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Cole Guttman

Blackhawks Recall Nine Players, Sign Austin Strand To PTO

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While some teams will be dressing close to their full lineups to end the preseason, the Blackhawks will not be one of them.  Instead, the team announced that they’ve recalled nine players from AHL Rockford while also signing defenseman Austin Strand to a PTO agreement.

The forwards getting the brief promotion are Colton Dach, Cole Guttman, Frank Nazar, Zach Sanford, Samuel Savoie, and Landon Slaggert.  Meanwhile, the blueliners receiving the extra preseason game are Louis Crevier, Ethan Del Mastro, and Kevin Korchinski.

Nazar and Korchinski are the headliners of the group.  Both are projected to be key players long-term for the Blackhawks and should see regular NHL action at some point this season.  Korchinski spent last season in Chicago as he was ineligible to play in the minors, notching 15 points in 76 games while Nazar was a late-season signing after leaving the University of Michigan.  He scored in his NHL debut, his lone point in three contests.

Among the others, five of the seven recalls saw NHL action last season with only Dach and Savoie waiting for their first regular season opportunity at the top level.  Of that group, Guttman saw the most action with 27 games (notching eight points) while Crevier had three helpers in 24 contests.  Slaggert had four points in 16 appearances, Sanford had four helpers in 18 games after being claimed off waivers, while Del Mastro was held off the scoresheet in two outings.

All of these players had already been cut from training camp and barring any injuries of note in the coming days, are all expected to be returned to the IceHogs, potentially as soon as after tonight’s contest against St. Louis.

Blackhawks Sign Cole Guttman To Two-Way Extension

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The Blackhawks announced that center Cole Guttman has been signed to a one-year, two-way extension with a $775K cap hit. He’ll earn a hefty $450K minor-league salary, per PuckPedia.

Guttman, 25, began the 2023-24 campaign on the NHL roster. He made three appearances early on, including a goal in their season opener against the Penguins, before being sent down to AHL Rockford in late October. He was recalled again around Thanksgiving, this time lasting around two months before he was returned to the minors. The Blackhawks didn’t recall him after his last demotion to Rockford in January.

Despite not sticking around in Chicago, it was still a strong season for the former sixth-round pick of the Lightning. Guttman was one of the top college free agents in 2022 after captaining the University of Denver to a national championship. While he’s yet to establish himself as a full-time NHLer, he’s been a prolific scorer for Rockford, where he was undoubtedly their best player this season with 40 points and a +20 rating in just 39 games.

Guttman wasn’t severely outmatched in his NHL minutes this season, either, tossing up four goals and eight points in 27 games in third-line minutes. He went 60/120 in the faceoff dot, and while his -17 rating is eye-popping given his limited number of appearances, it’s not an overly concerning number for a young forward on a lottery team that was frequently deployed in checking situations.

There’s plenty of uncertainty among the Blackhawks’ depth forwards for next season, with veterans Colin Blackwell and Tyler Johnson likely moving on in free agency. Youngsters Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert will be in competition for spots but haven’t solidified themselves as locks to start the season in the NHL. With a strong camp, Guttman has plenty of opportunity to crack Chicago’s opening night roster in the fall and build on his strong AHL showings the last two seasons.

Transaction Notes: Flames, Golden Knights, Wild, Blackhawks, Lightning

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While most teams prepare for an informal roster freeze over the upcoming NHL All-Star break, many are also stripping their roster down to the bare minimum to save as much cap space for the encroaching trade deadline in early March. Today, the Calgary Flames activated forward Martin Pospisil from the injured reserve, while optioning Matthew Coronato, Adam Klapka, and Cole Schwindt to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers.

According to Ryan Pike of Flames Nation, this set of transactions by the Flames will save the organization approximately $497K in cap space, just by sending them down over the All-Star break. As one of the expected sellers leading into this year’s trade deadline, the nearly half a million in cap space could allow Calgary to weaponize their cap space, as many deadline sellers have done.

