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Casey DeSmith

Stars Notes: Bichsel, Harley, Lundkvist, DeSmith

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The Dallas Stars have reversed their paper transaction that sent Lian Bichsel to the minor leagues. He’s expected to step back into the lineup on Monday, setting Bichsel up for his third NHL game. The first two have both gone well, with Bichsel recording a goal, penalty, and eight hits. His four hits per game, or 16.08 hits-per-60, ranks second among all NHL defensemen behind Vegas’ Robert Hagg, who’s recorded 11 hits in two games.

Bichsel’s NHL debut was long anticipated. He was an imperative piece of Rogle BK’s lineup last season, recording a mere four points in 29 games but serving a physical shutdown role in the top four through much of the season. Rogle went on an underdog run to the SHL championship but ultimately fell to Skelleftea AIK in five games. Bichsel made the move to the AHL quickly after and has since combined for 16 points, 60 penalty minutes, and a +6 in 37 games with the Texas Stars.

Where Bichsel slots in on Monday could be up for question. Thomas Harley, who operated ahead of Bichsel in the rookie’s first two games, is listed as a game-time decision due to illness, per Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest. Rea also shares that Nils Lundkvist, who sat out of Saturday’s game with the flu, is expected to return on Monday. With Bichsel potentially filling in for Harley, Brendan Smith will step out of the lineup for Lundkvist’s return.

In additional news from Dallas’ Monday practice, it appears goaltender Casey DeSmith has also returned to full health after missing Saturday’s game with illness. His availability is evidenced by Dallas’ lack of a goaltending call-up, pointed out by Owen Newkirk of the Dallas Stars podcast.

Stars Recall Magnus Hellberg

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With Casey DeSmith out with the flu, the Stars needed a second goaltender for their game tonight against St. Louis.  That netminder will be Magnus Hellberg as the team announced (Twitter link) that the veteran has been recalled from AHL Texas.

The 34-year-old is in his first season with Dallas after signing a one-year, two-way deal with them in mid-August, one worth the league minimum of $775K in the NHL and containing a guaranteed $475K payout.  Hellberg has played in 13 games so far with Texas and isn’t off to the best of starts, putting up a 3.08 GAA with a .894 SV% but makes more sense to bring up on a short-term basis than prospect Remi Poirier, his backup in the minors.

Hellberg does have some NHL experience under his belt, albeit limited.  He has seen NHL action in six of the last ten years, compiling 26 appearances altogether where he has a 3.08 GAA and a .890 SV%.  Most of that action came in the 2022-23 campaign when he got into 18 games between Ottawa and Detroit.

Dallas had an open roster spot before bringing Hellberg up so no corresponding move needed to be made to add him to the roster.

Stars Sign Casey DeSmith

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According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Dallas Stars have found their new backup goaltender as the team has signed Casey DeSmith to a three-year, $3MM ($1MM cap hit) contract.

DeSmith served as the Vancouver Canucks’ backup for much of the season, even filling a stretch of starts in the wake of injuries to Thatcher Demko. He posted modest totals in the spot starts, managing 12 wins and a .896 save percentage. It was a down year for DeSmith, after he managed a much sturdier 15 wins and .905 save percentage in 38 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year.

It was in Pittsburgh that DeSmith got his start, joining the organization as an AHL signing in the 2015-16 season, one year removed from the end of his collegiate career. But DeSmith was quick to bounce back to form though, recording 39 wins and a .919 save percentage across his first three seasons and 62 games in the AHL. That was enough to earn him an NHL call-up in 2017 – with Pittsburgh awarding DeSmith the first 50 games of his NHL career between 2017 and 2019. He was stellar in the initial test, posting a .917 save percentage and 21 wins.

DeSmith earned the AHL starting role in 2019-20, then the NHL backup role in 2020-21 following Matt Murray’s move to the Ottawa Senators. DeSmith held strong through his roles with Pittsburgh, emphasized by his stint in Vancouver marking the first time at any level of his pro career that DeSmith has posted a save percentage below .900. Dallas will be betting that he can return to his previously stout role next year, in a backup role that ceded 32 games to Scott Wedgewood last season.

