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Jet Greaves

Minor Transactions: 03/01/23

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It’s been quite the day for major NHL transactions, with eight completed trades (at the time of writing) and one maximum-term extension for the captain of an original six franchise. With all the craziness that has transpired today, some minor moves have snuck under the radar. We’ll keep track of all of those moves here.

  • The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. He fills the vacated spot on their roster left by today’s trade of Shayne Gostisbehere to the Carolina Hurricanes. The 21-year-old native of Belarus has played in 54 games for the Roadrunners this season, often as a top-four defenseman. He’s a 2019 second-round pick who got his first taste of NHL action last year, when he played in 32 games in Arizona, scoring three points. He’s a quick, aggressive defenseman who will get a chance to put some quality games on tape as he looks to establish himself as a full-time NHLer.
  • Forward Ben Meyers and defenseman Brad Hunt have been recalled from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles to their NHL affiliate, the Colorado Avalanche. Hunt will be paired with Jack Johnson on coach Jared Bednar’s bottom-pairing, while Meyers will likely be a healthy scratch, according to a team release relayed by The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. Meyers, a top college free agent signing last spring, has scored just one point in 32 NHL games this season (he has nine points in 17 AHL games) while Hunt, 34, has six points in 32 games this season and 21 points in 24 games at the AHL level.
  • In the wake of the team’s stunning acquisition of legendary goaltender Jonathan Quick last night, the Blue Jackets have loaned netminder Jet Greaves to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. The 21-year-old departs Columbus’ roster without having yet played in an NHL game. He’s an undrafted OHL product who split last season between AHL Cleveland and the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings and has started 29 games for the Monsters this year.
  • The Dallas Stars have placed veteran forward Luke Glendening on injured reserve, retroactive to February 17th. In addition, the Stars called up forwards Frederik Olofsson and Fredrik Karlstrom, as well as netminder Matt Murray. Both Olofsson and Karlstrom have been shuffled from the AHL’s Texas Stars to Dallas quite a few times in recent weeks, while the 25-year-old Murray is still seeking his first NHL game.
  • In the shadow of their two parent organizations’ far more major trade, the AHL affiliates of the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks (the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rockford IceHogs, respectively) have made an AHL trade. Hartford has acquired Adam Clendening, who played 31 games for the Rangers in 2016-17, in exchange for Zach Jordan. In 48 games for Rockford this year Clendening has played in a top-four role and scored 24 points. Meanwhile, Jordan, 26, has spent most of the year in the ECHL save for one game spent with the Wolf Pack.
  • The Wolf Pack made another trade, sending forward Alex Whelan to AHL Cleveland. The 25-year-old turned pro in 2020-21 after a solid four-year collegiate career at Quinnipiac. He played full-time last season for Hartford, scoring 16 points in 62 games, but has spent time in the ECHL this season. He’ll get a fresh start in Cleveland and help the Monsters deal with the significant injury disruptions they have faced this season.
  • Point-per-game SHL defenseman Theodor Lennstrom is leaving Sweden for next season. Per a team announcement, Switzerland’s HC Geneve-Servette has signed Lennstrom to a two-year deal, running through the 2024-25 season. Lennstrom has played the last two seasons for Farjestad BK, scoring 14 points in 19 playoff games last season on their run to an SHL Championship victory. Lennstrom also won the Champions Hockey League with Frolunda in 2019-20 and will hope to add to his trophy cabinet in the Swiss league.
  • Ludvig Larsson is set to leave Rogle for Orebro, according to a report from SportExpressen. The former Pennsylvania State Bulldog and Binghamton Devil has scored 15 goals and 26 points this season for Rogle, and has proved himself to be a quality winger in the SHL. Now 27 years old, he’ll head to Orebro, the club of Leo Carlsson, a player projected to go near the top of the 2023 NHL draft.
  • With Anaheim Ducks prospect Calle Clang set to cross the Atlantic for next season, Rogle are finalizing negotiations to find a new goaltender. Per a report from SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, they are set to bring in 2017 Colorado Avalanche fourth-rounder Petr Kvaca, an accomplished three-year starter in the Czech league. Kvaca was named the Czech Extraliga’s best netminder in 2020-21, when he posted a .924 save percentage in 41 games. He has a .925 in 41 games this season, and is a promising investment for a Rogle team looking to return to the top end of the SHL standings.
  • Philipp Lindner, an everyday defenseman and alternate captain for Austrian club Villacher SV, has tacked on two years to his contract with the ICEHL team, bringing its expiration date to the end of the 2025-26 season. The 27-year-old is a veteran of nearly 350 games in Austria’s top league, a competition that includes clubs from multiple Central European countries, and has scored 24 points in 42 games this season.
  • Now an established regular contributor in the Czech Extraliga, 21-year-old David Vitouch has earned a two-year extension with his club, HC Sparta Praha.  Despite his relatively young age he already has over 150 games of experience in Czechia’s top pro league, and has scored 12 points in 50 games this season.

