Injury Updates: Comrie, Guhle, Sharks
There should soon be a logjam between the pipes in Buffalo for the stretch run. Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News relays that goaltender Eric Comrie has resumed skating and is expected to return soon from his lower-body injury. The 27-year-old has had a rough first season with the Sabres, posting a 3.95 GAA with a .877 SV% in 17 starts. When cleared, he’ll join Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as available options for Buffalo (Luukkonen wasn’t papered down at the deadline and thus is ineligible to play there again this season). Those three will also soon be joined by top prospect Devon Levi who is still waiting for his immigration paperwork to be finalized to allow him to officially join the team.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Following their victory last night over Tampa Bay, the Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle will miss the remainder of the regular season due to a high ankle sprain. Despite dealing with injuries off and on, it was still a quality rookie campaign for the 21-year-old who had 18 points in 44 games while averaging over 20 minutes a night on a young Montreal back end. The team also noted that surgery will not be required.
- The Sharks could get a pair of veterans back on their current road trip which runs through Saturday as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now notes (Twitter link) that blueliners Radim Simek (concussion) and Jacob MacDonald (upper body) are close to returning from their respective injuries. Neither player logs heavy minutes on the back end but their returns would allow Nikolai Knyzhov and Derrick Pouliot to return to the minors to try to help their farm team push for a play-in spot in the Pacific Division. Meanwhile, Peng adds that Jonah Gadjovich isn’t close to returning; the winger has been out week-to-week for the last five weeks with an upper-body injury.
East Notes: Sabres Injuries, Stamkos, Steeves
The Buffalo Sabres issued updates on several key injuries this morning. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is still day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not practice with the team this morning. A few moments later, the team announced that goaltender Eric Comrie is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Fortunately, Mike Harrington of TBN Sports shared a video of Alex Tuch practicing in a regular jersey this morning; he has been out of the lineup since their February 24th game against the Florida Panthers.
Going 4-5-1 in their last ten games, the Sabres are beginning to falter in the Eastern Conference playoff race. After their loss last night, they are now seven points behind the New York Islanders, the current holder of the final wild-card spot. With three games in hand, the Sabres are not out of it yet, but the injuries to the back end will not help their playoff aspirations. On the bright side of things, the potential return of Tuch gives Buffalo the ability to put another point-per-game player back into their lineup. In 57 games this year, Tuch has scored 28 goals and 34 assists, helping create a solid trio with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner.
Other notes:
- In an awkward collision into the boards with new Chicago Blackhawks forward Joey Anderson, Steven Stamkos left yesterday’s game with an apparent leg injury. After getting up, Stamkos appeared to be unable to put any pressure on his left leg, hobbling back to the bench. The Tampa Bay Lightning have given no official update as to the status of Stamkos, but the team did report that head coach Jon Cooper believes he will be “OK”, and they kept him out last night’s game as a precaution. With 16 games remaining in the regular season, the Lightning are battling with the Toronto Maple Leafs for home territory in the first round.
- In a press release this morning, the Maple Leafs announced that forward Alex Steeves has been recalled from their AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies, a day after he was demoted to the minors. In 55 games this season with the Marlies, Steeves has scored 17 goals and 28 assists. The Maple Leafs have employed him more sparingly throughout the year, playing in only three games with the NHL club, and averaging just under eight minutes of ice time.
Buffalo Sabres Activate Eric Comrie, Reassign Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
The Buffalo Sabres activated goalie Eric Comrie from injured reserve Monday afternoon after finishing his conditioning stint with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, according to a team tweet. Promising young netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was returned to Rochester in a corresponding transaction.
Comrie was recalled from a conditioning stint last weekend after missing roughly six weeks with an undisclosed injury.
His first season in Buffalo has been a brief roller coaster. He’s had above a .900 save percentage in just four of his 11 appearances for Buffalo but has shown the ability to steal games occasionally. On the year, Comrie has a 4-7-0 record, a 3.62 goals-against average, and a .887 save percentage.