Casey DeSmith Expected To Test Free Agency

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After being acquired right before training camp, Casey DeSmith had a solid season between the pipes for Vancouver.  However, it appears it will be one and done for his time with the Canucks as Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reported in a recent appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link) that there have been no contract talks for the pending unrestricted free agent and that the team is likely to go with Arturs Silovs as their backup next season.

Vancouver acquired the 32-year-old from Montreal in mid-September, sending winger Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick the other way.  In doing so, they were able to get an upgrade behind starter Thatcher Demko while also freeing up $1.45MM in cap space.

DeSmith played in 29 games during the regular season where he posted a 2.89 GAA and a .895 SV%, the latter number being a career low.  Nonetheless, that still represented a considerable upgrade over the .871 mark from Spencer Martin and .882 from Collin Delia back in 2022-23.  DeSmith also made a pair of playoff appearances following Demko’s injury before being injured himself.  That gave the net to Silovs who took the net and ran with it for the rest of Vancouver’s postseason.

While Silovs is also a pending free agent, it stands to reason that he’ll earn a fair bit less on his next contract than DeSmith.  Silovs is only eligible for restricted free agency and with just 19 career NHL appearances (regular season and playoffs combined), they should be able to get him signed on a short-term bridge contract around the $1MM range.  Those savings could be useful as they look to try to re-sign some of their key pending unrestricted free agents, highlighted by Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.

As for DeSmith, despite his lower save percentage, he could be in line for a raise from the $1.8MM he made in each of the last two years.  It’s not a great free agent class for goaltenders and there’s a good chance several backups will be moving around.  That should create enough openings for there to be a market for DeSmith’s services once the market opens up on July 1st.

Canucks Notes: Boeser, Pettersson, DeSmith, Myers

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Canucks winger Brock Boeser won’t have his offseason training routine interrupted by the blood clotting issue that kept him out of their second-round Game 7 loss to the Oilers, he said during today’s end-of-season media availability (via Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650). All indications point to him being ready for the beginning of training camp in the fall.

That’s because Boeser’s clot had a clear root cause – a shot he blocked during Game 1 of the Edmonton series, he disclosed. He didn’t notice bruising or pain until roughly a week after the game and went for scans after their Game 6 loss that showed enough clotting to prevent him from suiting up.

While a handful of important Canucks players could be moving on this summer in free agency, Boeser won’t be one of them. He’ll be back in B.C. as he completes the final season of a three-year, $19.95MM extension signed by GM of the Year finalist Patrik Allvin back in July 2022.

Boeser’s resurgence to his early-career form was one of the bigger reasons Vancouver captured its first division title since 2013. He set career-highs across the board with 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games but is an unlikely bet to repeat that production after shooting 5.8% above his career average in the regular season.

Here’s more on the Canucks:

  • Star center Elias Pettersson offered an explanation today for his underwhelming play down the stretch and in the postseason, telling reporters he’s been playing through a knee injury since January (via Thomas Drance of The Athletic). Pettersson, whose point production dropped from 102 last season to 89 this year, won’t require surgery to address the issue but will need to rest and rehab the injury before beginning offseason training. The 2017 fifth-overall pick signed an eight-year, $92.8MM extension shortly before the trade deadline that carries an $11.6MM cap hit beginning next season.
  • The injury to backup Casey DeSmith in Game 3 of the first round against the Predators that forced third-stringer Arturs Silovs into action for Game 4 was a minor groin issue, DeSmith said today (via Batchelor). DeSmith, who had a .911 SV% and 2.02 GAA in two appearances against Nashville after starter Thatcher Demko was injured in Game 1, said the team sat him for precautionary reasons and elected to play Silovs. He was available to play throughout the entire second round, but the younger Silovs remained between the pipes, compiling a .898 SV%, 2.91 GAA and one shutout in the first 10 postseason starts of his career.
  • Pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Tyler Myers said he’d like to return to Vancouver this summer (via Drance). The 34-year-old right-shot defender is coming off a five-year, $30MM contract that was hardly a good value proposition for the team, but the veteran had a decent season in a reduced role this year with 29 points and a +16 rating in 77 games. It was the only time he’d averaged less than 20 minutes per game in his 15-year career. Evolving Hockey projects a Myers extension in Vancouver to come in at $3.5MM per season for two years.

