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Jake Bean

Islanders Looking To Add Left Defense Amid Injuries

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Injury ruled out all three of the New York Islanders’ starting left-defensemen in their loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday. And while both Alexander Romanov and Mike Reilly are only listed as day-to-day, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News shares that the absences could push New York to add more defensive depth via waivers or trade. Rosner points out that the move would be similar to the Islanders’ acquisition of Robert Bortuzzo and Reilly.

The Islanders are once again in a very difficult spot because of injuries to their blue-line. It’s the same spot that held them back last season, and their only response this season has so far been sheltered roles for Dennis Cholowski, Samuel Bolduc, and Grant Hutton. The depleted blue-line is only propped up by star Ryan Pulock, who’s had to take on a role playing on his off-side. But his 30 minutes of ice time on Sunday is unsustainable – and the holes in the lineup have shown that more support is quickly needed to keep the left-side afloat.

New York won’t find much help on a free agent market crowded with right-defenders but depleted of left-shots. Mark Giordano stands as perhaps the top option. He skated as the NHL’s oldest player last season but has expressed interest in playing out one more season. He managed a measly nine points in 46 games with Toronto last year, serving in an often inconsistent role. But despite changing responsibilities, Giordano showed a routine ability to move the puck up the ice – even as he seemed slow elsewhere. He won’t bring too much of a spark, but could man a depth role without needing much oversight.

For more of a kick, New York will have to turn towards a currently dried-up trade market. Cheap and quick acquisitions could sit a the bottom of some NHL depth charts. That’s presently where Jake Bean, John Ludvig, and Brendan Smith slot into their respective lineups – and all three stand to bring the same impact of the Bortuzzo and Reilly acquisitions last year. They’re each on a new team this year – Bean and Smith choosing their landing spots in unrestricted free agency, and Ludvig landing in Colorado via waivers. It’s a trio that brings a spectrum of abilities – Bean the offensive-defenseman and Smith the shutdown depth-role, with Ludvig finding his footing in between. Those similarities could be the perfect mix to both pique the interest of both parties in potential trade talks. New York similarly bought Bortuzzo and Reilly from the bottom of depth charts last season, and will need the same confident trading if they want to bring in support quickly.

With waivers mentioned alongside trades, it’s not likely that the Islanders spend much on any new pieces. But their season is slipping quickly, with star Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair also catching the injury bug alongside multiple defenders. The Islanders boast a 4-6-2 record through 12 games, second-to-last in the Metropolitan Division. They’ll hope to be aggressive on any imminent waiver placements, but general manager Lou Lamoriello may need to take the initiative to make a trade before things fall too far.

Pacific Notes: Doughty, Sharks Injuries, Flames Injuries

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There’s been plenty of fallout in Los Angeles after the announcement that Kings’ defenseman Drew Doughty would be out for a few months after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured ankle. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period reported on plenty of it with the most important piece being that the Kings don’t have a timeline on Doughty’s return but it will not be a season-ending injury.

Los Angeles is going through a major change particularly on the right side of their defense with Doughty’s injury and defenseman Matt Roy leaving via unrestricted free agency to join the Washington Capitals. Bernstein shares that prospect Brandt Clarke is ’ready’ to take on a top-four role with the Kings this season but he will have to earn it according to head coach Jim Hiller.

Clarke only has 25 NHL games up to this point in his career and will now take a major step forward in his development to helping out a hopeful playoff contender on the blue line. He’s coming off an impressive season with Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, scoring 10 goals and 46 points in 50 contests during the 2023-24 AHL season.

Other Pacific notes:

  • The San Jose Sharks are dealing with a few minor injuries in training camp and their status is up in the air for the Sharks next preseason game against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group reports William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, and Matt Benning are all listed as day-to-day with various ailments. There is no concern at this point that any of the three are questionable for opening night but it will be worth monitoring heading into next week.
  • Another team in the Pacific Division dealing with numerous minor injuries is the Calgary Flames. The team announced their injury designations earlier today with Jake Bean, Matthew Coronato, and Martin Pospisil all missing practice with lower-body injuries. Similarly to the Sharks, there shouldn’t be any long-term concerns for any of the players but their availability will be questionable tomorrow night as the Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks.