For development’s sake, with the NHL returning to regular season action on February 5th, the trio of players sent down by the Flames today will have the opportunity to play in three games for the Wranglers. Coronato projects to factor in the most, still leading Calgary’s AHL team in points, having already scored 12 goals and 29 points in 27 games for the Wranglers this season.

Other transaction notes:

  • Similarly to the Flames, the Vegas Golden Knights have optioned Brendan Brisson, Sheldon Rempal, and Jonas Rondbjerg to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, per a team announcement. Having been recalled on January 18th via an emergency loan, Rempal has largely been the most successful of the bunch over the last several games for the Golden Knights, scoring a goal against both the New York Islanders and New York Rangers over the last four contests.
  • In an announcement earlier this afternoon, the Minnesota Wild sent down forward Jake Lucchini and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. Not only one of the best prospects in the Wild organization but one of the best prospects across the league, Wallstedt was able to make his NHL debut in his previous call-up coming in early January, stopping 27 of 34 shots in the team’s loss against the Dallas Stars on January 10th.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have sent down forward Cole Guttman and defenseman Louis Crevier to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, per a media release this afternoon. Guttman has been the much better player in Rockford this season, playing with the team through much of October and November. Over that stretch, Guttman scored three goals and nine points in 12 games for the IceHogs, tying him for 12th on the team in scoring for the season.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning made similar roster moves today, sending down Maxwell Crozier, Mitchell Chaffee, and Waltteri Merela to their longtime AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Although neither of the three have made a large impact in their limited NHL experience, Chaffee has been the most successful over the last stretch, earning a goal and an assist in the team’s recent victory against the Arizona Coyotes on January 25th.

Blackhawks Notes: Tinordi, Guttman, Hall

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Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Chicago Blackhawks injured defenseman Jarred Tinordi will take some contact in the team’s practice tomorrow before they evaluate if he is ready to return to the lineup. Tinordi suffered an oblique injury back on November 9th in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and hasn’t dressed since then.

He was placed on the injured reserve on November 11th; however, it was retroactive to the 9th. The Blackhawks then called up Isaak Phillips from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League to take his place. Phillips has fared well as of late with three assists in his last four games although he has struggled to manage the puck during his NHL run. Tinordi brings more edge and physicality to his game than Phillips, averaging nearly three hits a game this season. However, he is limited offensively having posted just one assist in nine games this season.

In other Blackhawks notes:

  • Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Chicago forward Cole Guttman suffered an upper-body injury on Sunday in the Blackhawks loss to the St. Louis Blues and is now day-to-day. The 24-year-old was scratched on Tuesday night in what many had assumed was a healthy scratch capacity but given the news today, it appears that Guttman’s injury kept him sidelined and will likely keep him out of tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Guttman has dressed in five games this season for the Blackhawks, registering a single goal which came in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that forward Taylor Hall underwent successful surgery on Monday to repair his right ACL. Hall is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season effectively ending his first season with the Blackhawks. Hall was dealt to Chicago in the offseason alongside Nick Foligno and was expected to ride shotgun next to rookie phenom Connor Bedard. Things didn’t work out as planned with Hall registering just two goals and two assists in ten games before the ailment cut his season short.

Chicago Blackhawks Assign Cole Guttman To AHL

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According to Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, the Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forward Cole Guttman to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Guttman, 24, was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks’ past two games and has seemingly played his way back to the AHL in the early part of this season.

The five-foot-nine pivot has skated in three NHL games this year for head coach Luke Richardson, tallying one goal.

The Blackhawks signed Guttman as a college free agent after his productive final collegiate season, and he had an impressive debut season as a pro last year. But despite the early success he had as a professional, especially in the AHL, he’s been passed this season on the Blackhawks’ center depth chart.

Guttman began the year as Richardson’s third-line center, skating between Boris Katchouk and Andreas Athanasiou.

He’s since lost that job to Mackenzie Entwistle, who offers far more size at the position, but scored just four more points than Guttman last season despite playing in 52 additional NHL games.

With Lukas Reichel entrenched as the team’s second-line center (despite his early-season struggles) and Connor Bedard untouchable on the Blackhawks’ top line, there simply isn’t much room for Guttman in the lineup outside of that third-line center role.