Columbus Blue Jackets Assign Greaves, Fix-Wolansky To AHL

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have made a couple of roster moves, sending Jet Greaves and Trey Fix-Wolansky to the AHL. That suggests Elvis Merzlikins is ready to return, and either Boone Jenner or Eric Robinson – who both took part in practice today – will also be in the lineup tomorrow night.

Fix-Wolansky, 23, has played just four games with the Blue Jackets this season, spending most of the year with the Cleveland Monsters. The undersized forward has been outstanding there, to the tune of 34 points in 26 games, but can’t seem to bring that production to the NHL. A seventh-round pick in 2018, even playing games at the highest level is beating the odds, but the Blue Jackets will keep hoping that he can contribute on a more regular basis in the future.

Greaves, meanwhile, still hasn’t appeared in the NHL and is really only an emergency backup at this point. The 21-year-old has recorded an .885 save percentage in 15 appearances for the Monsters this year and has a long way to go before he is seeing meaningful playing time in the NHL.

Getting Jenner back would be the most impactful for the Blue Jackets, who have been without their captain since December 17. The 29-year-old has 11 goals and 22 points this season through 30 games, though like so many other Columbus players, has been outscored heavily at even-strength. Jenner is averaging more than 20 minutes a night for the struggling club, which has dropped to last in the NHL standings.

Columbus Blue Jackets Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced three roster moves: the team has activated defenseman Nick Blankenburg off of injured reserve, placed forward Eric Robinson on injured reserve retroactive to January 3rd, and recalled netminder Jet Greaves from their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, on an emergency basis.

Blankenburg, 24, returns to the Blue Jackets’ roster at an important time as his team is besieged by injuries. Those injuries have caused Columbus to rely on rookies such as Tim Berni and Marcus Bjork to play larger roles than they’d likely otherwise be playing. With Blankenburg now back, coach Brad Larsen will have another option to help out his beleaguered blueline.

Blankenburg made his NHL debut last season after ending a four-year collegiate career at the University of Michigan and has played in seven games this season. He’s scored three points in that span and has skated in just over 18 minutes per night.

Replacing Blankenburg on injured reserve is Robinson, a 27-year-old winger. Like Blankenburg, Robinson is an undrafted player who enjoyed a fruitful NCAA career en route to the Blue Jackets organization.

Robinson has 10 points in 31 games so far this season and has been a first-unit penalty killer for Columbus alongside veteran center Sean Kuraly. He’ll now be on injured reserve moving forward as he recovers from an upper-body injury.

This recall is the fifth emergency recall of the season for Greaves, the Blue Jackets’ 21-year-old netminder. Greaves has been forced into the organization’s number-three role thanks to an injury to Daniil Tarasov, and has been shuttled from Columbus to Cleveland relatively frequently as a result.

Greaves, who like the other two players involved in today’s transactions did not hear his name called at the NHL draft, made his professional debut last season. He split time between Cleveland and the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, posting a .905 save percentage in the AHL and a .907 in the ECHL.

This season, Greaves has only played in the AHL. (to go along with the time he’s spent on the bench in Columbus) He’s gotten into 15 games for the Monsters and gone 6-6-2 with a 3.69 goals-against-average and an .885 save percentage.

