Metropolitan Notes: Chytil, Andersen, Jarvis, Erne, Letang
Rangers center Filip Chytil will not accompany the team on its upcoming four-game road trip, relays Vince Z. Mercogliano of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News. The 25-year-old suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday versus San Jose with the team declining to provide further specifics. Chytil, who has missed considerable time with concussions in the past (including the final 72 games of last season), is off to a good start this year for New York, notching four goals and five assists in 15 appearances despite an ATOI of just 13:40, his lowest since his rookie season. It’s possible that Chytil could be cleared to join the Rangers partway through the trip if the injury winds up being a minor one.
More from the Metro:
- Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen’s injury is not related to the blood clots that kept him out for a significant chunk of last season, notes Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal (Twitter link). After initially being listed as out week-to-week, he’s now out for considerably longer than that. Lavalette adds that the team is weighing the possibility of Andersen having surgery although no decision has been made on that front yet.
- Still with the Hurricanes, the team announced that winger Seth Jarvis has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 10th. He has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury and the team hopes he can return to practice next week. Because of the retroactive placement, he’s eligible to be reactivated as soon as Sunday. The move creates a roster spot for recently-recalled goaltender Yaniv Perets with the team also quietly recalling Ty Smith late Thursday.
- The Rangers’ farm team in Hartford has released winger Adam Erne from his PTO, per the AHL’s transactions log. The veteran was previously listed as out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Erne had just one assist in ten games with the Wolf Pack prior to getting hurt. A veteran of 379 career NHL games over parts of eight seasons (including 24 last year in Edmonton), Erne will now try to catch on elsewhere, presumably when he has recovered from the injury.
- Before tonight’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, the latter announced Kris Letang would miss his second straight game due to illness. When healthy this year, Letang has gotten off to one of the worst scoring paces of his career since his early days in Pittsburgh with two goals and six points in 18 games.
Hurricanes Notes: Andersen, Kochetkov, Jarvis
It appears Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen will miss a significant chunk of the season for the second year in a row. After being previously listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury, he’s been downgraded to a “way longer” return timeline, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Chip Alexander of The Raleigh News & Observer on Friday.
Andersen, 35, has not played since Oct. 26 against the Kraken. He didn’t leave any of his four starts this year, so it’s still unclear when exactly he sustained the injury. Evidently, it’s one that now appears serious enough to keep him out for months, not weeks.
The veteran had been exceptional in the early going with a .941 SV% and 1.48 GAA. The Danish netminder is in the back half of the two-year, $6.8MM deal he signed in 2023 to return to Carolina after spending a couple of hours as an unrestricted free agent.
Last season, Andersen played just 16 games while being held out for most of the season due to a blood clotting issue. The two-time Jennings Trophy winner has a pristine 72-28-4 record, .919 SV% and 2.19 GAA since coming to Carolina in 2021 but averaged just 34 appearances per season over his first three years. He’s now extremely unlikely to improve on that average.
That means the net will be Pyotr Kochetkov‘s for the foreseeable future. The 25-year-old has been good enough for Carolina to win games, as evidenced by his 8-2-0 record through 10 starts. However, his .897 SV% and -0.9 GSAA are certainly causes for concern. Each would be career-lows for the Russian, who’s playing in his fourth NHL campaign and is in the second season of a four-year, $8MM contract.
There’s more from Carolina:
- Unfortunately, even Kochetkov may not be available for Saturday’s game against the Senators. He’s dealing with an undisclosed injury that leaves him doubtful for tomorrow’s game, Brind’Amour told Alexander, which would force an additional recall from AHL Chicago. The Hurricanes already summoned veteran Spencer Martin from the minors last month in the wake of Andersen’s injury. He’s struggled in one start and one relief appearance this year, surrendering six goals on 31 shots for a .806 SV% and 5.19 GAA. Kochetkov’s absence won’t be anything longer than day-to-day, though, Brind’Amour said.
- Up front, Carolina is also dealing with an upper-body injury to winger Seth Jarvis that’s kept the top-six forward out of action for their last two games. Brind’Amour told the team’s Walt Ruff that the organization hopes he can return to practice next week, meaning he’s likely set to miss another three or four games at minimum. Jarvis, still just 22 years old, had 11 points through the season’s first 13 games after signing an eight-year, $59.36MM contract over the summer. Eric Robinson has filled in well in a fringe top-six role in the meantime with nine points in 15 games and will presumably continue to skate higher in the lineup until Jarvis returns.
