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Charles Hudon

Avalanche Activate Nathan MacKinnon Off Injured Reserve

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The Avalanche will have their franchise player back in the lineup tonight against Toronto as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated center Nathan MacKinnon off injured reserve.  To make room for MacKinnon on the roster, winger Charles Hudon has been assigned to AHL Colorado.

MacKinnon suffered an upper-body injury earlier this month which was expected to keep him out for four weeks so he’s right on schedule.  The 27-year-old was off to another strong start before the injury as he had 34 points in 23 games; even though he has missed 11 games, he’s still tied for second on the Avs in scoring.  More importantly, he gives Colorado their top center back, allowing them to push J.T. Compher off the top line and balance out their forwards a bit better; Compher had been logging nearly 24 minutes a night in MacKinnon’s absence.

Colorado enters play tonight sitting fourth in the Central Division and is tied with Calgary for a Wild Card spot in the West.  That has largely been due to an extremely long injury list that still has them without two top-six wingers in Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin and two key defenders in Bowen Byram and Josh Manson, among others.  Their push to put themselves in a much more favorable playoff position will be a lot easier with MacKinnon, their star center and the player who will have the richest contract in NHL history next season, returning to the lineup.

As for Hudon, he was recalled back on Tuesday on his third emergency loan of the season.  The 28-year-old has played in nine games with the Avalanche this season, logging just shy of 11 minutes a night while being held off the scoresheet.  He has 18 points in 22 contests with the Eagles and should be a recall option should another injury up front arise with the big club.

Avalanche Recall Charles Hudon And Jonas Johansson

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The Avalanche have brought up a pair of players in advance of tonight’s game against Arizona as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Charles Hudon and goaltender Jonas Johansson have been recalled from AHL Colorado.  The Avs had two open roster spots so no corresponding roster moves needed to be made to make these recalls.

Hudon is in his first season with the Avalanche and has gotten into seven games with the big club this season while on emergency recall.  He was held off the scoresheet in each of those but did log nearly 12 minutes per contest.  The 28-year-old has been productive with the Eagles this season with ten goals and eight assists in 22 games.

As for Johansson, he’s covering for Pavel Francouz with Peter Baugh of The Athletic relaying (Twitter link) that Francouz is dealing with a lower-body injury.  Johansson, who has twice been claimed off waivers already this season, has yet to see any NHL action in 2022-23 but has done well in the minors, posting a 2.15 GAA with a .929 SV% in 15 contests.

Colorado Avalanche Send Three To AHL

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2:15pm: After the Avalanche lost Megna on waivers, they were under the 18-man roster limit. Hudon has been recalled to make the team compliant again.

9:10am: With Nathan MacKinnon the latest player to go down for the Colorado Avalanche, the team will have some tough decisions on how to organize a lineup moving forward. Today, they have sent Andreas Englund, Anton Blidh, and Charles Hudon back to the AHL, though they may not stay there for long.

Hudon, 28, made his Colorado debut last night, playing over 15 minutes and recording seven shots on goal. The talented winger is a potential fit for the top-six, but likely doesn’t fit any lower than that. With both Alex Galchenyuk and Jayson Megna on waivers today to create some additional flexibility, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hudon back up for tomorrow’s game.

Englund, meanwhile, has been playing regularly for the team as they deal with injuries to Josh Manson, Bowen Byram, and Kurtis MacDermid. The 6’3″ defenseman has one assist and five penalty minutes in six games, seeing just over ten minutes of ice time last night.

Unless a defenseman is being activated, Englund (or someone else from the minor leagues) will be needed once again for tomorrow night. The team only has five other healthy defensemen on the roster.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Charles Hudon

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The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Charles Hudon, the team announced. No other corresponding move was made, though it does come on the heels of forward Artturi Lehkonen’s injury that forced him to leave last night’s game. While there was no other move announced, this would seem to bring their roster over the 23-man limit, meaning that another transaction could come shortly. After placing defenseman Josh Manson on IR yesterday, the team had recalled defenseman Andreas Englund on an emergency basis.

Following a run to the Stanley Cup last season, Colorado’s injury woes have been a well-documented story so far in this young campaign, which seems to be compounded each day. At the very least, Hudon is no stranger to the NHL and should slot in nicely as a veteran presence, even if he can’t replace one of the several top-six forwards the team has lost.

