. However, he is not his older brother and doesn’t possess nearly the offensive acumen that Seth has displayed throughout his career.

The issue that Jones may face when trying to lock down an NHL job is that there is a bit of a surplus of left-shot depth defensemen in the NHL. Pittsburgh has Ty Smith and Pierre-Olivier Joseph competing for one spot on their third pairing, as do the Calgary Flames, with Oliver Kylington now returning after a one-year absence. The Ottawa Senators have several solid left-shot options throughout their NHL lineup, as do many other teams. For Jones, he could offer a solid third-pairing option, but there are very few teams who need that right now.

Stats

2022-23: 73 GP, 4-14-16, -19 rating, 40 PIMS, 86 shots, 48.9% CF, 19:13 ATOI
Career: 217 GP, 14-36-50, -39 rating, 80 PIMS, 225 shots, 48.1% CF, 16:49 ATOI

Potential Suitors

Jones would have teams lining up for his services if he was a right-shot defenseman, but he shoots left and typically plays the left side. While his market will be small, there are sure to be teams that could find a role for the younger Jones brother.

In the East, the Buffalo Sabres have Ilya Lyubushkin slated to play as a third bottom-pair left-side defenseman, and while he offers a physical element and does a good job suppressing scoring chances, he is not a good puck mover and isn’t particularly adept at much else. Jones could push Lyubushkin and create healthy competition for playing time in the Sabres defense core. The one barrier for Jones to Buffalo could be that the Sabres have already brought in Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton in free agency, and management may feel that they’ve already brought in enough competition on their back end.

In the West, The Anaheim Ducks have brought in a few NHL veterans to try and give guidance to their young stars. While Radko Gudas will bring some leadership and physicality on the back end, the Ducks could use a few more veterans who can teach their young players to become good pros. Jones could be a solid fit for the role as he has already played on a young, bad, rebuilding team and knows the challenges and tribulations that come with the growing pains of a rebuild.

Sticking with the West, another rebuilding club that could use some help on the backend is the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks aren’t pushing to make the playoffs this year, but that doesn’t mean they should stop looking for improvements. At the moment, the Sharks have 30-year-old journeyman Jacob MacDonald penciled in as their third pairing left side defenseman and Marc-Édouard Vlasic on their second pair. Vlasic was a terrific shutdown defender for a long time, but he has seen notable declines in his game for the past five years or so. Jones would likely offer an upgrade on both men while not costing San Jose much in the way of assets.

Projected Contract

Unfortunately for Jones, he is most likely going to be taking a pay cut from the $1.35MM he made last season. There should be a small market for his services as the season nears, but the native of Arlington, Texas, might have to sign a professional try-out to get teams interested in his services. Matt Dumba and Ethan Bear are both still unrestricted and might attract more interest as they are right-shot defensemen and have better track records. Jones should ultimately be able to find an NHL deal, but when he does, it will likely come in around the league minimum or a tick above it. There were many NHL defensemen who found deals late in the summer last year, and it seems that could happen again this summer with Jones.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Looking At Five 2023 Non-Qualified UFA Targets

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The 2023 unrestricted free agent class may be disappointing, especially with some high-profile names like Stanley Cup champions Ivan Barbashev and Adin Hill coming off the board in recent days. However, the market did get a bit of a boost in the last 24 hours thanks to a slew of buyouts and the qualifying offer deadline, which saw over 100 restricted free agents get released by their teams to unrestricted status tomorrow. With that being said, it’s time to take a look at some of the more intriguing targets now available for teams to sign.

Each player’s former team is listed in parentheses. You can find the full list of RFAs that went unqualified here.

D Ethan Bear (VAN)

The summer will likely end with Bear re-signing in Vancouver, but there’s nothing stopping him from heading elsewhere if a team comes calling. He could last a bit into the summer as he recovers from a shoulder injury sustained while playing at the IIHF Men’s World Championship, though.

After not really finding a role in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup, Bear had a very solid season with the Canucks, posting 16 points in 61 games and providing high-end two-way play for a team that desperately needed it. Add in the fact he’s a right shot and still only 26 years old, and he makes for a rather appealing target that would have landed on our top 50 unrestricted free agents list for 2023.

He’s likely to earn a two-to-three-year deal, probably slightly under his $2.2MM qualifying offer. If so, all signs point to it being one of the better value signings of a summer poised to see some overpayments out of need in a weak UFA class.

F Denis Gurianov (MTL)

Things have been downhill for the 2015 12th overall pick since he logged 20 goals in his rookie season, a feat he hasn’t matched since. After sliding back out of a consistent top-nine role with the Dallas Stars, he was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens at the deadline in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov, a move that may have paid dividends for both sides. Gurianov did show a bit of a resurgence with the Habs, scoring five goals and eight points in 23 games, looking more engaged than he did with the Stars. The Habs will likely attempt to get a deal done here, but he wasn’t worth the $2.9MM qualifying offer he was due.

