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Minor Transactions: 03/02/23

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With all of the excitement of trade deadline week, the shuffling of players between the NHL and minor leagues often gets overlooked. Luckily, we’ll keep track of all that movement right here!

  • The Ottawa Senators have reassigned Jacob Larsson to the minor leagues, as Jakob Chychrun met them on the road in New York. Larsson has played in seven games with the Senators this season, failing to record a point.
  • Darren Raddysh is up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, giving them another defenseman for their road trip after tonight’s game against Pittsburgh. Raddysh hasn’t played in the NHL yet this season but has been incredible in the minor leagues, scoring 50 points in 50 games for the Syracuse Crunch.
  • With several changes made to the Pittsburgh Penguins roster, Drake Caggiula has been recalled for now. The 28-year-old has 37 points in 47 games in the AHL this season, the first time he has played in the minor leagues.
  • Arnaud Durandeau has been returned to the minor leagues by the New York Islanders, as Pierre Engvall jumps into the lineup. The 24-year-old Durandeau failed to register a point in his four NHL games.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have returned Elliot Desnoyers and Olle Lycksell to the minor leagues, after explaining that it was important for their development to join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ playoff chase. Desnoyers, in particular, seems to have made an impact on the Flyers coaching staff, despite playing just two NHL games so far.
  • Lukas Reichel has been recalled from the Rockford IceHogs, now that Patrick Kane and company have left the building. A top prospect for the Chicago Blackhawks, Reichel scored three points in four games during an earlier call-up.
  • Mason Appleton has been moved to injured reserve by the Winnipeg Jets, meaning Axel Jonsson Fjallby is returning to the NHL.
  • With so many Detroit Red Wings players on their way out, Adam Erne is on his way up. The veteran forward has been recalled today.
  • Curtis Lazar has been activated from injured reserve by the Vancouver Canucks, meaning he can return after two weeks on the sidelines. The depth forward has five points in 45 games this season.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Johansen, O’Brien

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The Penguins got some help on the injury front tonight as the team announced that they’ve activated center Ryan Poehling off injured reserve.  The 23-year-old had missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury.  Poehling is in his first season with Pittsburgh after coming over in a summer trade from Montreal and has been a fixture in their bottom six, collecting eight points in 30 games while logging a little over 11 minutes per night.  To make room for Poehling on the roster, winger Drake Caggiula has been sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.  Caggiula has played in just three games with Pittsburgh so far this season but has 14 points in 23 games at the minor league level.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Lucas Johansen’s latest stint with the Capitals has come to an end as the team announced that they’ve returned the defenseman to Hershey of the AHL. The 25-year-old was recalled on Tuesday following the roster freeze being lifted but didn’t play.  Johansen has suited up twice with Washington so far this season while he has a goal and an assist in 13 games with the Bears in the minors.  Johansen’s assignment suggests that blueliner Martin Fehervary is ready to return from his upper-body injury.
  • The Flyers don’t have a second-round pick next summer as a result of the Rasmus Ristolainen trade. However, as Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic notes (subscription link), it is possible for Philadelphia to get one next summer for Jay O’Brien.  Assuming they don’t sign the 2018 first-rounder, they’d receive the 19th pick of the second round as compensation.  Normally, since O’Brien plays in college, his free agency wouldn’t start until mid-August which would push the compensatory pick to 2024.  That said, if Philadelphia wants the 2023 selection, there is an appeal process that could play out which would allow O’Brien to become a free agent in June, allowing them to get the second-rounder a year earlier.

Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Ty Smith, Drake Caggiula

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have moved Josh Archibald and Ryan Poehling to injured reserve, recalling Ty Smith and Drake Caggiula to fill the roster spots. Both IR stints are retroactive, meaning Archibald and Poehling can be activated whenever healthy enough to return.

Smith’s recall will excite some fans though, given the upside that he still represents. The 22-year-old defenseman was part of the return in an offseason trade of John Marino and looked like he would be a regular piece of the Pittsburgh blue line during the preseason. Instead, he was sent down to start the year and has racked up 14 points in 26 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins instead.

That was Smith’s first experience in the minor leagues, as he jumped right from the WHL to the NHL in 2020 with the New Jersey Devils. He played 114 NHL games during his first two seasons, scoring seven goals and 43 points in the process. The 2018 first-round pick has plenty of offensive potential but can still be inconsistent on the defensive side of the puck.

He will likely get a chance to show off any improvement in that area, given the injury that Chad Ruhwedel suffered last night. The veteran defenseman played just 5:28 before leaving.

Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Drew O’Connor; Assign Drake Caggiula

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a roster swap, recalling Drew O’Connor from the AHL and sending Drake Caggiula down. The latter cleared waivers earlier this month and can be assigned without risk.

O’Connor, 24, is off to a nice start with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring six points in his first eight games. That is actually worse than his career pace in the AHL, as the big winger has scored nearly a point per game since signing with the Penguins in 2020. Undrafted, O’Connor became a star at Dartmouth College and has been a nice depth piece for the organization over the last couple of seasons.