It’s seemingly been made clear with the consecutive games spent as a healthy scratch that the Blackhawks want to see more from Guttman in order for him to retain a regular spot in their lineup. With this reassignment, the next step for him will be to play some impactful games for the IceHogs so he can earn a recall to Chicago and re-enter their lineup on stronger footing.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

West Notes: Lindholm, Guttman, Zadina

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The future of Elias Lindholm with the Flames has been one of the bigger discussion points of the summer.  Early on, it didn’t seem as if the 28-year-old was open to staying beyond the end of his contract which ends after the upcoming season but lately, that belief has softened.  Speaking with HockeySverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist, the middleman indicated that he is indeed open to staying with Calgary but noted that there is a lot still to be agreed on for that to happen.  Lindholm carries a cap charge of $4.85MM for 2023-24 but could push for close to double that if he makes it to the open market next summer as one of the top two-way centers in the league.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Blackhawks winger Cole Guttman told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he has fully recovered from the shoulder injury that ended his 2022-23 campaign prematurely. The 24-year-old injured the shoulder twice in the minors and then reaggravated it in mid-March with Chicago, resulting in him deciding to have surgery on it.  Guttman played in 15 games with the Blackhawks last season, picking up four goals and two assists and should at least be in the mix to break camp with the team next month.
  • Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Sharks winger Filip Zadina discussed the circumstances surrounding his departure from Detroit. After they couldn’t accommodate his trade request earlier this summer, Zadina took the odd step of agreeing to a mutual termination, resulting in him hitting free agency where he inked a one-year, $1.1MM deal with San Jose, a pay cut from what he would have made had he stayed with the Red Wings.  The 23-year-old felt that his frequent injuries led to things not working out.  Now fully healthy, he expects the fresh start will see him bounce back which would be great for the Sharks who can control Zadina’s rights through the 2026-27 season.

Snapshots: Rocket, Blomqvist, Guttman

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The AHL’s Laval Rocket are bringing a pair of players into the Montreal Canadiens organization. They’ve signed one-year contracts with defenseman Tobie Paquette-Bisson and goalie Strauss Mann, bolstering their depth as Laval looks to improve on a middling 2022-23 campaign.

Paquette-Bisson, 26, spent last season under NHL contract with the Los Angeles Kings and was not issued a qualifying offer, meaning the organization let his rights lapse. Before that, though, he had spent two seasons with Laval on AHL deals, posting 26 points in 83 games. The undrafted left-shot defender will once again gun for playing time in Laval alongside Montreal’s defense prospects.

They’ve also brought in Mann, who also became an unrestricted free agent after the San Jose Sharks opted not to qualify him last week. The University of Michigan grad brings Olympic experience to Laval, and was a rather promising signing for San Jose after a strong first professional season overseas in Sweden. However, he posted just an .894 save percentage in 20 games with the AHL Barracuda and couldn’t quite find his footing. The 24-year-old will look to get back on track in Laval and earn another NHL deal as soon as possible.

More from around the league today:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins plan on bringing goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist to North America next season, says director of player development Tom Kostopoulos. The team’s 2020 second-round pick has played almost exclusively in Finland since being drafted, save for a few spotty appearances stateside after his season ended overseas. He took a step back last season after posting an insane .940 save percentage in 20 Liiga games in 2021-22, still managing a shutout and .907 save percentage in 21 games with Karpat. He’ll command a lot of playing time with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next season.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks expect forward prospect Cole Guttman will be available to start camp after undergoing shoulder surgery near the end of last season, says AHL Rockford head coach Anders Sorensen. Guttman, a free agent signing out of the University of Denver, posted an impressive 30 points in 39 games with Rockford last year and added four goals and six points in 14 NHL games with Chicago. It’s not clear whether he’ll start 2023-24 in the NHL or AHL at this time.