The 28-year-old Hudon is a former Montreal Canadiens draft pick and veteran of 125 NHL games, all with Montreal, though none since 2019-20. His best season came back in 2017-18, where the forward scored 10 goals to go with 20 assists in 72 games. The Quebec native was off to a strong start to this season with the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, with 16 points in 20 games. Given all of their injuries, especially up front, the Avalanche will need Hudon to bring some of that magic up with him to help keep the team in the hunt.

Waivers: 09/29/22

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

Arizona Coyotes

F Michael Carcone
F Jean-Sebastien Dea

Colorado Avalanche

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

Los Angeles Kings

F Austin Wagner

New York Islanders

F Richard Panik
G Kenneth Appleby

New York Rangers

F C.J. Smith
F Turner Elson

This page will be updated throughout the day

Colorado Avalanche Sign Charles Hudon, Andreas Englund

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The Colorado Eagles will be happy today, as their NHL affiliate has provided a top forward. Charles Hudon has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. The deal carries an NHL salary of $750K, an AHL salary of $400K, and a minor league guarantee of $450K. The team also announced a one-year deal for defenseman Andreas Englund.

Hudon, 28, is an accomplished AHL scorer and is getting a hefty $450K guarantee as proof of that. Hudon had 30 goals and 57 points in 66 games last season for the Syracuse Crunch and 35 points in 46 games in his last AHL season before that. In 2020-21, Hudon proved he could be productive at other levels of hockey outside of North America, scoring 32 points in 33 games for Lausanne in Switzerland. Hudon joins the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, a team that has lost a few key contributors already today, such as top defenseman Jordan Gross.

One AHL-er who won’t be leaving the Colorado Eagles is Englund. The 26-year-old Stockholm native has re-upped with Colorado on a one-year deal. Englund was a bottom-pairing defenseman for the Eagles playing a very specific style. He’s a big, bruising defenseman who spent 106 minutes in the penalty box last year. The 2014 second-round pick has 33 games of NHL experience and should occupy a similar AHL role in 2022-23 to the one he occupied last season.

Tampa Bay Lightning Announce Several Minor Contracts

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have announced several minor signings to fill out their organizational depth. Gabriel Dumont, Charles Hudon, Darren Raddysh, Andrej Sustr and Maxime Lagace have all signed one-year, two-way contracts today worth the minimum $750K in the NHL.

Raddysh should be a familiar name to Bolts fans, as brother Taylor Raddysh is a Tampa draft pick and budding NHLer. Darren, like Taylor, has not played in the NHL just yet, but has been a productive AHLer. The two could both find themselves in the Tampa Bay lineup this season as the team will be looking for affordable support.

Sustr is another name well-known by Tampa. The veteran defenseman spent the first six seasons of his NHL career with the team before spending a year with the Anaheim Ducks and the past two season in the KHL with the Kunlun Red Star. He returns to the Lightning to play a depth role, likely as no more than a stay-at-home bottom-pair option.

Dumont is yet another former Bolt, having spent parts of two seasons with the team, including a career high 39 NHL games in 2016-17. Dumont and Hudon are both small, shifty forwards with NHL experience and plenty of AHL success and will be good veterans for Tampa in the minors.

Lagace, though largely an AHL netminder, played a significant role for the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season and could do so again if called upon. In his one start for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, Lagace recorded a 29-save shutout. Likely to be Tampa’s No. 3 in net, the 28-year-old is not a bad depth option for the Lightning.

 

 

 

