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Gustavs Grigals

Predators Assign Three To AHL

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While the Predators were eliminated last night by Vancouver, the season isn’t quite over for three players just yet.  The team announced that they’ve assigned forward Juuso Parssinen, defenseman Kevin Gravel, and goaltender Gustavs Grigals to AHL Milwaukee.

Parssinen split this season between the Predators and Admirals.  With Nashville, the 23-year-old wasn’t able to match the output from a year ago, dropping to just eight goals and four assists in 44 games; in 2022-23, he had six goals and 19 helpers in 45 contests.  Parssinen also got into one game against the Canucks in the first round and was held off the scoresheet.  The pending restricted free agent had a fairly productive year in the minors, however, notching seven goals and 18 assists in 36 games.

As for Gravel, he was just brought back up as injury depth following the injury to Spencer Stastney earlier in the series.  The 32-year-old has 132 career NHL appearances under his belt but played exclusively in the AHL this season, picking up a goal and nine assists in 63 games.  Gravel signed a two-year extension back in January, meaning he’ll be patrolling the back end in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.

Grigals, meanwhile, served as the third-string emergency backup in the playoffs.  His minor league deal was converted to an NHL agreement back in March, likely for that very reason, allowing Yaroslav Askarov and Troy Grosenick to remain with Milwaukee for the playoffs.  The 25-year-old pending RFA will likely serve the same third-string role for the balance of the AHL postseason.

AHL Shuffle: 4/19/24

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Half the league has played their last games for the 2023-24 campaign, while the other half is gearing up for postseason action starting tomorrow. Either way, squads are making roster adjustments today, whether it’s assigning players back to the minors after their NHL seasons came to a close or recalling reinforcements for their playoff runs. We’ll keep track of all of today’s moves here:

  • The Bruins have recalled center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence. Both will be available for tomorrow’s Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The pair of youngsters were assigned to the minors throughout the last week for playing time down the stretch after spending most of the campaign on the NHL roster. They’ll likely be scratches for tomorrow’s contest, but after combining for 93 games played in the regular season, head coach Jim Montgomery won’t hesitate to plug them into the playoff lineup.
  • The Flames have assigned forwards Matthew Coronato and Adam Klapka, defenseman Ilya Solovyov, and goaltender Dustin Wolf to AHL Calgary. The NHL club’s regular season came to an end last night in a 5-1 win over the Sharks, a game all four players involved in today’s transaction played in. Wolf, one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, ended his season on a high note with 16 saves on 17 shots after putting up underwhelming numbers down the stretch for the Flames. All four will play major roles for the Wranglers over the next couple of weeks, at the very least, as they’ve clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
  • The Capitals have recalled goaltender Mitchell Gibson from ECHL South Carolina. The 24-year-old, who has no NHL experience, is in his first full season of pro hockey after spending the last four seasons in collegiate hockey at Harvard. He’ll serve as a Black Ace and emergency backup as their first-round matchup against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers gets underway. A fourth-round pick of the Caps back in 2018, he has a .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA, three shutouts, and a 22-14-3 record in 42 appearances with South Carolina this year, as well as a .915 SV% and a perfect record in two showings with AHL Hershey.
  • In a similar move, the Predators have brought up netminder Gustavs Grigals from ECHL Atlanta. Undrafted, the Latvian had spent the season in the Nashville organization on a minor-league contract before receiving a two-way deal from the Preds on deadline day. The 25-year-old was excellent last year for UMass-Lowell after transferring from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, posting a .924 SV% in 24 games and earning Hockey East Third All-Star Team honors. He’s adjusted decently well to the pro ranks, posting a .900 SV% and three shutouts behind a defensively challenged Atlanta squad in 34 appearances with an 11-19-0 record.
  • The Blackhawks have assigned forward prospect Lukas Reichel to AHL Rockford to finish his season. Chicago expected the 21-year-old to take a major step forward in his development this season and supplant himself as a top-six fixture for the future along with Connor Bedard, but it didn’t work out that way. The 2020 first-round pick was arguably among the worst players in the league this season, limited to five goals and 16 points in 65 games with a -29 rating despite seeing second-line looks for much of the season. His average ice time dipped to almost 14 minutes per game by the end of the campaign, however.
  • The Jets have assigned forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Brad Lambert, and goaltender Collin Delia to AHL Manitoba. Winnipeg recalled the foursome yesterday to provide reinforcements for yesterday’s regular-season finale against the Canucks. Chibrikov and Lambert made their NHL debuts, with the former notching his first NHL goal in the process. Delia backed up Laurent Brossoit while Jennings Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was given the night off entirely, while Ford was a healthy scratch. Delia was again recalled under emergency conditions later Friday, suggesting he’ll be available as a Black Ace/emergency backup for Game 1 against the Avalanche on Sunday.
  • The Coyotes have made likely the final group of transactions in franchise history, returning forwards Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, Aku Raty, and defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok to AHL Tucson. The sale of the team’s hockey operations to Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group was approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors yesterday, rendering the Coyotes franchise inactive and establishing a new franchise in Utah. The five youngsters will finish the season in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the Roadrunners. Some of these players, likely Guenther and Doan at a minimum, will travel to Salt Lake City and will be a part of that team’s opening-night squad next season. The others may remain in Tucson, which is expected to serve as the Utah franchise’s minor-league affiliate.
  • The Oilers have assigned defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Adam Erne to AHL Bakersfield. The pair were recalled earlier in the week to allow the Oilers to rest stars like Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard before kicking off their first-round playoff series against the Kings in a few days. They’ll return to playoff-bound Bakersfield for now but will be among the first in line for recalls if necessary.
  • The Kings have assigned forward Alex Turcotte to AHL Ontario. He’d spent most of the last week in the minors on an LTI conditioning loan, but was activated off LTIR and reinstated to the NHL roster on Tuesday. He didn’t play in the Kings’ final game of the regular season last night, though. The 23-year-old presumably won’t be in their Game 1 lineup against the Oilers and will report for playoff action with the Reign.
  • The Islanders have summoned goaltender Jakub Skarek from AHL Bridgeport, per the league’s media site. The 23-year-old comes up to serve as the extra/reserve netminder as the Islanders begin their first-round series with Bridgeport eliminated from playoff contention. The 2018 third-round pick has again struggled in the third-string spot, posting a .888 SV% and 7-22-6 record in 36 appearances for the AHL Isles this year. He was passed over for recalls earlier in the regular season in favor of veteran Kenneth Appleby.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Predators Sign Dante Fabbro, Two Others To Extensions