Evening Notes: Bjorkqvist, DeSmith, Bardakov

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Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Kasper Bjorkqvist has signed with Ilves in Finland’s Liiga (according to Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). The 26-year-old has spent the past two seasons in Finland after spending parts of three years in the Penguins organization where he largely played in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Bjorkqvist was the Penguins’ second-round pick in 2016 (61st overall) but was never able to find his offensive game as a professional in North America tallying just 10 goals and four assists in 65 career AHL games. He was able to get into six NHL games during the 2021-22 season, posting a single goal. Since returning to Finland two years ago to play with Kärpät, Bjorkqvist has dressed in 82 games tallying nine goals and 14 assists.

While he will remain in Finland in the near future, Bjorkqvist’s NHL rights will remain with the Penguins.

In other evening notes:

  • Vancouver Canucks play-by-play voice Brendan Batchelor tweeted that Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith has a lower-body injury but should be good to backup for the Canucks tonight when they try to end their first-round series against the Nashville Predators. DeSmith practiced with the Canucks this morning, but it appeared in the game day skate that Artūrs Šilovs would be the starting goalie for Game 5. There is a possibility that DeSmith could start tonight, but Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet stopped short of announcing his starting goalie.
  • Colorado Avalanche prospect Zakhar Bardakov has reportedly signed a one-year extension with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. The 23-year-old was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL entry draft (203rd overall) and has yet to sign an ELC with the Avalanche after he was traded on March 1st of this year along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for Kurtis MacDermid. While Bardakov has signed in the KHL for another season, he could come to North America in 2025. Bardakov posted six goals and six assists in 51 regular season games last season with SKA.

West Notes: DeSmith, Namestnikov, Kiviranta, Hague

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Casey DeSmith isn’t on the game roster for Canucks in today’s Game 4 against the Predators, forcing Vancouver to turn to third-string Arturs Silovs for his first playoff start with Thatcher Demko already hurt. It doesn’t appear the Canucks expect DeSmith out for long, however, as he was only termed day-to-day with a lower-body injury. There was further evidence to the fact shortly after the game started, as The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reports DeSmith was still the Canucks’ designated emergency backup for today’s game.

The 32-year-old would only be eligible to play if Silovs and backup Nikita Tolopilo suffered in-game injuries. Otherwise, holding DeSmith out of game action points to his absence as being more precautionary than anything else, hoping to avoid aggravating whatever he’s dealing with. Assumedly, he’ll be back in action for elimination games later in the series after putting up a .911 SV% in two postseason games thus far.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference:

  • Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov left today’s Game 4 loss to the Avalanche after a Nate Schmidt slapshot hit him in the side of the head in the middle of the third period. He remained on the ice for nearly a minute and was able to skate off with the assistance of trainers, not requiring a stretcher. He’s still been transported to a Denver hospital for evaluation, reports Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano. Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness had no update on Namestnikov’s health postgame other than confirming he was taken to a hospital. The 31-year-old had a goal and a -2 rating in the first three games of the series, which the Jets now trail 3-1.
  • The Avalanche were without winger Joel Kiviranta in today’s win, paving the way for 24-year-old Nikolai Kovalenko to make his NHL debut after being recalled from the AHL less than an hour prior to puck drop. Speaking with reporters postgame, Avs head coach Jared Bednar confirmed Kiviranta’s absence was injury-related, calling him day-to-day with a lower-body issue (via NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding). The 28-year-old had worked his way into a third-line role, a domino effect due to Jonathan Drouin being out for the series. He started the season on a PTO and subsequent AHL contract but inked a major-league deal with Colorado in November. He has one assist and a +2 rating in three games against the Jets this postseason.
  • The Golden Knights expect to be without defenseman Nicolas Hague again in tomorrow’s Game 4 against the Stars, head coach Bruce Cassidy said (via the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Danny Webster). He sustained a lower-body injury in the third period of Vegas’ Game 1 win and has yet to return to practice. The 25-year-old’s third-pairing duties have been assumed by veteran Alec Martinez, who began the postseason on the outside looking in after the Golden Knights’ trade deadline acquisition of Noah Hanifin pushed him down the depth chart. Hague made 73 appearances in the regular season, accumulating two goals and 12 points.

