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Garrett Pilon

Senators Recall Twelve Players

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With the Senators in the playoffs and their farm team in Belleville not making the playoffs, Ottawa has determined which players will be joining the team as their Black Aces.  The team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Zack MacEwen, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Cole Reinhardt, Jan Jenik, Tyler Boucher, Garrett Pilon, and Wyatt Bongiovanni, along with defenseman Donovan Sebrango and goaltender Mads Sogaard have all been recalled from Belleville.

In addition, the Sens have also recalled two players from the major junior ranks.  Defenseman Carter Yakemchuk was brought up from WHL Calgary while blueliner Tomas Hamara was recalled from OHL Brantford.

Among the recalls, MacEwen saw the most game action with Ottawa this season, playing in 21 games where he had three points and 49 hits in a little under eight minutes a night of action.  Reinhardt had two points in 17 outings while Crookshank had an assist in eight contests.  Jenik, Sebrango, and Sogaard all got into a pair of games and were held off the scoresheet while Sogaard allowed eight goals on just 40 shots.

Looking at the AHL recalls who didn’t play with Ottawa this season, Halliday and Pilon were Belleville’s top scorers, checking in with 51 and 48 points, respectively.  Meanwhile, Bongiovanni tied Crookshank for the team lead in goals with 22.  Boucher, meanwhile, had just 10 points in 47 games this season, not a great showing for the tenth overall pick from 2021.

Yakemchuk very briefly made Ottawa’s roster out of training camp before being sent back without playing a game.  He was the seventh pick in last year’s draft and had a solid year with the Hitmen, picking up 49 points in 56 games.  As for Hamara, he also checked in just below the point-per-game mark with the Bulldogs, notching 55 in 58 appearances.

These recalls could be short-lived, however.  Ottawa is down 3-0 in their opening round series against Toronto so the series could be over as soon as tonight.  But regardless of how long their postseason push lasts, the Sens now have their extra skaters in place.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Atlantic Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Atlantic Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Boston Bruins

F Cole Koepke (one year)
D Jordan Oesterle (two years)
D Billy Sweezey (two years)
F Riley Tufte (one year)
F Jeffrey Viel (one year)

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne (two years)
F Mason Jobst (one year)
F Brett Murray (one year)
D Jack Rathbone (one year)
G Felix Sandström (one year)

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries (two years)
F Joe Snively (one year)

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund (one year)

Montreal Canadiens

none

Ottawa Senators

D Jeremy Davies (one year)
F Hayden Hodgson (one year)
F Garrett Pilon (two years)
D Filip Roos (one year)

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Derrick Pouliot (one year)
D Steven Santini (one year)
F Jesse Ylönen (one year)

Toronto Maple Leafs

none

Senators Sign David Perron, Michael Amadio, Three Others

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The Senators have picked up forward Noah Gregor on a one-year deal worth $850K, per Sports 1440’s Jason Gregor. He became a UFA after being non-tendered by the Maple Leafs yesterday. Additionally, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch announces the Senators are nearing an agreement with David Perron that will likely check in around $4MM a season. Furthermore, the Senators continue to round out their forward core as Darren Dreger of TSN reports the team has also agreed to terms with Michael Amadio on a three-year, $7.8MM contract.

Attacking the middle and bottom six of their forward core, the Senators made several improvements without having to dish out much capital. As the most sizeable addition regarding salary figures, Perron brings a good work ethic and leadership capabilities to a young Ottawa roster.

Over the last two years spent with the Detroit Red Wings organization, Perron scored 41 goals and 103 points in 158 games, with 39 of those points coming on Detroit’s powerplay. The veteran forward also elevated his physical play as he amassed 218 total body checks in a top-six role. In Ottawa, the Senators can move Perron up and down the lineup depending on team needs and matchups as he enters the twilight years of his career.

Amadio and Gregor will both improve Ottawa’s bottom six this upcoming season. As one of the more underrated bottom six players in the league over the last few seasons, Amadio scored 41 goals and 72 points over 193 games for the Vegas Golden Knights while averaging 11:25 minutes of ice time per night. Gregor has shown flashes of 20-point campaigns in the past but only managed to score six goals and 12 points for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.

The team also announced they’ve inked minor league forward Garrett Pilon to a two-year, two-way contract with a $775K cap hit. Lastly, there’s another minor-league signing in the form of defenseman Jeremy Davies, who joins on a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K NHL/$350K AHL.

Waivers: 9/30/23

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With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide.  Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Buffalo Sabres

G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski

Edmonton Oilers

F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg

Montreal Canadiens

D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens

Nashville Predators

F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross

New York Rangers

F Jake Leschyshyn

Ottawa Senators

F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson

While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.

Vegas Golden Knights

F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers.  He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance.  Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.

Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim.  The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract.  He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.

Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract.  He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off.  Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.

Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire.  Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years.  This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.

Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Waivers: 9/29/23

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As training camps and the preseason continues, teams continue to trim down their roster to get closer to the final group of players they’ll carry when the regular season gets underway next month. We’ll keep track of the names that hit the waiver wire here.  Today’s list was provided by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

Colorado Avalanche (per team Twitter)

D Keaton Middleton
F Spencer Smallman

New York Rangers

F Alex Belzile
F Anton Blidh
F Turner Elson
D Ty Emberson
D Connor Mackey
F Riley Nash

New Jersey Devils

D Tyler Wotherspoon

St. Louis Blues

F Adam Gaudette

The Rangers have the players of some note on this list.  Belzile held his own as a midseason recall with Montreal last season, notching six goals and eight assists in just 31 games.  That allowed the 32-year-old to get a two-year commitment from New York this summer including a one-way salary in 2024-25.  Nash didn’t see any NHL action last season but is no stranger to playing at the top level as a fourth-line center, suiting up 627 times over parts of 11 years.  Blidh struggled in limited action with Colorado last season while Elson has just three NHL appearances thus far in his career.

Mackey could be a name to keep an eye on.  The 27-year-old split last year between Calgary and Arizona, getting into a career-best 30 games.  His performance there also earned him an opportunity to play at the Worlds for Team USA, his second appearance in that tournament over the last three years.  This will be Emberson’s first time on waivers.  The 23-year-old saw his production in the minors improve considerably last season, going from 11 points to 27 but he still sits fairly low on New York’s depth chart.

As for the other players on waivers today, Gaudette has 218 career NHL appearances under his belt and last season was the first time he didn’t see action at the top level in his six-year professional career.  He was a productive scorer in the minors in 2022-23, notching 51 points between the affiliates of the Maple Leafs and Blues, who acquired him at the trade deadline.  Wotherspoon last played in the NHL back in 2016-17 with Calgary while Middleton has three NHL games under his belt back in the 2020-21 campaign.  Smallman, meanwhile, hasn’t seen any NHL action over his seven professional campaigns and is coming off a career-best 13 goals with AHL Colorado last season.

These players will be on waivers until 1 PM CT on Saturday.

Capitals Claim Nicolas Aube-Kubel Off Waivers From Maple Leafs

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With Connor Brown done for the season due to ACL surgery, the Capitals have his $3.6MM cap hit to work with for LTIR space.  They used a chunk of that today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Washington has claimed winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel off waivers from Toronto.

It’s the second straight season that the 26-year-old has been plucked off the waiver wire in November as a year ago, Colorado scooped him up from Philadelphia.  He went on to have a strong finish to his season with 11 goals and 11 assists in 67 games with the Avs while suiting up 14 times in their Stanley Cup run, leading to him signing a one-year, $1MM contract with the Maple Leafs on the opening day of free agency last summer.

However, things didn’t go particularly well for Aube-Kubel with Toronto as he was a healthy scratch in five of their first 11 games this season while he was held off the scoresheet in six games while logging just over nine minutes per game and with a need for some roster flexibility, they decided that Aube-Kubel was the one to part with.  Notably, on top of the cap savings and roster spot being opened, this also frees up a contract slot for Toronto who was at the maximum of 50 prior to this claim.

Meanwhile, for Washington, it’s a low-risk move to bring in a bottom-six forward with some NHL experience as Aube-Kubel has 175 career NHL appearances under his belt which will give Peter Laviolette another option as he looks to find the right combination on the fourth line.  With the Caps having a full roster, they’ve assigned Garrett Pilon to AHL Hershey to open up a spot on their 23-man roster.  Pilon has five points in seven games with the Bears so far this season.

Washington Capitals Recall Sonny Milano, Place Three On Injured Reserve

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As announced in a team release today, the Washington Capitals have recalled forward Sonny Milano, forward Garrett Pilon, and defenseman Lucas Johansen from the Hershey Bears of the AHL. All three players will travel with the team to Detroit for the team’s game tomorrow against the Red Wings.

In a corresponding move, the team has also placed forward T.J. Oshie, defenseman John Carlson, and forward Beck Malenstyn on injured reserve. Forward Connor Brown was also moved to long-term injured reserve (LTIR) after undergoing potentially season-ending ACL surgery earlier this week.

Oshie is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered last Saturday. He is technically eligible to return for Saturday’s home game against Arizona, but without a timeline, there’s no telling when he’ll be back. The fact that he was not moved to LTIR along with Brown is somewhat promising, suggesting that he may not be out for more than a few weeks.

Carlson also left the same game Saturday with a lower-body injury, although his status remains day-to-day. Assuming his injured reserve placement is retroactive, he could return Saturday against Arizona, but the IR placement is confirmation that he’ll miss his third straight game tomorrow against Detroit.

Malenstyn left last night’s overtime loss against Vegas with an upper-body injury. He was recalled to the team in mid-October in the absence of Brown.

After notching 34 points in 66 games last year as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, it was rather shocking that no team signed Milano before training camps started, and it was nearly as surprising when he cleared waivers when Washington signed him. In five games in the AHL, Milano’s notched two goals, an assist, and three points. He could potentially draw into the lineup in Malenstyn’s absence, although the team also had Connor McMichael as a healthy extra.

Pilon, 24, has five points in seven games to start the AHL season, his fifth with Hershey. Johansen, the 28th overall selection in 2016, missed the majority of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons due to injury and has a goal in six games with Hershey in 2022-23. The team had no extra healthy defensemen with Carlson out.

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