Flames To Sign Mantha, Bean, Cooley; Extend Sharangovich

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The Flames are landing UFA winger Anthony Mantha on a one-year deal worth $3.5MM, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. They’ve also signed forward Yegor Sharangovich to a five-year, $5.75MM AAV extension, per his agent Dan Milstein. He was entering the final year of his contract.

Additionally, Calgary is closing in on a two-year deal worth under $2MM annually for defenseman Jake Bean, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. TSN’s Chris Johnston clarifies the AAV is $1.75MM. Milstein also adds they’re signing Devin Cooley for goaltending depth on a two-year deal worth $775K annually. It’s a two-way deal in the first year with a $400K AHL salary.

Mantha is looking to rebound off a disappointing finish in what appeared to be a strong season. In 56 games with the Washington Capitals to start the season, Mantha put together 20 goals and 34 points before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for a pair of draft picks. Unfortunately, the experience in Vegas did not pan out for either side as Mantha collected three goals and 10 points in 18 games after the trade before finally being scratched in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.

After a season of change in Calgary, Mantha will be looking to provide a full year of quality production with increased opportunity. The Flames top six has seen multiple changes over the last calendar year and Mantha represents a capable option to plug into the team’s top-six. It’s a low-risk contract for a team that will likely attempt to move on from Mantha at next season’s trade deadline.

In addition to Mantha, the Flames organization made a sizeable commitment to Sharangovich a year after the team acquired him from the New Jersey Devils. Sharangovich played extraordinarily well in his first season in Alberta as he scored 31 goals and 59 points while appearing in all 82 regular season contests. With the extension kicking in July 1st, 2025, Sharangovich will not need a new contract until after the 2029-30 NHL season.

The Flames also pounced on Bean after the Columbus Blue Jackets decided not to tender him a qualifying offer — making him an unrestricted free agent. Bean is set to get more of an opportunity in Calgary as the team could slot him next to Daniil Miromanov in the team’s top four.

Lastly, the Flames organization adds Cooley from the San Jose Sharks organization as a third-string goaltender. Getting his first taste of NHL action last year, Cooley put up a 2-3-1 record over six starts and held a .870 save percentage and 4.98 goals against average.

Blue Jackets Issue Multiple Injury Updates

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Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean has an upper-body injury that will keep him out for their six remaining games this season, head coach Pascal Vincent said Friday (via Jeff Svoboda of the team’s official site). The 25-year-old exited last night’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders after taking a shot to the hand late in the game, which the team later confirmed resulted in a break. It’s unclear if he’ll require surgery to repair the break or if rehabilitation over the offseason is sufficient to address it.

Bean’s third season in Columbus was much better than his second, when a November 2022 shoulder injury resulted in surgery that ended his season. He’s been a fixture in the Blue Jackets lineup for the most part, only being scratched on a handful of occasions. The 2016 first-round pick wasn’t able to rise above a third-pairing role, however, recording four goals and 13 points in 72 contests while averaging 16:20 per game. His pairing with Erik Gudbranson was Vincent’s most used, logging nearly 600 minutes together across 62 games. They were also the worst of Columbus’ six most-iced pairings at maintaining possession quality, controlling 45.1% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. Bean’s individual possession numbers weren’t any better away from Gudbranson at 5-on-5, posting an on-ice xG% of 44.9.

Bean was the WHL’s leading goal-scorer among defensemen in 2016 and won Best Defenseman honors in the AHL in 2020, but his NHL ceiling is crashing down as he passes through his mid-20s. While his junior and minor league production still suggests there’s significant upside in his game, it won’t come buried on the depth chart on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

He’ll be an RFA this summer upon completion of his three-year, $7MM contract, the last time he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency. With younger, high-ceiling defenders like David Jiricek vying for bigger roles in Columbus and multiple exemplary young defense prospects on the way, Bean could find himself on the open market this summer if Columbus opts not to issue him a qualifying offer and risk being taken to arbitration.