In 2021-22, he played 22 games for Pittsburgh scoring three goals and five points. In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the club needed to change something up, and adding the hard-working O’Connor could give the lineup a little jolt.

Caggiula, meanwhile, has been rather invisible for the Penguins since joining the organization this summer. In four games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he registered one assist, and his three matches with Pittsburgh have come and gone without any scoresheet interaction. Caggiula has no points, no penalty minutes, and just two shots on goal in his limited minutes.

The Penguins return home from a disappointing road trip to face the Boston Bruins tomorrow night.

Pittsburgh Penguins Place Teddy Blueger On LTIR

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After battling an undisclosed injury for several weeks, but being unable to return to the lineup, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed forward Teddy Blueger on LTIR retroactive to October 11th, the team announced. The veteran is eligible to come off of LTIR on November 5th. In a corresponding move, the team has recalled forwards, Samuel Poulin and Drake Caggiula from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel was first to report the transaction.

The injury bothering Blueger has been an issue for nearly a month now, despite being listed as day-to-day initially, however the team had yet to put him on IR until now. That was no problem, as the team had had 12 healthy forwards to spare, but with Jake Guentzel recently going down with an injury, the team was under-manned, not having the full complement of healthy scratches available due to cap-concerns. Placing Blueger and his $2.2MM cap hit on LTIR should give the Penguins some breathing room cap-wise, at least for the time being.

Blueger, a second-round pick of the Penguins in 2012, has yet to play this season, but has made a career as a quality two-way depth forward in the Penguins lineup. Last season, the Latvia native contributed nine goals and 19 assists in 65 games with Pittsburgh. By recalling Caggiula, Pittsburgh is able to get a similar player in the lineup, one who can provide depth scoring and play an all-around solid game. Caggiula has yet to play in the NHL this season, but his return would mark an impressive comeback after dealing with a herniated disc last season, one he said had impacted not only his on-ice presence, but his overall quality of life too.

One of the top prospects in the Penguins’ system, Poulin has yet to make his NHL debut, but could see that come soon. The 21-year-old was the 21st overall pick in the 2019 draft by Pittsburgh having been a standout player in the QMJHL. Poulin made his pro debut last year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, recording 37 points in 72 games.

Snapshots: Bruins Injuries, Carcone, Caggiula, Sharks Front Office

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This afternoon saw a preseason rivalry contest with the Boston Bruins playing host to the Philadelphia Flyers. For the most part, things went the Bruins’ way, as they defeated the Flyers 4-0 with young forwards John Beecher and Marc McLaughlin each netting a pair of goals. Despite the promising performance, the team did have a couple of injury scares when both Fabian Lysell and Taylor Hall were forced to leave the game with injuries.

However, it looks like Boston avoided the worst with these injuries. In speaking to the media, including The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said both players only have minor injuries. Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now adds that both will be out only one or two days. Injuries are never good news, but for a Boston team trying to compete despite a myriad of long-term injuries already on the books, missing a dynamic forward like Hall and a top prospect trying to make the team like Lysell for only a few days is certainly a relief.

  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they have recalled forward Michael Carcone from the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL. Carcone, who is entering the second year of a two-year, two-way deal, had only just cleared waivers yesterday. The 26-year-old winger is a veteran of six AHL seasons, and just made his NHL debut last year for Arizona where he contributed four goals and two assists in 21 games. Clearing waivers may not feel like a great sign for a player, however given Arizona’s current state as well as Carcone’s track record of AHL production and his NHL contributions last season, he should still be able to find opportunities going forward.
  • For his career, when healthy, forward Drake Caggiula has proven he can be an impactful depth player for whatever team he’s been on. The key words there, though, are ’when healthy.’ Perhaps the most notable injury of Caggiula’s came last season, when the forward missed the final 64 games of the Buffalo Sabres’ season with a herniated disc in his neck. Recently, Caggiula had a chance to speak with Trib Live’s Seth Rorabaugh about his injury last season, his recovery, and his play this preseason. The forward mentioned that before his surgery in February, not only was he unable to play hockey, but his quality of life was severely impacted. However, after having surgery, relief was immediate and he was able to recover. Now, the 28 year old says he feels fully healthy. That much appears clear now, not just from Caggiula’s own words, but he has impressed in training camp as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who he signed a one-year, two-way contract with this summer. In three intra-squad scrimmages, Caggiula has three goals, in addition to scoring the Penguins’ only goal of the day in today’s 3-1 loss to the Sabres.
  • The San Jose Sharks and GM Mike Grier today announced several new hockey operations hires. Dominik Zrim, Director of Salary Cap Management/CBA Compliance; A.J. Bernstein, Coordinator, Hockey Analytics; Martin Uhnak, European Scout, Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland; Cody Ward, Assistant Video Coach; and Brian Ganz, Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach. Already with the Sharks, but now promoted, is Stephen DiLustro, who was promoted to Director of Strength and Conditioning, who had been working under Mike Potenza in that role. Interestingly, Zrim is one of the co-founders of website CapFriendly, which tracks player transactions and salary, as well as salary cap related topics.

