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Minor Transactions: 01/09/18

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The NHL is back in action tonight with seven games on the schedule, including a battle for wild card positioning between Calgary and Minnesota. As always, we’ll keep track of all the league’s minor moves right here. Refresh throughout the day to stay informed.

  • The Belleville Senators have signed Chris Kelly to another professional tryout, after the veteran forward’s appearance in the Spengler Cup. It’s unclear what exactly that means for Kelly’s Olympic bid, but we’ll find out soon enough. The Canadian squad is expected to be released tomorrow, and Kelly is among those in consideration.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have assigned Ondrej Kase and Kevin Roy to the AHL while the team enjoys their mandated bye week. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the pair will suit up for the San Diego Gulls, but will at least remove their cap hits from the Ducks’ roster for the time being. The Gulls do have two home games this week while the Ducks are off, perhaps a good chance for Kase and Roy to keep sharp during the break.
  • Joonas Korpisalo won’t get to relax during the Columbus Blue Jackets two off days, as the goaltender has been sent to the AHL to get in some game action while the NHL club breaks. Matiss Kivlenieks has been recalled in his place to keep the roster compliant, but will be flipped back when the Blue Jackets return to action.

Chris Kelly Signs PTO With Ottawa’s AHL Affiliate

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NHL veteran Chris Kelly has signed a professional tryout agreement with the Belleville Senators, the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate with the hopes of getting back to the NHL, the team announced Friday.

The 37-year-old center went to camp with the Edmonton Oilers on a PTO, but didn’t make it and the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch tweets that he has been skating with Ottawa more recently and is ready to make his comeback. The long-time Senator, who played with the franchise last year after six years in Boston, has played in 833 NHL games. He played in all 82 games for Ottawa last season and had five goals and seven assists, but also posted a -17 plus/minus ratio. He has played seven of his 12 years with the Senators.

He is expected to be in Belleville’s lineup for their game Saturday against the Toronto Marlies.

 

Edmonton Oilers’ Matt Benning Drawing Interest

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Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reports that while the Edmonton Oilers continue to look for an answer this season, “at least one team” is showing interest in defenseman Matt Benning in trade talks—though there is certainly no hurry to move him. Spector writes that the team likely would however be willing to give up Anton Slepyshev or Ryan Strome in potential deals.

Matt BenningEdmonton is off to a terrible start for a club that was expected to contend for the Stanley Cup this season, riding a 3-6-1 record into Wednesday’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Connor McDavid clearly can’t carry the team all on his own, and they’ve received little offensive help beyond the top line. Slepyshev has been held scoreless thus far, while Strome has just three points on the season. That’s while Jordan Eberle starts to thrive in New York with nine points through 11 games.

The Oilers need help, and they need it soon if they’re going to turn around this ship. The team ranks dead last in the NHL in goals for, and both special teams rank in the bottom three. Spector does suggest that Chris Kelly will sign if Kailer Yamamoto is sent back to junior, which should help their penalty kill but do little for their offensive woes. The answer to those isn’t quite so simple.

Moving Benning would certainly bring back something of value, as the 23-year old defenseman has shown at least an ability to play a full-time role in the NHL. Though he doesn’t have a ton of offensive upside, some might see him as a solid answer to shore up a bottom pairing. Dealing him would mean opening one hole to fill another however, as the Oilers would need a replacement for his 16-odd minutes a night. Benning is a restricted free agent this summer though, and with money locked up in four defensemen already and a new deal looming for Darnell Nurse, he could be on the outside looking in anyway. The Oilers will obviously have to be very careful with their cap space once McDavid’s league-leading contract extension kicks in.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Eichel, Gaborik, Kelly, Anderson

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A big part of the decision to sign Jack Eichel to an eight-year, $80MM extension now instead of waiting until next offseason was the fact that there aren’t going to be any comparable contracts signed during the course of the season, GM Jason Botterill told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required).  This contract was going to be more of a precedent setter than a trend follower so instead of risking the asking price going higher if Eichel has a strong season as they’re hoping for, they now have their franchise player locked up now for the better part of the next decade.