While the 27-year-old Comrie is a capable, experienced backup, he may have been surpassed on the organizational depth chart by Luukkonen. His re-assignment to Rochester is, more than anything, a quick fix to get Comrie back on the active roster now that he’s healthy.
Just 23 years old, Luukkonen is amidst a personal six-game winning streak. He’s faced at least 40 shots in four of those six games. His .891 save percentage on the season is bogged down by some early-season stinkers, and most in Sabres circles expect Luukkonen to get back in the Buffalo crease sooner rather than later.
The fact that Buffalo has grown into possessing three NHL-capable goaltenders is impactful to the performance and health of Craig Anderson. He’s been Buffalo’s best goalie this season by a mile, posting an incredulous .923 save percentage. But he’s started just 13 games, and at 41 years old, his workload will be limited. It’ll be up to Comrie now to keep his place on the Sabres roster, with Luukkonen waiting in the wings.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Comrie, McCabe
The NHL released its Three Stars of last week, with David Pastrnak taking the top spot. The Boston Bruins superstar has scored seven goals in the last three games and now has 32 in 40 games this season. Quite the platform year for the pending free agent, who will need a massive contract from the Bruins to stay in town. It’s also a great showcase for his All-Star participation, which isn’t certain given he’s in the fan vote.
Second and third place went to Jack Hughes and Rasmus Dahlin, two of the most impressive young players (and first-overall picks) in the league. Hughes, 21, leads the league in even-strength goals with 21 and has already matched the career-high he set last season with 26 overall. Five of those came last week as he continues to lead the New Jersey Devils into contender status in the Metropolitan Division. Because of the attention that Tage Thompson is getting as an emerging superstar, Dahlin’s season for the Buffalo Sabres may actually be going a little bit under the radar. The 22-year-old now has 44 points in 36 games, putting him in real contention for the Norris Trophy, given how important he is to the Sabres every night. His 1.22 points-per-game rate trails only Erik Karlsson among NHL defenders this season.
- Speaking of Buffalo, there’s a bit of a roster crunch happening for the Sabres, as they try to figure out the goaltending situation. Eric Comrie‘s conditioning stint is over and he told reporters including Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that he is healthy and ready to play. As of right now, Comrie remains on injured reserve and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has played so well in his absence, is still on the roster as an emergency call-up. That won’t be allowed to continue, and the Sabres will have to make a decision one way or another. Send Luukkonen down, put Comrie (or Craig Anderson) on waivers to send him down, or carry three goaltenders on the active roster.
- When discussing potential defense targets for the Edmonton Oilers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast touched on Jake McCabe of the Chicago Blackhawks. Friedman believes that Edmonton is on McCabe’s no-trade list, which could be the end of any speculation that he could be acquired at the deadline. McCabe holds a seven-team NTC, carries a $4MM cap hit and is signed through the 2024-25 season.
Snapshots: Hintz, Comrie, CHL Trades
The Dallas Stars and new head coach Peter DeBoer have picked up right where they left off after the departure of former coach Rick Bowness, with the team sitting comfortably in playoff position atop the Central Division standings. A major reason for the Stars’ success this season, beyond the obvious storylines of Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, has been the play of number-one center Roope Hintz. Hintz, 26, has scored 19 goals and 44 points in just 39 games this season, and is on pace to have his third straight season scoring around the point-per-game mark.
Hintz is a player of such significant importance to the Stars’ success that were the team forced to play without him, they would be at a major disadvantage. That makes this news from today’s stars game notable. As reported by The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, Hintz suffered an upper-body injury and is questionable to return to today’s game. While it’s possible that this is only a precautionary measure and Hintz’s injury is inconsequential, this overall situation will be one to monitor for Stars fans and hockey fans alike who have come to enjoy watching Hintz play on a regular basis.
Some other notes from across the hockey world:
- Buffalo Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie‘s conditioning stint with the AHL’s Rochester Americans has ended, per Noted Hockey’s Joe Yerdon. Comrie had been in Rochester as part of his recovery process for the lower-body injury he suffered in November. Comrie signed a two-year, $1.8MM AAV deal with the Sabres in the offseason, and has had an up-and-down season, with a hot start and some games he’d like to have back. Overall, his numbers aren’t great (.887 save percentage through 11 games) but the Sabres as a whole seem to have turned a corner from their slow start to the season, so perhaps a healthy Comrie can benefit from the team’s overall improvement.