Snapshots: Halak, Ovechkin, Koivu, Hudon

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Veteran goaltender Jaroslav Halak and the Boston Bruins are officially parting ways. Halak’s agent, Allan Walsh, confirmed to The Boston Globe’s Matt Porter that Halak will reach unrestricted free agency on July 28 and the Bruins are not expected to be a suitor. The news really should not come as much of a surprise. It’s the dawn of a new day in net in Boston, as young goaltenders Jeremy Swayman and Daniel Vladar have been excellent in both the NHL and AHL and look ready to take on regular NHL roles. Swayman in fact took the Boston backup job from Halak over the course of this season and into the postseason. The 2020 Hobey Baker finalist and Mike Richter Award and 2021 AHL All-Star  has already shown flashes of NHL starting potential and could secure the role this season. Vladar, who led the AHL in save percentage and GAA in 2019-20, requires waivers this season, so he too looks locked into an NHL role. Between that duo and Tuukka Rask, who will be sidelined until mid-season but is still a candidate for extension, Halak had no place with the Bruins. With that said, there should be plenty of suitors out there. Halak was an ideal Robin to Rask’s Batman over the past three years, taking on a considerable workload and playing at an elite level, winning the Jennings Trophy with Rask in 2019-20. The 36-year-old has shown signs of decline in the past calendar year, but can still be an above average backup for a contender or a 1B mentor to a young 1A.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin is less than two weeks away from reaching unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career but in an interview with Match TV’s Pavel Lysenkov, he expressed confidence that he will be able to reach an agreement to remain with Washington. He also acknowledged the possibility of returning to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL for next season which suggests that a new deal with the Caps isn’t finalized and is simply waiting until after the expansion draft to be filed as many expect will happen with several UFAs next week.  Ovechkin has been adamant about his desire to play in the Olympics and with there still being uncertainty about whether NHL players will participate in 2022, going to the KHL would guarantee him the chance to participate.  Having said that, a return to Washington still is the expected outcome.
  • Former NHL center Mikko Koivu has found his first coaching opportunity as Ilta Sanomat’s Tatu Mullykoski relays that the 38-year-old has been named an assistant coach for Finland’s Under-20 team (their World Junior squad). He replaces Tuomo Ruutu who became part of Florida’s coaching staff earlier this summer.  Koivu spent the first 15 years of his career with Minnesota before joining Columbus for this past season.  However, he hung up his skates after seven games with the Blue Jackets.
  • Pending UFA winger Charles Hudon is looking to return to North America, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 27-year-old opted not to re-sign with Montreal as a restricted free agent and instead spent the season with Lausanne in Switzerland where he had 32 points in 33 games this past season.  Hudon has 41 points in 125 games over parts of five seasons with the Canadiens.

Charles Hudon Signs In Switzerland

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The Montreal Canadiens tendered a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Charles Hudon this offseason, but despite being eligible for arbitration the 26-year-old forward declined to file. Instead, Hudon has signed a one-year contract with Lausanne of the Swiss NLA where he will play this season.

In 125 games at the NHL level, Hudon has scored 14 goals and 41 points, underwhelming totals for a player who has dominated the minor leagues. Even in the shortened 2019-20 AHL season, Hudon tallied 27 goals in 46 games, though that came with just eight assists. He had just two points in 17 games with Montreal, including two during the postseason bubble.

Montreal will retain his rights temporarily, but given Hudon turns 27 in June he likely will become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. With the uncertain schedules of every professional league in the world that may still afford a bit of time for the team to bring him back, but it appears as though his time in Montreal could be over.

If it is, while he may seem like a disappointment after those big AHL totals, more than 100 NHL games out of a fifth-round pick is still pretty good value for the Canadiens.

Charles Hudon Nearing Deal In Switzerland

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Canadiens RFA Charles Hudon is closing in on a deal with Lausanne of the Swiss NLA, reports Guillaume Lefrancois of La Presse.  TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie adds (Twitter link) that the winger is already in Lausanne and is waiting for his work visa to be approved before he signs the contract.

The 26-year-old opted to not file for arbitration back on Saturday so this may not be a typical loan situation as many players have had over the last couple of months.

Hudon spent most of last season with Laval of the AHL after clearing waivers and was quite productive, notching 27 goals in just 46 games.  However, that didn’t carry over to his NHL opportunities as he managed just a goal and an assist in 15 games with Montreal during the regular season and didn’t record a point in two playoff contests.  Hudon has had success in the NHL before, posting a 30-point season in 2017-18 but has struggled since then.

Lefrancois notes that Hudon was hopeful of a fresh start somewhere else but clearly, a trade scenario has not yet materialized.  If this is a season-long signing and not just a short-term deal until NHL training camps open, it likely wouldn’t be until late March or sometime in April before his season would end which may wind up being around where the NHL trade deadline will be in 2020-21 depending on the length of the campaign.  At that time, he could sign with whoever holds his rights or wait it out until next offseason when he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency.

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