Frederik Andersen Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
Oct. 31: Andersen will be evaluated weekly while he recovers from a lower-body injury, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters today, including Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal.
Oct. 28: The Carolina Hurricanes made a surprise call-up of netminder Spencer Martin this morning without any additional context regarding their current combination of Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. That context has finally come to light with Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reporting that Andersen sustained an injury in the team’s most recent game against the Seattle Kraken.
Seravalli adds that the injury isn’t supposed to be long-term and isn’t connected to Andersen’s blood cot ailment from last year. The Hurricanes couldn’t ask for better timing if there were to be a short-term injury to a rostered player as their six-game road trip concludes tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. The team returns home this Thursday and won’t have to leave Raleigh again until Nov. 9.
That should give the Carolina medical staff enough time to work with Andersen and make for a quicker recovery. Besides securing a victory against the Canucks this evening, it should make for one of the more critical organizational goals for the time being.
Despite solid offensive play from Martin Necas and Sebastian Aho, there is a credible argument that Andersen has been the team’s best player to start the 2024-25 campaign. He’s produced a 3-1-0 record through his first four games with a league-leading .941 save percentage and 1.48 goals-against average. That kind of play in the crease would be a boon for any team, including a Carolina roster that lost several offensive talents up front this past offseason.
NHL Announces 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy Finalists
The NHL has announced the three finalists for the 2023-24 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given to “the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” The nominees are goaltenders Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes, Connor Ingram of the Arizona Coyotes, and defenseman Oliver Kylington of the Calgary Flames.
Andersen started the season well with a 4-1 record in his first five games. However, he was diagnosed with a blood clotting issue early in the year and missed four months of action that ended up totaling 49 games. He returned to the Hurricanes crease late in the season and finished the year off on an elite level, posting a 1.30 GAA and a .951 SV% as he went 9-1-0 down the stretch. He’s continued his solid play in the postseason, going 4-1 with a .912 SV% and a 2.25 GAA as Carolina dispatched the Islanders in five games in the first round.
Ingram was close to retiring in 2021 but received assistance through the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program to deal with lingering mental health issues, which he said earlier this year was undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder. Blossoming into a true starter this season with the Coyotes, he registered a .907 SV%, a 2.91 GAA and a 23-21-3 record. He also tied for the league lead with six shutouts and played in a career-high 50 games.
Kylington spent a year and a half out of the NHL and made his return at the midway point of the 2023-24 season. He was also away from the game for mental health reasons, staying on personal leave for the entire 2022-23 season and working with support staff during his time away from the Flames. The 26-year-old re-established himself as a regular upon his return, averaging 17:15 in ice time per game with three goals and five assists.
The NHL has yet to announce an official date and place for the NHL awards show.
Nominees Announced For 2024 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
The Bill Masterton Trophy is awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Nominees are selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, with finalists being named near the end of the regular season. Previous winners include Kris Letang (2023), Carey Price (2022), and Oskar Lindblom (2021). Today, a new list of 32 nominees has been named.
Below are the nominees from each team:
Anaheim Ducks – Urho Vaakanainen
Arizona Coyotes – Connor Ingram
Boston Bruins – Danton Heinen
Buffalo Sabres – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Calgary Flames – Oliver Kylington
Carolina Hurricanes – Frederik Andersen
Chicago Blackhawks – Colin Blackwell
Colorado Avalanche – Jonathan Drouin
Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars – Matt Duchene
Detroit Red Wings – Alex Lyon
Edmonton Oilers – Vincent Desharnais
Florida Panthers – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Los Angeles Kings – Viktor Arvidsson
Minnesota Wild – Marco Rossi
Montreal Canadiens – Joel Armia
Nashville Predators – Michael McCarron
New Jersey Devils – Curtis Lazar
New York Islanders – Cal Clutterbuck
New York Rangers – Jonathan Quick
Ottawa Senators – Claude Giroux
Philadelphia Flyers – Sean Couturier
Pittsburgh Penguins – Sidney Crosby
San Jose Sharks – Justin Bailey
Seattle Kraken – Joey Daccord
St. Louis Blues – Nathan Walker
Tampa Bay Lightning – Michael Eyssimont
Toronto Maple Leafs – Ilya Samsonov
Vancouver Canucks – Noah Juulsen
Vegas Golden Knights – Alex Pietrangelo
Washington Capitals – T.J. Oshie
Winnipeg Jets – Laurent Brossoit
Hurricanes Activate Frederik Andersen From Injured Reserve
The Hurricanes have activated goaltender Frederik Andersen from injured reserve, per Walt Ruff of the team’s official site. Andersen has been cleared to return to play after missing most of the season due to a deep vein thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolism in November.