- Two top prospects in the Canadian Hockey League could be on the move. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that Olen Zellweger, a top defensive prospect of the Anaheim Ducks, is being traded to the Kamloops Blazers as part of a massive deal involving as many as four first-round picks in the WHL Bantam Draft headed back to Zellweger’s current team, the Everett Silvertips. Additionally, Hockey Unfiltered’s Ken Campbell reports rumblings that 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright could be headed to the London Knights as part of a major trade. Neither deal has been officially announced, so it’s still possible that things shift, but at the moment it seems the destinations of two of the CHL’s biggest-name players have been settled.
Sabres Assign Eric Comrie To AHL On A Conditioning Stint
Despite having the top-scoring offense in the league with an average of four goals per game, the Sabres find themselves eight points out of a playoff spot heading into today’s action. However, they could be getting some much-needed help between the pipes soon as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports (Twitter link) that Buffalo has sent goaltender Eric Comrie to AHL Rochester on a conditioning stint and he will make the start against Toronto this afternoon.
Comrie is in his first season with the team after signing a two-year, $3.6MM deal with them back in July. The 27-year-old sustained a lower-body injury back in mid-November, one that was expected to keep him out for four weeks. It’s a little past that point already but with him getting an AHL start today, he’s very close to returning.
This season, Comrie has posted a 3.62 GAA along with a .887 SV% in 11 starts, numbers that aren’t particularly strong. However, he hasn’t had a lot of goal support relative to Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as four of Comrie’s seven losses have come with Buffalo scoring two or fewer goals. Now with the team being more consistently dangerous offensively, a better performance from Comrie is certainly possible.
His pending return is also good news for the Sabres in terms of developing Luukkonen. Comrie’s addition was intended to allow the 23-year-old to get a heavy workload in the minors but with Comrie’s absence and Anderson being the oldest player in the league, he has basically been in a timeshare situation lately. Once Comrie returns to the Sabres, that should change and Luukkonen can go back to being the starter for the Americans as planned.
Eric Comrie Out Multiple Weeks With Lower-Body Injury
It’s Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for the next little while. Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams told reporters including Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that Eric Comrie will be out for multiple weeks with a lower-body injury.
While injury is certainly not what you’re hoping for, sitting Comrie down for a little while might not be the worst thing for the Sabres. The 27-year-old goaltender was getting his first run as a starter in the NHL and struggling to find much consistency, posting an .887 save percentage through 11 games. Without strong goaltending, the Sabres started getting shelled on the scoresheet, and have lost seven in a row.
Comrie isn’t completely to blame but the Sabres obviously needed to change something to get the ship righted. Perhaps the recall of Luukkonen can be the spark they need to get things turned around. The young netminder was once considered the sure-fire goaltender of the future for the Sabres, and while that title may have been passed on to 20-year-old Northeastern superstar Devon Levi, there should still be plenty of excitement for Luukkonen.
Now 23, he actually has a .913 save percentage in 13 NHL appearances, despite his AHL numbers not looking quite as strong. The 6’5″ netminder has huge potential to be a starter at the highest level if he can put things together, and will get a chance now to really show what he can do. With a back-to-back situation coming up next week – the team plays the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday – both netminders will be needed.
Buffalo Sabres Recall Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
After allowing 33 goals in their last seven games, losing all of them, the Buffalo Sabres look like they will also be without their starting goaltender for a little while. After Eric Comrie was injured against the Ottawa Senators, the team recalled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the minor leagues.
While there has been no update yet on Comrie’s status, the recall of Luukkonen suggests that he’ll be out for a little while. The Sabres don’t play again until Saturday, meaning a decision wouldn’t have been necessary yet if it was a day-to-day issue. The Sabres are on the road, but rather close to home in Toronto for a match with the Maple Leafs this weekend.