Canucks Without Casey DeSmith For Game 4, Arturs Silovs Starts

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Just one week into the postseason, the Canucks are down to their third-string goalie. Latvian rookie Arturs Silovs is expected to start Game 4 against the Predators this afternoon after Casey DeSmith sustained an undisclosed injury in Friday’s Game 3 win, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

DeSmith’s injury occurred late in Game 3 and is unrelated to the hit he took from Predators center Michael McCarron in the first period that resulted in a minor penalty and a fine for the latter. He’s listed as day-to-day and remains an option for Game 5 on Tuesday, per Seravalli. Vancouver will dress 24-year-old Belarusian netminder Nikita Tolopilo from AHL Abbotsford to backup Silovs today – he was rostered under emergency conditions earlier in the week.

Vancouver is already without starter and likely Vezina Trophy nominee Thatcher Demko, thanks to a suspected knee injury in Game 1. He’s listed as week-to-week, and there’s no consensus on when he may become available.

DeSmith did well under unexpected pressure, stopping 41 of the 45 shots he faced for a .911 SV% and 2.02 GAA. He made 29 saves on 30 shots to buoy the Canucks in Game 3, who won 2-1 despite only getting 12 shots through to Preds netminder Juuse Saros. The 32-year-old had only one playoff start entering Game 2 of this series, coming in 2022 with the Penguins in Game 1 of their first-round loss to the Rangers. He stopped 48 of 51 shots faced before leaving due to injury in the first overtime – Pittsburgh eventually won 4-3 in 3OT with backup Louis Domingue stopping all 17 Rangers shots he faced.

The Canucks now turn to Silovs, who spent most of the year with Abbotsford but made four starts down the stretch while Demko missed multiple weeks with an unrelated knee injury. Vancouver went 3-0-1 in games Silovs started, but the 23-year-old didn’t post the prettiest numbers, logging a .881 SV%. Shot quality data points to that being an artificially low number, though, as the Canucks didn’t give him much help defensively – Silovs saved exactly as many goals as expected, per MoneyPuck. The 2019 sixth-round pick had a .907 SV%, 2.74 GAA and four shutouts in 34 showings for Abbotsford this year, compiling a 16-11-6 record.

While inexperienced at the NHL level, Silovs is no stranger to performing well in big moments. He had a strong .914 SV% in two postseason games for Abbotsford last year and has been exceptional on the international stage, logging a .929 SV% and 1.96 GAA in 14 appearances for Latvia at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. He was named the MVP of last year’s tournament, backstopping his country to a bronze medal – their first ever at the event.

Backing up Silovs is Tolopilo, an undrafted free-agent pickup last summer out of the second tier of Swedish pro hockey. He’s had similar numbers to Silovs with Abbotsford this year, earning a .905 SV% and 2.83 GAA in 35 appearances.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Tanner Pearson Returning To The Canadiens Lineup

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Montreal Canadiens forward Tanner Pearson is set to return to the lineup tonight when the Canadiens take on the Ottawa Senators. Pearson has been sidelined since December 9th with an upper-body injury but has been practicing with the team for a few days now.

The 31-year-old was acquired by the Canadiens last September along with a 2025 third-round pick in exchange for goaltender Casey DeSmith. He started the season slow with just four goals and four assists in his first 27 games before the injury sidelined him.

It’s been a tough few years for the 31-year-old as he was once a perennial 15-20 goal scorer but hasn’t topped 15 goals since the 2019-20 season when he had 21 goals with the Vancouver Canucks.

Pearson is in the final season of a three-year contract he signed with the Canucks back in April 2021 and could become a trade chip for the Canadiens if he can show that he is healthy and productive. He spent the first six years of his career with the Los Angeles Kings, winning a Stanley Cup in 2014. However, since 2018 he has been dealt on three separate occasions and could be looking at another move, or possibly two over the next six months.

Pearson is counting $3.25MM against the cap this year and could be one of the less expensive forwards on the market. His trade market could heat up if he can get any traction over the next four to six weeks.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Montreal Canadiens

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Montreal Canadiens.

Who are the Canadiens thankful for?

Mike Matheson

Mike Matheson has had a tale of two careers.

He was good in his first few seasons in the NHL with the Florida Panthers, showcasing his terrific skating and his ability to carry the puck out of the defensive zone. But shortly after signing an eight-year extension the warts in his game began to show and he became a lightning rod for criticism in the Sunshine State.