Minor Transactions: 09/23/22

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We’re just one day away from the official start of the NHL’s preseason calendar, with a unique slate of games scheduled for tomorrow. In addition to the Boston Bruins paying a visit to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues will face-off against one another from Wichita, Kansas in a neutral-site contest. Perhaps most interesting are the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, who seem to have pulled a page right out of the baseball playbook with the team’s playing a split-squad, day-night doubleheader including a 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm puck drop in Toronto. With all that action, there are several notes from around the league worth mentioning, primarily related to the opening of camp and the beginning of games, which we will keep track of here:

  • It appears the Arizona Coyotes have sent 2022 first-round pick Maveric Lamoureux back to juniors ahead of training camp (link). Given the defenseman’s age and raw skillset, as well as Arizona’s position in their rebuild, it wasn’t likely Lamoureux was going to make a major impact in camp and the team likely felt he was best served by heading back to the Drummondville Voltigeurs now rather than later.
  • Also sent back to juniors was Boston Bruins prospect Brett Harrison (link). A third-round pick in 2021, Harrison may have had the opportunity to raise eyes in training camp with Boston, however the forward projects to be a standout with the Oshawa Generals this season after tallying 61 points in 65 games last season. Oshawa kicks off its 2022-23 regular season in Barrie this Thursday.
  • A number of players have been officially activated off of injured-reserve today. Though many of these are not a surprise, some did come with question marks and in the wake of the recent injury updates around the league, particularly Sean Couturier of the Flyers, not everything can always be taken as a given. The Pittsburgh Penguins activated recently-signed forward Drake Caggiula (link). Moving out west, the Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Nils Hoglander and defenseman Tucker Poolman off of IR (link). In the desert, the Vegas Golden Knights activated forwards Brett Howden and Reilly Smith (link).

Pittsburgh Penguins To Sign Drake Caggiula

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have added more depth to their roster, signing free agent forward Drake Caggiula to a one-year, two-way contract (link). The deal will pay Caggiula $750K at the NHL level and $400K at the AHL level.

Originally signed by the Edmonton Oilers as an undrafted free agent out of the University of North Dakota, Cagguila has had a very odd career to this point. Despite playing for four different teams in six seasons, and recording just 91 points in 278 games, he has never suited up for a single minor league match. Instead, he just spends as much time in the press box as on the ice, bouncing around the league to provide fourth-line minutes wherever needed.

In Pittsburgh, that streak might break, unless he’s able to beat out some of the younger options that he’ll be competing against for playing time. There is a chance he makes the NHL roster and plays all season, but the two-way nature of the deal suggests that is not a lock, and the fact that he had just two goals and five points in 18 games this season doesn’t help his case.

The 28-year-old represents someone who could potentially be claimed off waivers at the end of camp, but if he clears, could bounce up and down throughout the year to fill in whenever other Penguins forwards suffer injuries.

Drake Caggiula Undergoes Surgery

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It’s the end of the season for Buffalo Sabres forward Drake Caggiula, who will be undergoing fusion surgery on a herniated disk today. Caggiula has been given a recovery timeline of six to eight months, according to Heather Engel of NHL.com.

Not only does that mean that Caggiula’s season ends with just 18 games played, but given his status as a pending unrestricted free agent, this surgery will also affect offseason negotiations. With no clear picture of when he will be back on the ice training, it’s hard to imagine him getting anything but a one-year, two-way contract at this point.

That’s a steep fall for the 27-year-old who once looked like he was going to be a bottom-six force for years to come. In 2017-18, his sophomore season, Caggiula scored 13 goals in 67 games for the Edmonton Oilers, racking up 147 hits with his fearless playstyle. He followed that up with another 12-goal campaign the next year, with time split between Edmonton and the Chicago Blackhawks, but hasn’t been able to crack double digits in the years since. This season, he had just two goals and five points in the 18 games, while recording just 17 hits.

It’s not to say his career is over but it will be a long recovery for a player that was already having trouble impacting the game at the NHL level. Caggiula’s future is very unclear at this point.

Drake Caggiula Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Buffalo Sabres today placed forward Drake Caggiula on injured reserve, per a tweet from the team’s public relations account. Caggiula is week-to-week with an upper-body injury after missing Buffalo’s last game, a 5-1 home loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

The team recalled forward Brett Murray from the AHL’s Rochester Americans today in his place. Buffalo has shuffled Murray up and down multiple times this season as they’ve faced injuries, but he’s only played one game this season (no points in 11:06 of ice time). Murray’s gotten into nine games with Rochester, however, tallying six goals and one assist.

Caggiula signed a one-year, $750,000 extension with the Sabres this offseason after the team claimed him off waivers from the Arizona Coyotes near the end of the 2020-21 campaign. He’d played in all 18 games this season for which he was healthy, scoring two goals and three assists while averaging nearly 15 minutes a night (a career-high).

At even strength, Caggiula’s line with Dylan Cozens and Vinnie Hinostroza has seen the most ice time of any forward grouping for Buffalo in 2021-22. It looks like Sabres head coach Don Granato will do some line shuffling in Caggiula’s absence, getting Arttu Ruotsalainen back into the lineup.

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