This is not a case of analytics suggesting a breakout, though, in fact, it’s the opposite. There are red flags nearly everywhere in his profile, suggesting he’s a liability in isolation. There is still some obvious raw skill with Gurianov, though, and for a cheap cost, he could put up some higher point totals with picture-perfect chemistry. It remains to be seen whether he’ll ever find that.

D Caleb Jones (CHI)

The counting stats here aren’t the prettiest, but advanced metrics have long tabbed Jones as an effective player for his role. Last season, Jones’ -19 rating may not have been pretty, but he also logged nearly 20 minutes a night on a lottery team. In fact, Jones logged a career-high relative Corsi for percentage at even strength of 4.8%, and his 16 points in 73 games were a career-high.

He’ll never break the bank offensively from the blue line, nor should you expect him to, but he’s got an underrated ability to drive play and proved this season he can take on more serious minutes against tougher competition. Add in the fact he can play both the left and right side, and he should be quite a good value signing for a team looking to bolster their third pair (or potentially second).

At 26, though, Jones was nearing retirement age on a very youthful Chicago blueline, and they decided to cut ties to make room for more of their future talent. He shouldn’t cost much more than $2MM on a one-year offer.

F Daniel Sprong (SEA)

Sprong easily jumps out as the most tantalizing target here. Quickly overtaking Dale Weise for the “Dutch Gretzky” title (sorry, Canadiens fans), Sprong has grown into one of the most efficient per-minute scorers in the league. He’s notched at least 13 goals in four of the last five seasons, never averaging more than 13 minutes per game – in fact, he scored 21 goals (and 46 points) in just 66 games with the Kraken this year despite staying squarely in a fourth-line role, averaging 11:25 per game. He was 17th in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes this season among skaters with at least 25 games.

With that, he’s set himself up for more ice time and more money. He was eligible for arbitration and likely would’ve garnered a rich reward for his production – a number Seattle didn’t want to pay. That doesn’t mean another team won’t, although an underwhelming playoff performance may scare some teams off. For a fringe team looking to add a high-octane option to its top nine, though, look no further than the 26-year-old Sprong.

He could very well command above the $3MM mark on a short-term but multi-year deal, especially from a team slated toward the bottom of the league standings. He jumps out as an attractive option for teams like the Arizona Coyotes, who could bank on Sprong’s production maintaining (or even increasing) with a slight bump in minutes, parlaying it into a valuable trade at next year’s deadline. Signing him to a two- or three-year deal with cost certainty as the salary cap rises would only add to his trade value.

F Sam Steel (MIN)

Steel is the only unqualified RFA who can say they were a number-one center last year. However, it was by necessity – with the Minnesota Wild needing Joel Eriksson Ek to round out their top-six on their second line, it was an in-and-out swap all year between Steel and Ryan Hartman between their pair of star wings in Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. Steel did have a career-high 10 goals and 28 points in 65 games, but you’d expect more for someone who spent over 350 minutes with Kaprizov and Zuccarello this season – especially from a former first-round pick.

That being said, you could do worse for a third-line center. Steel isn’t a liability defensively, and while he may not be able to translate his offensive acumen to the scoresheet in the NHL, he won’t take points away from those around him and can survive as a complementary player.

Still, with uninspiring production in Minnesota, he wasn’t a candidate to stick around, as the team needs every dollar available to them to stay in playoff contention. He’s flashed the least upside at the NHL level of any of the five players listed, although he does carry some certainty in terms of his defensive impacts and offensive production that others here don’t offer.

Other targets to watch: F Nathan Bastian (NJD), G Mackenzie Blackwood (SJS), F Max Comtois (ANA), F Morgan Geekie (SEA), F Tyson Jost (BUF), F Klim Kostin (DET), F Denis Malgin (COL), F Michael McLeod (NJD), F Jesse Puljujarvi (CAR)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Free Agency Notes: Kings, Kurashev, Merkley

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The Los Angeles Kings have been busy over the last couple of months, shipping out Calvin Petersen and Sean Walker to the Philadelphia Flyers, as well as acquiring and extending Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets most recently. After those moves, the Kings have a little over $4.5MM in cap space, with only 15 roster spots filled, according to CapFriendly. Due to the nature of their cap situation, it is more than unlikely that trade deadline acquisition, Joonas Korpisalo, will be retained by the team.