Extra blue-liner Adam Boqvist is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury and won’t be cleared to play before tomorrow’s contest against the Flyers, so the Blue Jackets will need to recall a defenseman from AHL Cleveland. That will likely be Jake Christiansen, who’s got two assists in 12 NHL games this season and was returned to the minors Tuesday after a weeks-long stint in Columbus.

On a shorter-term horizon, Vincent also said neither center Sean Kuraly nor goaltender Elvis Merzļikins will be available against Philadelphia. Both are out with lower-body injuries. Kuraly has returned to practice and is nearing a return after a three-week absence, while Merzļikins hasn’t played since getting banged up in a win over the Penguins on March 30. Backup Daniil Tarasov also sustained an upper-body injury in last night’s loss to the Islanders, so they’ll need to bring fourth-string netminder Malcolm Subban up from Cleveland if he’s unable to dress tomorrow. 23-year-old Jet Greaves will likely get the start in any event, posting an exemplary .917 SV% in limited NHL action this year. Subban hasn’t played a major league game in over two years, last appearing with the Sabres in January 2022.

A rare bit of good news for Columbus is that top winger Johnny Gaudreau will return against Philly after sitting out last night’s loss with an illness, Vincent told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. It’s been a disappointing season for the $9.75MM man, only potting 11 goals, but he still leads the club in scoring with 56 points in 75 games.

Blue Jackets Working On Trade To Move Defenseman

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are “engaged in trade dialogue with teams” about moving a defenseman off their NHL roster, sources tell Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Seravalli adds these talks are “likely centered” around one of Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist and Andrew Peeke, but that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is likely to “move whomever they find gets them most back.” The team’s roster crunch on defense left a pair of young defenders expected to earn NHL jobs, Nick Blankenburg and David Jiricek, off the team’s opening night roster yesterday.

This roster crunch didn’t come out of nowhere. After injuries depleted the Blue Jackets’ blueline depth for most of last season, Kekalainen acquired a pair of top-four defenders via trade back in June: Ivan Provorov from the Flyers and Damon Severson from the Devils. It would make sense, then, that both of those players are untouchables, as well as their top defenseman, Zach Werenski. The seventh defenseman on the active roster, Erik Gudbranson, carries a ten-team no-trade list and is locked into a rather unattractive $4MM cap hit through 2026.

That means the three defensemen Seravalli mentioned are the only realistic possibilities to get moved, and it’s hard to imagine Bean and Peeke would attract higher trade value than Boqvist. The 23-year-old right-shot defender was a core piece of the trade that sent Seth Jones to the Blackhawks in 2021. While injuries have affected his time in Columbus, he looks well on his way to becoming an everyday top-four player.

Selected eighth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, Boqvist has 16 goals, 30 assists and 46 points in 98 games as a Blue Jacket. He’s received sheltered minutes, however, skating an average of just 17:47 per game since 2021. He is entering the second season of a three-year, $7.8MM contract carrying a $2.6MM cap hit. That’s quite an affordable number for his services and could likely fetch a first- or second-round pick in return.

Boqvist is projected to begin the season flanking Provorov on the team’s second pairing. If he’s moved, expect the Blue Jackets to recall Jiricek from AHL Cleveland to occupy the void.

It’s tougher to gauge Bean’s potential trade value. He’s two years older than Boqvist and was limited to just 14 games last season due to a shoulder injury. He also carries the pedigree of being a former first-round pick – the Hurricanes selected him 13th overall in 2016 – but doesn’t have the linear development track record of Boqvist. At a cap hit of $2.33MM and on an expiring contract, there’s more uncertainty attached to acquiring Bean than Boqvist.

