Morning Notes: Noesen, Koppanen, Malott, Quenneville
The New Jersey Devils will have to wait a little while longer to see winger Stefan Noesen in action. Head coach Sheldon Keefe relayed that Noesen is continuing to progress in his return from a groin injury, but will need the entire preseason before he’s back to full health, to James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. Noesen first sustained the injury last season, then re-aggravated it over the summer. That forced the 32-year-old to receive surgery, which he appears to still be recovering from.
The Devils will be adding a high-impact player back to the fold when Noesen returns to full health. He scored a career-high 22 goals and 41 points in 78 games last season, while rotating between New Jersey’s second and third lines. He was an important glue piece all year long, though played through this groin injury for much of the year. He’s paying for that with a delayed start to the season this year. In the meantime, New Jersey has elevated Dawson Mercer to Noesen’s vacant role next to Timo Meier and Nico Hischier at training camp.
Other notes from around the league:
- Pittsburgh Penguins depth forward Joona Koppanen will be out of action for the short-term. He has been designated as out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Koopanen played more NHL games last season than in any prior year – appearing in 11 games and scoring one goal with the Penguins. The rest of his year was spent in a hardy role with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he scored 23 points in 56 games. He doesn’t appear to be headed for an NHL role out of camp, but will be looking to vindicate his spot on the call-up sheet when he comes back from injury.
- Little-known names break into the Los Angeles Kings roster seemingly every year. This season, it could be forward Jeff Malott who earns the honor this season, per Austin Stanovich of Mayor’s Manor. Malott was a core piece of the AHL’s Ontario Reign last season. He finished the year third on the team in scoring, with 51 points in 61 games. He also led the team with 80 penalty minutes. That mix of high-motor offense, and imposing physicality, could be a sneaky addition to a Kings lineup that elevated the feisty Alex Laferriere to a 42-point season last year.
- Former New Jersey Devils centerman John Quenneville has opted to pursue a coaching season this year. He has joined the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)’s Binghamton Black Bears, per a team release. Quenneville spent the last four seasons on tours around European pro leagues. He spent two seasons in the Switzerland National League, one season in Sweden’s SHL, and one season in Finland’s Liiga. He averaged about 0.5 points-per-game in every league. Should this turn to coaching mark the end of his career, Quenneville will move on from playing with five points in 42 NHL games and 158 points in 215 AHL games.
Kings To Recall Jeff Malott
According to John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor, the Kings will recall forward Jeff Malott before their game Thursday with the Avalanche. L.A. has $1.757MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia, enough to fit Malott’s $775K cap hit without another transaction.
Malott was signed to a two-year, partial two-way deal last summer, and this will be his first stint on Los Angeles’ NHL roster this season. If he plays, it will be Malott’s second career NHL appearance after debuting with the Jets in the 2021-22 campaign.
The 28-year-old left-winger comes up after Tanner Jeannot sustained an upper-body injury last night against the Rangers, a game for which Alex Turcotte was also a late scratch due to an undisclosed injury. With only Akil Thomas on hand as an extra forward, Malott’s summons gives them another option to insert into the lineup if a third injury strikes their forward group.
What Malott lacks in NHL experience, he compensates for with his 6’4″, 201-lb frame and an increasingly strong minor-league track record. An alternate captain with AHL Ontario, he has 23-28–51 in 61 appearances to rank third in scoring. The hard-nosed winger also leads the Reign with 80 PIMs and ranks fourth with a +17 rating. His stay on the NHL roster will likely only last as long as the Kings’ injury troubles, but he’s an acceptable replacement for fourth-line minutes if necessary.
Waiver Wire: 9/30/24
Another 12 players have hit the waiver wire today as part of training camp cuts across the league, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. All of the 25 players on waivers yesterday cleared without incident, he adds.
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd
F Brendan Gaunce
F Devin Shore
San Jose Sharks
F Justin Bailey
D Jimmy Schuldt
St. Louis Blues
Utah Hockey Club
Kings Sign Warren Foegele, Re-Sign Copley, Lewis; Sign Five Others
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports the Los Angeles Kings have agreed to a contract with free agent forward Warren Foegele. It’s a three-year deal in the $3.5MM AAV range, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger. They’re also bringing back depth goalie Pheonix Copley and fourth-line forward Trevor Lewis, per Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. The team also announced the signings of forward Jeff Malott (one-way in 2024-25, two-way in 2025-26) and Glenn Gawdin on two-year contracts plus centers Tyler Madden and Jack Studnicka along with defenseman Reilly Walsh on one-year, two-way agreements.
Foegele is the headline addition out of the group. He’s coming off a career year with Edmonton, one that saw him post 20 goals and 21 assists in 82 regular season games despite averaging less than 14 minutes a night of ice time. However, he wasn’t quite as productive in the playoffs, being held to three goals and five assists in 22 contests.
Still, it’s a nice raise for the 28-year-old who recently wrapped up a three-year deal that carried a cap hit of $2.75MM. He’ll likely take the place of Viktor Arvidsson on Los Angeles’ roster; coincidentally, Arvidsson signed a two-year agreement with the Oilers today to replace Foegele. His role will likely be the same with the Kings, splitting time between the second and third lines.
As for Copley, he received a one-year, $825K agreement. The 32-year-old North Pole native was a feel-good story in 2022-23, coming up from the AHL to eventually post a 2.64 GAA with a .903 SV% in 37 games, earning him a one-year, $1.5MM deal for last season. However, Copley struggled in his eight appearances before tearing his ACL, ending his campaign in December. He’ll have a chance to battle David Rittich for the backup job with the other netminder heading for AHL Ontario.
Lewis, meanwhile, signed for $800K, a small raise after making the league minimum. The 37-year-old played in all 82 games last season, picking up eight goals and eight assists on the fourth line while playing a regular role on the penalty kill. He’s likely to reprise that role for 2024-25 which will be his 17th NHL campaign.
Malott has been a productive AHL scorer for the last three seasons, helping him secure a one-way year on this contract. He played exclusively with AHL Manitoba in 2023-24, notching 22 goals and 30 assists; it was the third straight campaign of 20-plus goals at that level. Despite that, he has just one career game of NHL experience. Even with the change in organization, the 27-year-old will likely have to start with the Reign and try to earn a recall from there.
Gawdin has a bit more NHL experience, seeing action in each of the last four years, spanning 13 games in total. He’s coming off a career year with AHL San Diego, one that saw him notch 22 goals and 33 assists in 70 games. The 27-year-old will be counted on to play a prominent role with the Reign next season.
Madden, meanwhile, is someone more familiar with the organization having spent the last four seasons with them, all with the Reign. He was non-tendered on Sunday to avoid giving him arbitration rights but quickly struck an agreement to return. The 24-year-old had 15 goals and 19 assists last season and should remain a regular in Ontario’s lineup.
Studnicka is the most experienced of their AHL-bound signings. He played in 22 NHL games last season but was limited to just one goal, eventually resulting in his clearing waivers. He was more productive in the minors, collecting 21 points in 36 games between AHL Abbotsford and San Jose. The 25-year-old has 107 career NHL games under his belt where he has six goals and ten assists.
As for Walsh, he has been a productive defenseman at the AHL level with a pair of 40-plus-point showings. Last season, he played in Boston’s system with Providence, collecting nine goals and 18 assists in 60 games. The 25-year-old became a Group Six free agent and should play a big role on Ontario’s back end next season.