The 34-year-old essentially serves as a deadline addition for Carolina, who’s had Pyotr Kochetkov, Antti Raanta, Spencer Martin, and Yaniv Perets log time in the crease this season with differing results. Raanta hit the waiver wire Thursday, and Perets is back on assignment to ECHL Norfolk, meaning Andersen will likely head up a trio with Kochetkov and Martin for the remainder of the season.
Andersen and Raanta both got off to difficult starts this year, although the former’s was slightly closer to average. He had a 4-1-0 record with a .894 SV% and 2.87 GAA in six starts before exiting the lineup less than a month into the season.
His $3.4MM cap hit was on standard injured reserve, not long-term injured reserve, so the transaction doesn’t affect the Hurricanes’ cap picture ahead of tomorrow’s deadline. The Danish veteran inked a two-year, $6.8MM deal with trade protection to remain in Carolina last summer and will be a UFA in 2025.
Metropolitan Notes: Hurricanes, Guentzel, Dowd, Newkirk
It wasn’t that long ago that the Hurricanes were looking to add to their goaltending. Now, GM Don Waddell might be taking a different approach as he told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that there’s a possibility that they wind up moving one of their four netminders. Frederik Andersen (blood clots) could be back sometime this coming week while Pyotr Kochetkov, Antti Raanta (currently on IR), and Spencer Martin are also in the mix, potentially creating a four-goalie rotation at some point. While extra depth is nice to have, that might be a bit much for the stretch run, even without their own AHL affiliate to draw from.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Penguins winger Jake Guentzel took part in today’s morning skate in a non-contact jersey, notes Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has been his usual point-per-game self this season with 52 in 50 games but he may have played his last game in Pittsburgh. Guentzel is currently on LTIR with an upper-body injury and isn’t eligible to return until March 10th, two days after the trade deadline. The fact he took part in the skate today is a promising sign that he’ll be able to return as planned on the 10th or soon after.
- Capitals center Nic Dowd skated today in a non-contact jersey as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, relays NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). The 33-year-old was injured a little less than two weeks ago and while he won’t play tomorrow against Arizona, he could return sometime next week. Dowd has eight goals and eight assists in 45 games so far this season while ranking second on the team in faceoffs taken.
- The Islanders have re-assigned forward Reece Newkirk from AHL Bridgeport to ECHL Worcester, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old was brought up last month but played only once, bringing his games played total in the AHL to 13 on the season where he has a goal and two assists. A pending restricted free agent this summer, Newkirk appears to be trending toward non-tender territory in June.
Injury Notes: Andersen, Norris, Liljegren
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen will hopefully return within the next week, per Hurricanes general manager and president Don Waddell. Andersen has been out since November 2nd, battling a deep-vein thrombosis with a subsequent pulmonary embolism. Andersen was cleared to resume skating on January 31st. Now nearly a month later, Andersen is progressing back to game readiness – a sigh of relief for a Carolina team that’s leaned on five different goalies this season.
Andersen played in six games this season before stepping away, recording four wins and a .894 save percentage. He served as Carolina’s most frequently used goalie last season, playing in 34 games and recording a .903 save percentage. It was a step down from the 2021-22 season, his first year in Carolina, when he managed an impressive 35 wins and a .922 save percentage in 52 games. The 34-year-old Andersen is signed through the end of the 2024-25 season, carrying a $3.4MM cap hit.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Ottawa Senators are expecting to miss forward Joshua Norris for an extended time, per the team’s head coach Jacques Martin. Norris recently underwent an MRI to assess the severity of an upper-body injury. He sustained the injury in Ottawa’s Tuesday night game against the Nashville Predators, crashing hard into the boards. The collision seemed to come close to Norris’ left shoulder, which was surgically-repaired after the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship. This news could make Norris a candidate for long-term injured reserve, which would provide Ottawa with enough cap space to recall extra bodies to fill in for Norris.