Peeke has shouldered the heaviest minutes out of the potential trade trio as of late, but that doesn’t mean he’s done so successfully. The 25-year-old right-shot defenseman logged a -41 rating last season and had the unfortunate honor of being one of Columbus’ few healthy defenders throughout the season, having to take the brunt of the team’s depth issues. He notched 13 points in 80 games and averaged over 21 minutes a game for the second straight season, but his $2.75MM cap hit through 2026 carries some risk if he doesn’t pan out in a bottom-four role somewhere else.

Columbus Blue Jackets Issue Multiple Injury Updates

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Ahead of training camps opening, the Columbus Blue Jackets released the injury status of four players:

D Jake Bean – out week-to-week with an abductor strain (groin)
F Kirill Marchenko – out day-to-day with back strain
F Mathieu Olivier – out week-to-week with a leg injury
G Daniil Tarasov – out day-to-day with a knee injury

The news sounds especially disappointing for the young Bean, who was limited to just 14 games last season thanks to a shoulder injury. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline relays he’s likely to miss the most time out of any player on this list, putting his availability for the beginning of the regular season in doubt.

It hasn’t been a smooth journey for the 2016 13th overall pick, as his development has been interrupted by injuries on multiple occasions. Without a clear path to a full-time roster spot with the team that drafted him in Carolina, the Hurricanes traded him to Columbus at the 2021 draft in a series of deals that saw Seth Jones head from Columbus to the Chicago Blackhawks. Bean seemed to put some things together in his first season with Columbus, notching 25 points in 67 games while earning a top-four role and posting acceptable possession numbers.

When he can make his season debut, he likely won’t get the same opportunity. After acquiring Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson this summer, Columbus’ top four is full, and there’s simply no way Bean will get the nearly 21 minutes per game he got in 2021-22. Missing training camp will only hurt matters, as his competitors for ice time will have more of a chance to show new head coach Pascal Vincent that they’re deserving of NHL ice.

Olivier is the other player whose absence is tabbed as longer-term. Portzline says this was a known factor for Columbus, as Olivier played the tail end of last season with a broken bone in his leg and experienced “complications” during offseason recovery. It’s unclear when exactly we can expect Olivier to return to the team. The 26-year-old enforcer scored a career-high 15 points in 66 games last season, his first in Columbus after beginning his pro career with the Nashville Predators. The spot he vacates in the lineup gives more opportunity for players like the returning Alexandre Texier and youngsters like Cole Sillinger and Dmitri Voronkov to gain spots on the team’s opening-night roster.

Marchenko’s and Tarasov’s absences are shorter-term and not expected to stretch into the regular season. Portzline says that both players would be available if the regular season began tomorrow and also clarified that Tarasov’s knee injury is not connected to the one that limited him to just four NHL contests in 2021-22.

Jake Bean Placed On Injured Reserve

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The hits keep coming for the Columbus Blue Jackets. While they still haven’t given an exact timeline for defenseman Jake Bean, he has been moved to injured reserve and is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

Bean, 24, had just recently set a season-high with more than 26 minutes against the Philadelphia Flyers and was poised to take on a much bigger role for the Blue Jackets with Zach Werenski (and Nick Blankenburg and Adam Boqvist) sidelined. Instead, he hits the shelf along with nearly half of the Columbus roster and won’t get a chance to step into a top position on the team’s blue line.

In the second season of a three-year, $7MM deal, Bean is coming off a career year with 25 points in 67 games. This time around had six through 13, before leaving early in a rematch with the Flyers on Tuesday.

With head coach Brad Larsen saying it doesn’t look good for Bean earlier today, it seems like this will be more than just a short stint on the injured reserve list. The team is at least at home for the next five games, meaning they can probably operate with a 22-man roster for the time being.

It will be interesting to see if these injuries lead to another opportunity for top prospect David Jiricek, who has played two games with the Blue Jackets so far. The sixth-overall pick has five assists in seven minor league games.

