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Chris Wagner

Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner, Reassign Calum Ritchie To OHL

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Colorado Avalanche forward Calum Ritchie still had three games to play before burning the first year of his entry-level contract but the organization has opted to make its move prematurely. The Avalanche announced they reassigned Ritchie to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and recalled forward Chris Wagner in a corresponding roster move.

Ritchie’s first seven games of his NHL career were somewhat of a mixed bag. He scored one goal in his first three contests while averaging 14:47 of ice time per game but didn’t have much to offer in the following four appearances. His ice time began dropping in Colorado’s loss to the Boston Bruins on October 16th and finished with just over seven minutes in last night’s win over the Seattle Kraken.

He primarily played on a line with Casey Mittelstadt and fellow rookie Nikolai Kovalenko as the trio collected five games together. The group finished with a net zero rating in x Goals For per 60 minutes and x Goals Against per 60 minutes according to MoneyPuck which is fair production from a line carrying two rookies.

Ritchie will continue his season on a Generals team including 2024 NHL Draft standouts Beckett Sennecke and Luca Marrelli. All signs indicate Ritchie will crack Team Canada’s U20 Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships and help the Generals expand upon their 5-5-1 record through their first 11 contests.

Replacing Ritchie in the lineup will be Wagner who’s already managed two games with the Avalanche on the year. Colorado may not trust him with middle six minutes like Ritchie so don’t be surprised to see Ivan Ivan or Matthew Stienburg move up a line.

It’s important to note that Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette shared earlier that Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin could be close to a return giving more context to the early roster move for Ritchie. Both would represent immediate placements in the team’s top six giving Ritchie access to much less ice time than he started the campaign with.

Avalanche Expected To Activate Devon Toews, Assign Chris Wagner

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The Colorado Avalanche are expected to soon activate defenseman Devon Toews off of injured reserve and assign forward Chris Wagner to the AHL, per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. Colorado placed Toews on IR on October 20th, retroactive to October 14th, with a lower-body injury. It still isn’t clear when Toews picked up the injury. He played through 22 minutes of ice time in Colorado’s second game of the year, but appeared as a late scratch in the subsequent game and continued to be downgraded until he was formally placed on IR. Wagner was recalled on October 20th, after Colorado placed winger Jonathan Drouin on IR with an upper-body injury.

Toews returned to his usual top-pair role and recorded one assist, two penalties, and three blocks in the first two games of Colorado’s season. He spent the bulk of that time next to Avalanche superstar Cale Makar. The two spent a team-leading 1,031 minutes of even-strength time together last season. Toews managed to reach the 50-point mark for a third-straight season in the role, adding double-digit goals (12) for the second time in his career.

Samuel Girard has stepped into the top-line role in Toews’ absence, recording one assist in four games with the boosted role. That won’t be enough to sustain the top role with Toews returning, likely moving Girard back to a pairing with Josh Manson and giving Colorado a choice between two of Calvin de Haan, Sam Malinski, Oliver Kylington, and John Ludvig for their bottom pair.

Meanwhile, Wagner will return to the minors after working into the lineup twice on his recall. He didn’t do much with the chances – recording three hits, three shots, one penalty, and a -1 while averaging fewer than seven minutes of ice time. Wagner’s departure will open more room for rookies Ivan Ivan and Matthew Stienburg to continue carving out a role, though Ivan’s sole assist in six games is the only scoring between the two. He’s one of six Avalanche forwards with just one point on the year, alongside linemate Joel Kiviranta and popular rookie Calum Ritchie – who each have one goal.

Avalanche Place Jonathan Drouin On Injured Reserve

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Oct. 22: According to the league’s media portal, Wagner was returned to AHL Colorado at some point yesterday. He sat in the press box for Sunday’s win over the Sharks.

Oct. 20: The Colorado Avalanche have placed forward Jonathan Drouin on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and recalled Chris Wagner. Drouin played a hardy 21:25 of ice time in Colorado’s season opener and didn’t seem limited, but he hasn’t skated since. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar recently shared that Drouin would be reevaluated on October 28th, setting him up to miss at least five more games.