- Timothy Liljegren is continuing to carry a day-to-day injury designation and won’t play in the team’s Thursday night game against Arizona, per head coach Sheldon Keefe. Liljegren has been out since February 4th, battling an undisclosed injury. He’s recorded 16 points in 40 appearances this season.
Frederik Andersen Expected To Return Within 2 Weeks
Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen is expected to return to play within one to two weeks after missing most of the season with blood clotting issues, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Wednesday.
Andersen, 34, last played in a 2-1 loss to the Rangers on Nov. 2. Four days later, GM Don Waddell announced the Dane would be out indefinitely after medical tests uncovered the clotting problems.
Team doctors then cleared him to resume “limited on-ice conditioning” at the end of January, ending a nearly three-month recovery period. Waddell also confirmed that Andersen’s clotting issues stemmed from a deep-vein thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolism, which is life-threatening without emergency care.
The Hurricanes did not issue a timeline for Andersen’s return, but he’s steadily ramped up his conditioning over the past few weeks. He was far enough in his recovery to face shots from teammates in the starter’s crease during Monday’s practice as a fill-in for de facto starter Pyotr Kochetkov, who was taking a maintenance day.
The updated return timeline should allow Andersen to start at least one game before the March 8 trade deadline, which could further dissuade Waddell from acquiring another veteran netminder to supplant the struggling Antti Raanta (12-7-2, .872 SV%) in the backup role. Waiver claim Spencer Martin has helped alleviate Carolina’s goaltending concerns in limited action, posting a .920 SV%, 2.00 GAA, and 3-0-0 record in three starts.
Kochetkov, 24, has rebounded nicely after a slow start and is now up to a .905 SV% on the season with two shutouts. He’s started the most games out of any Hurricanes netminder this year with 26 and two relief appearances. However, his poor showings in limited playoff action (5 GP, 1 GS, 1-3-0, .858 SV%) likely give Waddell pause about entering the postseason with him as the only starting option.
Andersen’s .894 SV% through the campaign’s first month is far from impressive, but it’s easy to give the two-time Jennings Trophy winner the benefit of the doubt. He’s two years removed from a spectacular 2021-22 campaign with Carolina that saw him fall just short of a Vezina nomination, and he was excellent in nine playoff games last year to help backstop the Hurricanes to an Eastern Conference Final showing with a .927 SV% and 1.83 GAA. A healthy version of Andersen changes the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup aspirations dramatically, and they’d ideally like to get him into game action as soon as possible to assess his readiness before leveraging Raanta or Martin at the deadline for a minor depth upgrade in the crease.
Snapshots: Heiskanen, Duchene, Andersen, Siegenthaler
Already without defensemen Nils Lundkvist and Jani Hakanpaa due to injury, the Dallas Stars are also absent defenseman Miro Heiskanen today, as he will miss the action due to the birth of his child (X Link). Calling up defensemen Alex Petrovic and Derrick Pouliot this morning, Dallas’ depth on the blue line will be tested even further.
To add insult to injury, the team also announced that forward Matt Duchene would miss today’s game against the Boston Bruins due to a lower-body injury. In a hotly contested Central Division playoff race, the Stars have lost five regular players in a matter of days.
Playing well over their last 10 games with a 7-1-2 record, Dallas will look to keep that successful stretch going as they look to retain their throne at the top of the Central Division. With a three-point cushion, the Stars are currently on a four-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents before finally returning to Central Division action on February 27th.
Other snapshots:
- Working his way back from a blood clot scare that has kept him out of the lineup since early November, Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was able to see shots today in practice. According to Walt Ruff of the Hurricanes, Andersen is not quite ready to return, but it was undoubtedly positive that he was able to participate in practice. With the team now less desperate for goaltending help with a strong stretch from Pyotr Kochetkov, it will nevertheless be a positive to see Andersen make his return to the ice.
- The New Jersey Devils may be getting some reinforcements on their blue line soon, as team reporter Amanda Stein mentioned today that Jonas Siegenthaler has fully recovered from a broken foot that has kept him out of the lineup since January 2nd. Now only two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, a clean bill of health moving forward puts the Devils in an advantageous position to build some momentum towards the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.