It wasn’t long after that Matheson was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Colton Sceviour for Patric Hornqvist. Matheson was able to rehabilitate his game and looked like a good fit with the Penguins long-term. However, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall inexplicably wanted to change up the Penguins’ defense and in one day bulldozed his defense core by trading John Marino to New Jersey and Matheson to the Canadiens. Both trades have been a disaster for the Penguins, but the Matheson one stings for several reasons.

Since coming over to Montreal, the 29-year-old Matheson has dressed in 79 games, during that time he has 13 goals and 42 assists and has averaged almost 25 minutes a night in ice-time. He has been a catalyst for the Canadiens offense, and a mentor to many of Montreal’s young defensemen.

Although he has dealt with some injury issues, Matheson has been a driving force for the Canadiens and one that should continue to be an important piece for them in the coming seasons.

What are the Canadiens thankful for?

The Jeff Petry trades.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens made a trade back in July 2022 that sent defenseman Matheson to Pittsburgh in exchange for veteran defenseman Petry and Ryan Poehling. It was a questionable trade at the time for the Penguins as they were giving up a much younger defenseman for a 36-year-old defender with an inflated cap hit. A year after the deal, it’s safe to say that the trade was an absolute heist by the Canadiens. Jeff Petry has been traded twice since the original trade and Poehling was non-tendered and signed with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Petry was traded by the Penguins to the Canadiens this past August in a move that Pittsburgh had to make to facilitate the Erik Karlsson trade. The Penguins traded Petry, goalie Casey DeSmith, forward Nathan Legare and a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick. Hoffman was then moved to the Sharks and Pitlick has toiled in the AHL.

The trade was a great move for Montreal to acquire two futures while unloading two bad contracts. But they weren’t done yet. The Canadiens then traded Petry to the Detroit Red Wings for little-used defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025. Finally, Montreal was able to complete the trade tree by shipping DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks for Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick.

When all was said and done, the Canadiens were able to turn Pitlick, Hoffman, and a retained salary on Petry into Legare, Pearson, Lindstrom, and three 2025 draft picks. It was a creative move by Montreal, that will help them continue to build up their farm system or allow them to acquire additional players should they be more of a contending team in 2025.

What would the Canadiens be even more thankful for?

A Josh Anderson resurgence.

Many critics panned the Canadiens’ trade for Anderson back in October 2020 and for good reason, the trade was followed by the announcement of a seven-year $38.5MM extension that seemed like a massive overpay. In hindsight, it probably was, given that Anderson is carrying a $5.5MM cap hit and hasn’t come close to the 47 points he put up during the 2018-19 season. Since joining Montreal, Anderson has topped out at 32 points (twice), but he did have 40 goals over the two seasons before the start of the 2023-24 season.

This year has seen Anderson struggle more than he has in previous seasons. Through 31 games, the 29-year-old has just four goals and five assists and has been a drag on almost everyone he has played with this season. It’s been a frustrating season for the Burlington, Ontario native, one that he has acknowledged publicly. Just two nights ago, Anderson had an incredible game against the New York Islanders in which he scored two goals and was named the first star of the game. Afterwards, during a post-game interview, Anderson was serenaded by the Canadiens faithful and seemed genuinely humbled by the applause. With any luck, Anderson can use the game to catapult himself back to the heights he experienced when he put up 27 goals with the Columbus Blue Jackets five years ago.

If he can get back to his game, it could go a long way to the Canadiens making an unlikely push for a playoff spot in the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference.

What should be on the Canadiens holiday wish list?

A goal-scoring forward.

The Canadiens forwards need to score more as they rank near the bottom of the NHL in goals and are currently on pace to not have a single 25-goal scorer. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki both registered 26 goals last year but have just eight each thus far through 31 games, while Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher are far removed from the back-to-back 30-goal seasons, they each enjoyed from 2017-2019.

The Canadiens need a game-breaker, which is much easier said than done. Most teams are looking for this type of scorer and they are almost impossible to acquire in today’s NHL. The Canadiens do have a surplus of young defensemen they could choose to trade from, but they would need to find a trading partner that is interested in trading away one of the most coveted pieces in today’s NHL.

The Canadiens have been patient with their rebuild and have made some savvy moves to acquire good young prospects and defensive depth. At some point in the near future, they are going to have to take a risk on an offensively gifted forward. Whether that happens via trade or free agency remains to be seen but they will need to acquire a forward that can put the puck in the net.

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