Colorado signed Drouin to another one-year contract this summer, awarding him a $1.675MM raise over his previous deal after he scored a career-high 56 points last season. It was a much-needed breakout year for Drouin, who found quick comfort playing next to former Halifax Mooseheads teammate Nathan MacKinnon. The duo contributed to a fantastic 97-14-11 record over two years together in Halifax, capping off their tandem with the first Memorial Cup win in Mooseheads history. Their chemistry translated to Colorado, where Drouin spent 940 minutes, or 65 percent of his total ice time, on the ice with MacKinnon.

Drouin was lined up to continue that top-line role this season, but in his absence, it’s instead gone to Ross Colton. Colton’s taken full advantage of the expanded minutes, scoring four goals and five points in his last four games. Meanwhile, Wagner will join a crowded bottom six, set to compete with Matthew Stienburg and Ivan Ivan for a fourth-line role. Both Stienburg and Ivan are playing through the first games of their NHL careers, though neither has been particularly inspiring – with Stienburg going scoreless through two games and Ivan posting one assist in five games. Wagner hasn’t found much production of his own but does offer 375 games of NHL experience and served as Colorado’s de facto call-up last season. He’ll look to return to his role of fourth-line glue guy quickly as the Avalanche look to buck a dismal 1-4-0 start to the season.

Avalanche Reassign Chris Wagner, Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko

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11:12 a.m.: The Avs have also papered forward Nikolai Kovalenko down to the AHL, the team announced Tuesday. That does get them out of LTIR for the time being and will allow them to accrue a little bit of cap space before all three players likely return to the roster tomorrow.

8:46 a.m.: The Avalanche announced that forwards Chris Wagner and Ivan Ivan have been assigned to AHL Colorado. Freeing up their combined $1.62MM cap hit isn’t enough to get them out of LTIR and have them accumulate cap space for now, so it’s a bit of an odd move. Regardless, expect both to be re-added to the roster before tomorrow’s game against the Bruins to give the Avs 12 healthy forwards.

It’s a quick turnaround for Wagner, 33, who played in the Avalanches’ last two games after being recalled Saturday. The veteran can return to the Eagles without clearing waivers after doing so during the end of preseason, but he’s now used up two of his 10 games or six of his 30 days on the active roster before he needs them again for an AHL assignment.

Wagner averaged just 6:36 through Colorado’s two losses against the Blue Jackets and Islanders, which currently stands at a career low. The versatile depth forward went 3-for-6 in the faceoff dot and posted a -1 rating along with three shots on goal and three hits, but failed to get on the box score aside from a minor penalty. He has a goal and an assist in 15 combined contests since landing with the Avs organization as a free agent in 2023.

Ivan, at 22 years old, is significantly Wagner’s junior. He has been demoted for a third time since cracking Colorado’s NHL opening night roster. They’ve all been paper transactions, though, and he’s appeared in all three of the Avs’ losses to start the regular season. The undrafted free agent signing out of QMJHL Cape Breton has an assist and a -1 rating to kick off his NHL career, averaging 9:22 per game.

Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner

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On the heels of the Jonathan Drouin injury, Colorado was down to just 11 healthy forwards on their active roster, making a pending roster move quite likely.  That move was made today as the team announced (Twitter link) that Chris Wagner has been recalled from AHL Colorado.

The 33-year-old passed through waivers unclaimed last weekend but technically made the Avalanche’s season-opening roster.  His presence there was primarily for salary cap optimization purposes, however, and he was sent to the Eagles on Wednesday.

Last season, Wagner primarily played at the AHL level, notching eight goals and six assists in 21 games.  He also got into 13 games with the big club, picking up a goal and an assist along with 30 hits but averaged just 7:27 in playing time.  For his career, Wagner has 38 goals and 27 assists in 373 NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons.

Colorado has a full 23-player roster so a corresponding move needs to be made.  That will likely be Drouin landing on IR as he has already been ruled out for the next two games and is expected to be re-evaluated early next week.  Cap-wise, this won’t be an issue for the Avs who are well into LTIR with Gabriel Landeskog and Tucker Poolman currently on there.