Cole Guttman Injured For Rest Of Season

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Chicago Blackhawks forward Cole Guttman will be out for the rest of the season according to Scott Powers of The Athletic. Guttman is heading to Los Angeles to have shoulder surgery to repair the injury, and should be available to the Blackhawks at next season’s training camp.

The 23-year-old center was a sixth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017. Since then, he had a tremendous college career at Denver that included a national championship last spring. Guttman was a pivotal player for Denver in that run, scoring 19 goals and 45 points in 41 games last season.

Following that season, Guttman elected to not sign with the Lightning, instead waiting until August when he became an NHL free agent. Then, he signed a two-year contract with the Blackhawks.

The 5-foot-9 and 168 pound forward is a skilled playmaker who has put up solid production in his first pro season. The Northridge, CA native scored 16 goals and 30 points in 39 AHL games this season and added four goals and six points in 14 NHL games. He had points in three consecutive contests with the Blackhawks before being shut down today.

Powers also noted this injury is something Guttman has been dealing with more a while. He was not sent down to the Rockford Ice Hogs on trade deadline day and therefore not eligible for the AHL playoffs this spring. As it turns out, the reason for that was because the team knew Guttman was working through this shoulder problem, but they thought he could play through it until the end of the NHL’s regular season.

Evidently, things got worse and now the Blackhawks are without Guttman for the remainder of the season. They had already called up Buddy Robinson and Mike Hardman this morning to fill out the roster.

 

Jonathan Toews Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Chicago Blackhawks have completed a number of transactions ahead of their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. Cole Guttman, Brett Seney, and Isaak Phillips have been recalled from the AHL. To make room, Jarred Tinordi, Jonathan Toews, and Alex Stalock are all going on injured reserve.

Toews is certainly the biggest name among that group, especially as the trade deadline nears. His mysterious illness has kept him away from the team for more than a week, and he has not played since the end of January. Given how long he’s been out, Toews will be able to be activated as soon as he’s healthy, but there’s no clear timeline on that at this point.

Stalock, meanwhile is dealing with “ocular dysfunction,” as it was recently revealed that it is not a concussion keeping him sidelined. He is dealing a “cranial thing” affecting his eyesight and ability to track the puck, according to head coach Luke Richardson yesterday.

Tinordi is out with a knee sprain suffered last night against the Montreal Canadiens and will have to miss at least a week after landing on injured reserve.

Notably, this is Guttman’s first NHL recall, after joining the program last summer as a college free agent. The 23-year-old forward has been good in his first year of pro hockey, scoring 16 goals and 30 points in 39 games. Undersized, he will try to prove that his height won’t stop him from contributing at the highest level.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Cole Guttman

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Aug 18: The team has now officially announced the two-year entry-level contract. It will carry a $950K cap hit.

Aug 17: The Chicago Blackhawks front office certainly isn’t on vacation. After signing Jack Johnson late last night, the team is now expected to sign college free agent Cole Guttman according to Scott Powers of The Athletic.

Guttman, 23, was a draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning but failed to sign his entry-level contract by this week’s deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent. Because of his age, he’ll be limited to a two-year deal.

Serving as captain of the University of Denver, he led the Pioneers to a national championship earlier this year and was tied for second in team scoring with Edmonton Oilers prospect Carter Savoie (behind Bobby Brink of the Philadelphia Flyers). His 19 goals and 45 points were easily career highest, though the 2017 sixth-round pick has put up strong totals throughout his four years in college.

Relatively undersized, Guttman is the kind of no-risk lottery ticket that the Blackhawks can afford to take a chance on as they rebuild. If he’s unable to deliver NHL minutes there’s nothing wrong with him adding some skill to the Rockford IceHogs.

If he can get to the highest level, however, it becomes another young forward for general manager Kyle Davidson to build around, or even potentially a trade chip to sell over the next few years. As we’ve seen so far this offseason, 23-year-old players are not safe from the rebuild machine in Chicago, as they set their sights further down the road.

For Guttman specifically, there’s probably no better place in the league to try and land regular NHL minutes. Signing with Chicago will give him an open path to playing time if he can show he deserves it, allowing his professional career to start on the right foot.

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