Luukkonen, who has been a top prospect in the Sabres system for several years now, had a chance to play a handful of games in each of the last two seasons. His .913 save percentage during those 13 games is encouraging, even if his minor league performance hasn’t been quite as strong.
If he can come anywhere close to that number for the Sabres this time around, they’ll be overjoyed. The team is getting absolutely caved in of late, and Comrie now has an .887 save percentage on the year. After starting the season extremely strong, the Sabres are now 7-10 overall and have allowed by far the most goals in the Atlantic Division.
While Craig Anderson has done fine in his backup role, it’s hard to expect the 41-year-old goaltender to really carry the load at this point in his career. If Comrie is out for a while, that means Luukkonen will be used and relied on to turn things around in Buffalo.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Ilya Lyubushkin, Eric Comrie
The Buffalo Sabres have brought a defenseman down from Toronto, signing free agent Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year deal according to Bob McKenzie of TSN. The deal will carry an average annual value of $2.75MM.
The Sabres aren’t finished there, as they have also signed goaltender Eric Comrie to a two-year deal worth $1.8MM per season according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The first signing, Lyubushkin, is relatively straightforward. The Sabres had an extremely encouraging finish to their 2021-22 season, and the team is in a more positive place than it has been in years. GM Kevyn Adams and coach Don Granato have done a brilliant job so far in turning the downtrodden Sabres around, and they look towards next season with the hope of at least being in the conversation for a playoff spot next spring.
Lyubushkin will help them get there, as he’s the sort of proven, NHL-caliber defenseman that any team could see themselves adding. Lyubushkin, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, is a big, physical, crease-clearing defenseman. He featured sporadically on the Maple Leafs’ penalty kill, averaging 55 seconds per game there, and should see time on the Sabres’ penalty kill next season. This deal will take Lyubushkin until he’s thirty, meaning there’s no significant regression risk, and the cap hit, while a bit pricey at $2.75MM, isn’t really an issue given the wealth of cap space the Sabres have had.
While some might not like the cost, this is a sensible, entirely reasonable addition for the Sabres to make as they attempt to end the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
In Comrie, the Sabres add a 27-year-old goalie who had an extremely successful limited run of NHL action last year. In 19 games Comrie posted a .920 save percentage, going 10-5-1 on a largely dysfunctional Sabres team. Prior to this year, Comrie had proven himself as a capable AHL starter, and should now see the first regular NHL gig in his career.
The Sabres have an uncertain future in the net, with 41-year-old Craig Anderson currently slated to be their starter. With Comrie in the mix, the Sabres have added a goalie who has a shot to make their $1.8MM per year investment look really, really good.
Jets Re-Sign Eric Comrie
The Jets have agreed to terms with one of their pending unrestricted free agents as they announced that they’ve re-signed goaltender Eric Comrie to a one-year contract. The one-way deal will pay him the league minimum of $750K.
The 26-year-old has certainly bounced around over the past two seasons. Between October of 2019 and mid-February of this year, he was claimed off waivers four times and traded once. Despite that, he played all of four NHL games in that stretch. While several teams wanted him, they preferred him solely as an insurance policy over someone that could be a regular backup goaltender.
Two of those waiver claims came this year and between that and the taxi squad, Comrie was limited to just five total appearances – one with New Jersey and four with AHL Manitoba where he posted a 1.23 GAA and a .947 SV%, numbers that were much better than his AHL career averages of 2.82 and .911, respectively.
Comrie has just five career NHL games under his belt but could very well be slotted in as Winnipeg’s backup goaltender behind Connor Hellebuyck next season. Laurent Brossoit is set to test the open market tomorrow while the recent acquisitions of Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon have cut into their cap space while they still have several restricted free agents to re-sign headed up by Neal Pionk. One way to save money is to have a cheap backup goalie which could work in Comrie’s favor. Otherwise, Comrie will at least have a one-way deal under his belt before seeing if he’ll bounce around the league again or make it back to the minors with the Moose.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Comrie had re-signed.