Avalanche Reassign Chris Wagner

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The Avalanche announced yesterday that forward Chris Wagner has been reassigned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He had previously cleared waivers on Sunday but wasn’t sent down, remaining with the club and appearing on their opening night roster. However, it looks like he won’t be with the team for tonight’s season opener in Vegas, leaving the Avs with an open spot on the 23-man roster.

Wagner, 33, signed a two-way deal to join Colorado last summer and remained in the organization after inking a two-way extension in April. A fifth-round pick of the Ducks back in 2010, he’s seen NHL ice in parts of 10 seasons with the Avs, Bruins, Ducks, and Islanders, albeit in more limited fashion over the past few years. He’s made just 15 appearances combined in the past three seasons after years of being a fourth-line regular, instead logging significant time in the AHL.

His offensive performance has never stood out, averaging eight goals and 14 points per 82 games over his career. His minor-league production has never jumped off the page, either, with his 97 goals and 81 assists in 384 AHL appearances working out to 0.46 points per game. But he has shown to be an effective physical presence, recording over 100 hits in a season four times and posting unimpressive but acceptable possession numbers in traditionally defensive usage at even strength. Last year, he posted two points and a +3 rating with 30 hits in 13 appearances for Colorado, averaging 7:27 per game.

Wagner has spent significant time at center and on both wings, and while he’s a natural right-winger, he has posted a 49.2 FOW% in nearly 1,500 draws at the NHL level. He was a candidate to open the season as Colorado’s fourth-line center after Pierre-Édouard Bellemare was released from his tryout, but it appears that job will now go to offseason pickup Parker Kelly.

The Avs have no extra forwards on the active roster after sending Wagner down, confirming that Ivan Ivan and Nikolai Kovalenko will make their regular-season debuts tonight after being recalled early yesterday.

Waiver Wire: 10/5/24

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With season-opening rosters due in just over 48 hours, it’s going to be a busy weekend on the waiver front across the NHL.  A total of 14 players are on waivers today.  The players below were first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link) unless otherwise specified.  Meanwhile, Friedman relays (Twitter link) that of the 25 players on the wire yesterday, all cleared aside from John Ludvig who was claimed by Colorado.

Anaheim Ducks

G Oscar Dansk

Colorado Avalanche

F T.J. Tynan
F Chris Wagner

Dallas Stars

D Kyle Capobianco
G Magnus Hellberg
F Cameron Hughes
F Kole Lind
D Alexander Petrovic
F Emilio Pettersen

Florida Panthers

D Matt Kiersted

Minnesota Wild (per team release)

F Ben Jones

New York Rangers

D Connor Mackey

Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)

F John Hayden
F Josh Mahura

These players will be on waivers until 1:00 PM CT on Sunday.

Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner

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The Colorado Avalanche have recalled veteran forward Chris Wagner back to the NHL roster. He’ll provide added depth as the team addresses Joel Kiviranta’s lower-body injury, which has the winger out day-to-day. The Avalanche originally filled the spot with Russian prospect Nikolai Kovalenko, who made his NHL debut in Game 4. Kovalenko moved to America following the end of the KHL season and posted four points through six AHL games before being recalled ahead of yesterday’s game. He received just seven minutes of ice time in his debut, with four hits marking the only change to his stat line.

Kovalenko is an exciting young prospect who could provide a spark should the Avalanche need it. But their 5-1 win in Game 4 made it clear that the lineup’s top-end can handle the scoring and that the bottom six should instead focus on defense and physicality. That’s exactly what the Avalanche will get in Wagner, who’s served as a depth checking-forward able to make spot starts in the NHL for much of the last decade. Wagner only has 65 points in 373 career games, but he’s proven to be a stout fourth-liner capable of making a consistent impact on his own side of the ice.