Elvis Merzlikins Out With Lower-Body Injury

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It’s Joonas Korpisalo and Daniil Tarasov for at least the next little while, as Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen updated Elvis Merzlikins’ timeline today. The netminder will be out for 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury. Jake Bean, who was also being evaluated yesterday, still doesn’t have a firm recovery timeline but it is “not looking good,” according to Larsen, who spoke with reporters including Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.

Merzlikins hadn’t been doing well this season anyway, posting a .864 save percentage in nine appearances behind one of the worst teams in the league. The 28-year-old goaltender allowed two goals on 17 shots before leaving on Tuesday, and has a whopping 4.74 goals-against average on the year.

Korpisalo, who has been the better of the two goaltenders so far, will take the lion’s share of the starts while Merzlikins is out. Now 28, Korpisalo’s current .910 save percentage would rank as his best since 2019-20, should he maintain it all season. Tarasov, called up yesterday under emergency conditions, has a .893 in five appearances for the Blue Jackets tonight.

Emil Bemstrom, who is also dealing with an injury, is a game-time decision for tonight’s match against the Montreal Canadiens.

Patrik Laine Moved To Injured Reserve; Daniil Tarasov Recalled

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The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to be ravaged by injury. This time, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Elvis Merzlikins, Jake Bean, and Emil Bemstrom were all having medical tests completed this afternoon to determine the extent of their various injuries. With Merzlikins out, the team has recalled Daniil Tarasov from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. Patrik Laine has been moved to injured reserve, as he is expected to miss quite a while with a sprained ankle.

Merzlikins left last night’s game with an undisclosed injury and wasn’t present at practice today, leaving Joonas Korpisalo as the only professional netminder on the ice (the other goal was tended by Reid Robertson, who is in their hockey ops department, according to team reporter Jeff Svoboda).

These three new injuries are in addition to the absences of Laine, Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, and Adam Boqvist, who are all on injured reserve as well. Things are unraveling in Columbus, and yet they still squeaked out an overtime win last night against the Philadelphia Flyers to climb to 5-9-1 on the year.

Tarasov, 23, has already appeared in five games for the team this season, posting a .893 save percentage. The young netminder has shown promise but is limited by inconsistency (as many young netminders are). Still, with Korpisalo an inconsistent enigma himself, they may end up sharing the workload should Merzlikins end up on the shelf for a while.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Eichel, Blue Jackets

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The NHL has released the Three Stars for last week, and because that included the All-Star game, Claude Giroux has been given the top honors. The Philadelphia Flyers captain did record four points in two games before heading to Las Vegas, where he won the All-Star MVP. The speculation over whether Giroux stays in Philadelphia through the trade deadline continues, with the veteran forward explaining that there is still a lot of time left before those decisions need to be made.

Second and third place went to two players who weren’t at the event, as Mitch Marner and Mason Marchment took home second and third respectively. The Toronto Maple Leafs star had seven points in the two games before the break, scoring three more goals to keep his streak alive. While Marner isn’t known as a goal scorer, he now has tallied in each of his last six games and 14 on the year. Marchment, meanwhile, had a six-point effort on the last day of January, taking him to 23 points in 22 games this season. An undrafted forward that the Maple Leafs then Florida Panthers developed, the 6’4″ Marchment has learned to impact the game in almost every capacity.

  • Jack Eichel was on the ice at Vegas Golden Knights practice today and he was no longer wearing a non-contact jersey according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic. The injured forward still wasn’t practicing in the top-12, skating on a reserve line with Nolan Patrick and Michael Amadio, but it’s a good sign that he could be back in the coming days. Head coach Pete DeBoer suggested as much at the All-Star game, exciting Golden Knights fans and sending the rumor mill swirling again with how the team will clear the cap space.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have moved Jake Bean, Eric Robinson, and Alexandre Texier to injured reserve, recalling Brendan Gaunce from the AHL under emergency conditions. All three players are dealing with long-term injuries that were announced over the past few weeks and aren’t expected back for a little while. The placements on IR are all retroactive as well–Bean to January 30, Robinson to January 31, and Texier to January 26.

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