More from around the league:

  • Although Kings winger Marian Gaborik hasn’t skated over the past week as he recovers from lingering knee issues, the team isn’t saying that he has suffered a setback in his recovery, notes Curtis Zupke of the LA Times. Head coach John Stevens would only say that team doctors decided he should have some maintenance days but the fact that he has shut it down for the time being doesn’t bode well for a return to the lineup anytime soon.
  • The Oilers have asked center Chris Kelly to remain with the team as an unsigned player, notes Paul Gazzola on the Oilers’ team website. While he won’t be able to play in any games, he’ll be able to practice with the team and can continue to battle for a roster spot that way.  This is the same approach that Toronto had with Brandon Prust last season while Brooks Laich has a similar arrangement with the Kings this year.
  • Blue Jackets winger Josh Anderson is in the middle of going through the immigration process (which was required once his new contract was signed) and as a result, he will not be in their lineup on Friday night against the Islanders, reports Andrew Erickson of the Columbus Dispatch. However, since his contract is now active, he is counting against their 23-man active roster even though he’s not with the team.

Atlantic Notes: Liljegren, Athanasiou, Senators

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Although the Maple Leafs have yet to decide where 2017 first rounder Timothy Liljegren will play this coming season, a return to Rogle BK in Sweden appears unlikely, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.  As he was a first rounder and has already signed his entry-level deal, Toronto gets to decide where to assign him even though Liljegren has another year on his contract in Sweden after signing a two-year extension back in March of 2016.

There are several options for the Maple Leafs to mull over assuming the blueliner doesn’t crack the NHL roster right away (which he’s not likely to do).  Since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he is eligible to play for the AHL’s Marlies even though he’s just 18.  Liljegren’s rights have also been acquired in the CHL (Niagara) and the USHL (Dubuque).  Or, they could loan him back to Sweden where he’d likely spend time in the SHL and their J20 program.  However, the most likely outcome at this point would be to start in the AHL where the team could have full control over his ice time and can ease him in at their own pace.  If that were to happen, his contract would still slide unless he gets into ten or more games with the big club.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Although contract talks don’t appear to be progressing well between the Red Wings and RFA winger Andreas Athanasiou, MLive’s Ansar Khan cautions that the team would likely match any offer sheet thrown his way. With the current offer sheet compensation, an offer as high as $3.925MM would only see Detroit pick up a second round pick if they declined to match and presumably, they could get that return in a trade without the threat of Athanasiou signing an RFA deal elsewhere.  Khan suspects that no team would be willing to go that high on an offer sheet anyway since he has just 101 games of NHL experience under his belt.
  • The Senators offered center Chris Kelly a training camp tryout but he declined, reports Postmedia’s Don Brennan. The 36-year-old played in all 82 regular season games last year for Ottawa but he elected to take a PTO with the Oilers instead earlier today.  Brennan adds that Ottawa is still looking to bring in a couple of forwards on tryouts for training camp.

Chris Kelly To Attend Edmonton’s Training Camp On PTO

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The Oilers will be bringing in some more depth down the middle for their upcoming training camp as center Chris Kelly has accepted a tryout offer from the team, GM Peter Chiarelli told Sportsnet’s John Shannon (Twitter link).

[Related: 2017 PTO Tracker]

Chiarelli is no stranger to what Kelly can bring to the table as Kelly played for both of his former organizations while the GM was there in Ottawa and Boston.

After spending parts of the previous six seasons with the Bruins, Kelly returned to play for the Senators last season.  He played in all 82 regular season games with the team, recording five goals and seven assists while averaging just shy of 12 minutes per game.  However, he struggled considerably at the faceoff dot, winning just 44.5% of his draws, nearly 5% below his career average.

The 36-year-old has played in 883 career regular season games in his career split between the Senators and Bruins, scoring 123 goals while adding 166 assists.

While Edmonton is loaded with center depth, Kelly could potentially land a spot on their fourth line in a penalty killing role.  He has averaged at least 1:45 of shorthanded TOI per game in every year of his career and logged 2:05 per night in that situation with Ottawa last season.

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