That could be the trait Colorado needs as they approach a chance to clinch the series in Game 5. Wagner joins Kovalenko, Kiviranta, and Jonathan Drouin – the latter two both injured – as Colorado’s extra forwards. While exactly when the pair of injured forwards will return isn’t clear yet, it will be interesting to see which healthy scratches earn a spot in the lineup when everyone is at full strength. The Avalanche now carry a healthy of skill, two-way reliability, and bruting defense in their extras, giving them a chance to build lineups that can fit a lot of different approaches.

Avalanche Reassign Three Players

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The Avalanche have assigned defenseman Brad Hunt, forward Chris Wagner and goaltender Ivan Prosvetov to AHL Colorado, according to a team announcement.

None of the three played in last night’s 5-2 win in Game 2 of their first-round series against the Jets to tie the series. Hunt and Wagner were scratched, while Prosvetov served as the backup to starter Alexandar Georgiev. Rookie Justus Annunen, Georgiev’s backup for much of the last few months, has missed both postseason contests so far due to illness.

They’ll provide significant reinforcements to the Eagles, who begin their best-of-three First Round series against the Abbotsford Canucks tonight. Hunt, 35, spent all of the regular season there, leading the offensively challenged club in points with 49 (16 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games. It marked the undersized blue liner’s first regular season without NHL action since 2012-13. He suited up in 47 games for the Avs last season, notching 10 points despite averaging only 11:13 per game. The British Columbia native is wrapping up a two-year, two-way deal worth $1.525MM that he signed with Colorado in 2022 and will be a UFA in July.

Wagner heads back to the minors after being placed on waivers yesterday, meaning he’s cleared. The 32-year-old played sparingly for the Avs down the stretch, notching a goal and an assist in 13 appearances while averaging 7:27 per game. He has 14 points in 21 AHL contests this season, held out of the lineup until January due to an Achilles tear sustained during training camp. A former fourth-line fixture with the Bruins and Islanders, Wagner has played primarily in the minors for the third year in a row. He inked a one-year, two-way extension ($775K/$400K) early this month that will keep him with the Avs or Eagles through next season.

Prosvetov, 25, has likely dressed for his last game in Colorado if Annunen can suit up for Game 3 on Friday. A report out of Russia late last week indicated he’ll sign a three-year deal with CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League this offseason. He made a career-high eight starts and three relief appearances for the Avs in the regular season after the club claimed him off waivers from the Coyotes, posting a 4-3-1 record with a .895 SV% and 3.16 GAA. The Arizona 2018 fourth-round pick will likely get the start for the Eagles tonight after going 11-7-2 with a .921 SV% in 21 games down the stretch.

The Avs’ Game 3 coincides with the Eagles’ Game 2 of their respective series, so Colorado is unlikely to reverse these transactions if they can help it. If the AHL squad is eliminated, though, expect all three to come back to the NHL roster as Black Aces for the remainder of their stay in the postseason.

Avalanche Place Chris Wagner On Waivers

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The Colorado Avalanche placed forward Chris Wagner on waivers today (as per CapFriendly) after he was called up from the AHL just three days ago. The 32-year-old played 13 NHL games with Colorado this season as he split time between the Avalanche and the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. Wagner served as Colorado’s healthy scratch for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Jets. and will serve in the same capacity for Game 2 despite being on waivers.

Wagner signed a two-way contract with Colorado on July 1st of last year and proved to be a decent call-up option for the Avalanche, filling in during absences and injuries. In 21 AHL games this season, Wagner posted eight goals and six assists while he registered a goal and an assist in the NHL with the Avalanche. He averaged just 7:27 of ice time in his limited NHL action while posting a +3 rating.

The native of Walpole, Massachusetts, hasn’t been a full-time NHLer since the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season with the Bruins when he played in 41 games and tallied two goals and three assists. That season was the first year of an ill-advised three-year $4.05MM extension in Boston, as Wagner would spend the final two seasons of that contract playing in the AHL with the Providence Bruins.

In 373 career NHL games, Wagner has posted 38 goals and 27 assists, along with a -24 rating and a 204 PIM. His best NHL season came in 2018-19 with the Bruins when Wagner put up 12 goals and seven assists in 76 games.

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