Los Angeles, who currently only has Pheonix Copley under contract to mind the net, will be looking for another goalie to pair with him next season. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period has shed some light on how exactly the Kings are looking to fill that hole in their lineup, reporting that Los Angeles is looking for a goalie in the $1MM-$1.5MM range. It is unknown at the time if the Kings are planning on using Copley as their main starter next year, but it will be tough to find a goalie better than him at that price.

Many teams still have time to qualify their eventual restricted free agents, so Los Angeles may have some options available to them after that list is more well-known. At the time, in that range of salary, the Kings will likely be looking at goalies such as Alex Stalock or David Rittich, and even a potential bounce-back candidate in Alex Nedeljkovic.

Other notes:

  • Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Chicago reports that the only restricted free agent on the Chicago Blackhawks to receive a qualifying offer will be Philipp Kurashev. This means that Anders Bjork, Austin Wagner, and Caleb Jones will all go to the open market on Saturday. Jones is one of the more surprising players not to receive a qualifying offer, as he was originally brought in from the Edmonton Oilers to play with his brother, Seth Jones. Caleb is not a game-breaking player by any means but did eat just over 19 minutes a night for Chicago this season while also bringing quite the physical presence to their back end. Given that his qualifying offer would have been $1.35MM, and the Blackhawks are not in a cap crunch, it is likely that he will be playing for another team next season.
  • The Colorado Avalanche did not issue a qualifying offer to defenseman Ryan Merkley, as reported by Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Merkley was originally acquired by the Avalanche along with Matthew Nieto from the San Jose Sharks for Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald. Coming into the 2018 NHL Draft, Merkley was one of the most talented players in the draft, but questions about his attitude and work ethic led to his slide to 21st overall. Failing to turn a corner in his professional career, Merkley will head to unrestricted free agency this Saturday.

Blackhawks Activate Tyler Johnson Off IR

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The Blackhawks will welcome a veteran forward back into their lineup tonight as the team announced that center Tyler Johnson has been activated off injured reserve and will suit up against Washington.

The 32-year-old had gotten off to a nice start to his season with two goals and four assists in his first six games.  However, in that sixth contest back in late October, he suffered an ankle injury, one that has kept him out for the last 20 contests.

With Chicago certainly isn’t looking to make a push for the playoffs, getting Johnson back and into game shape will help give them some stability in their middle six while he should be able to at least slightly bolster an offense that comes into tonight’s action ranked last in the league in goals scored.  He’ll start on the third line for the time being.

While the Blackhawks will be sellers over the next few months, Johnson almost certainly won’t be among those that they’re able to move.  He has another year left on his contract after this one with a $5MM AAV plus partial no-trade protection.  In this market, with so many teams lacking cap space, that’s not a deal they’re easily going to be able to move.

The team also confirmed that goaltender Petr Mrazek was activated off IR and he will get the start against the Caps.  Jaxson Stauber has been returned to AHL Rockford in a corresponding move.  However, it’s not all good news on the injury front when it comes to players returning as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes (Twitter link) that defenseman Caleb Jones isn’t quite ready to come back from his hip injury.

Injury Updates: McCabe, Jones, Hagg, Sundqvist, Dubois

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Blackhawks defenseman Jake McCabe has been cleared for contact after undergoing cervical spine surgery in the offseason, reports NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis.  However, he’ll still need time to get into game conditioning and at this point, it seems unlikely that he’ll be ready to play during their three-game road trip to start the season.  However, a return for their first home game on October 21st appears to be a realistic possibility.  While Chicago certainly isn’t planning on contending this season, getting a veteran back that’s capable of playing 20 minutes a night can only help.  Meanwhile, Roumeliotis adds (Twitter link) that blueliner Caleb Jones is also unlikely to play in Wednesday’s opener but should play later on in the trip.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Red Wings defenseman Robert Hagg had a rough start to his Detroit career, taking a puck to the head that has kept him out of preseason action so far. However, he told reporters including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that he has been cleared to play although he won’t play in tonight’s preseason finale.  Hagg signed a one-year deal after fellow offseason acquisition Mark Pysyk underwent Achilles surgery but might have to settle for starting as an extra defender to start with no exhibition action under his belt.
  • Still with Detroit, center Oskar Sundqvist is expected to be ready for Friday’s season-opener against Montreal, relays Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News (Twitter link). He has been battling an undisclosed injury throughout training camp and has yet to see any preseason action.  The 28-year-old was acquired from St. Louis near the trade deadline last season and did relatively well in his first stint with the Red Wings, collecting four goals and four assists in 18 games down the stretch.
  • Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois exited yesterday’s game after the first period but the injury is not believed to be a serious one, notes Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun. Head coach Rick Bowness indicated that the 24-year-old had a minor lower-body issue that flared up so they pulled him out as a precaution.  Despite leaving early, Dubois had his first two goals of the preseason on Friday and should be ready to return for their season opener on Friday.

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