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Predators GM Barry Trotz has announced the signings of defenseman Dante Fabbro and forward Mark Jankowski to one-year and two-year extensions, respectively (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fabbro’s deal sees him earn $2.5MM next season, per a team release, and is paid entirely in base salary. Jankowski’s deal will pay him $775K in 2024-25 and $825K in 2025-26, per the team, translating to an $800K cap hit. Additionally, the team has signed undrafted free agent goaltender Gustavs Grigals to a one-year, two-way deal for the remainder of the season, worth $775K at the NHL level.

Fabbro and Jankowski will be UFAs at the end of their respective deals. Nashville was set for a potential arbitration hearing with Fabbro if he did not re-sign before the summer, while Jankowski was a pending UFA upon completion of the one-year, $775K extension he signed nearly a year ago.

The Predators drafted Fabbro, 25, with the 17th overall pick in 2016. He turned pro at the end of the 2018-19 campaign and has since appeared in 304 games for the Preds, recording 71 points and a +11 rating while averaging 18:10 per game. He’s slipped to a more limited role this year, averaging only 16:34, but he’s been effective in that sheltered even-strength role with 12 points, a +11 rating, and career-best possession numbers in 51 games.

Oddly enough, that career-best-showing hasn’t earned him the full trust of head coach Andrew Brunette. Fabbro was a healthy scratch for Nashville’s season opener and has been on 12 other occasions this season as part of a rotation with Tyson Barrie, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Lauzon, and Luke Schenn for depth minutes.

Jankowski, 29, has spent the last two seasons in the Predators organization. The 2012 first-round pick stayed mostly in the NHL in 2022-23, recording seven goals and 12 points in 50 games, but has spent most of this year on assignment to AHL Milwaukee. He’s been a top performer there, notching 47 points and a +29 rating in 40 games, which has earned him some more NHL ice as of late. Aside from a few paper transactions, he’s stayed on the roster since Feb. 12 and has two goals and an assist in 14 NHL contests.

A one-way deal indicates the Predators envision Jankowski on next season’s opening night roster, but if he doesn’t make the cut, he’d have to clear waivers. The Hamilton, Ontario, native has also spent time with the Flames, Penguins and Sabres over his eight-year, 336-game NHL career.

By inking Grigals to an NHL contract, the Predators add a potential Black Ace for the postseason and give themselves the option to retain his exclusive signing rights with a qualifying offer this summer. The 25-year-old Latvian has spent most of the season with their ECHL affiliate, the Atlanta Gladiators, where he has a 3.68 GAA, .898 SV%, 7-15-0 record, and one shutout in 26 games. He fared poorly in his lone AHL showing with Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve, posting a .846 SV% in a 4-3 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. He’s in his first professional season after four seasons with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and a graduate transfer season with UMass-Lowell last year.

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