Greaves’ numbers are admittedly far weaker than they were last season, but it’s worth noting that the Monsters have been one of the AHL’s weakest teams over the past two seasons. With this emergency recall, Greaves will be on the bench for tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, backing up Joonas Korpisalo.

Snapshots: Blue Jackets-Sabres, Greaves, Matthews

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Over the holidays, several NHL games were postponed because of a massive winter storm. Today, the league announced that the game originally scheduled for December 27 between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres will now be played on April 14.

That means both teams will now end the season with a back-to-back situation, as they were previously set to finish up on the 13th. The Blue Jackets will be at home for both games, but the Sabres will have to travel from Buffalo, where they play the Ottawa Senators the night before.

  • Speaking of the Blue Jackets, the team returned Jet Greaves to the minor leagues today, indicating that Joonas Korpisalo has recovered enough to return to action. Greaves very easily could have made his NHL debut last night in relief of Elvis Merzlikins, who was peppered with shots from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He stopped 40 of them but still lost after allowing six goals.
  • Auston Matthews will be out of the lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs, with head coach Sheldon Keefe confirming to reporters including Mark Masters of TSN that the star center is dealing with a lingering injury. Matthews has not yet been ruled out for tomorrow’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Daniil Tarasov Placed On Injured Reserve; Jet Greaves Recalled

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have had a revolving door in the net this season, and once again Jet Greaves is up under emergency conditions. Joonas Korpisalo is unavailable due to personal reasons, so the team moved Daniil Tarasov to injured reserve in order to make room on the roster.

Tarasov’s IR placement is retroactive to December 30, meaning he can come off whenever healthy. He is dealing with an upper-body injury and has been listed as day-to-day. The 23-year-old netminder appeared to be taking over the backup role earlier this year, but now sits at 2-8-1 with a .907 save percentage on the season. His absence (or that of Korpisalo) doesn’t really mean much to a team that is 12-25-2 on the year and holds the worst goal differential in the Eastern Conference.

The Blue Jackets were one of the offseason’s big winners, signing Johnny Gaudreau to a long-term big-money deal. But after a poor start and near-countless injuries, the season is essentially lost. It would take a herculean effort in the second half to get back into the mix, meaning their focus is more likely to be on the 2023 draft than anything else.

Because of that Korpisalo may end up being a potential deadline target, if he can continue to play well for the next few weeks. The 28-year-old has been very inconsistent in his career but so far has a .913 save percentage this season and is on an expiring contract. It seems that the revolving door isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Columbus Blue Jackets Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced a series of roster moves this evening. Defenseman Adam Boqvist and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo have both been activated off of IR. In order to create the roster space for both players, the team has placed forward Cole Sillinger on IR and assigned goaltender Jet Greaves to the Cleveland Monsters, their AHL affiliate. Sillinger’s IR placement is retroactive to December 17th.

Columbus’ injury woes this season are well-documented, and Korpisalo is no exception, coming off of his second IR stint of the season. The netminder missed the first two weeks of the season on IR before landing there again December 11th. The other key struggle for the Blue Jackets this season has been goaltending, and there, Korpisalo again is no exception. The 28-year-old has struggled to a 3.53 goals-against average this season, though his .903 save-percentage, when considering his goals-against the the Blue Jackets’ on-ice struggles, is encouraging.

Korpisalo’s fellow netminder, Greaves had been recalled Tuesday on an emergency basis, but hadn’t played. The 21-year-old has had his own struggles in net this year, getting into 11 games with Cleveland, recording an .877 save-percentage average and 4.09 goals-against average.

The 19-year-old Sillinger hasn’t yet been able to recapture the success he had as a rookie in 2021-22, tallying just six points through his first 30 games this season and now lands on a lengthy IR list. The forward suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday’s game against the Boston Bruins and hadn’t played since. Though an injury isn’t good news, perhaps a brief time away could act as a reset for the youngster with a fresh-start ahead.

Boqvist will be a much-welcomed addition to a depleted lineup, havng played in just four games this season, the most recent coming October 25th. The former Chicago Blackhawks prospect has shown promise as a legitimate NHL defenseman, but is still awaiting a big breakout. Given the long list of injuries, if Boqvist can stay healthy, he should be able to gather enough regular minutes to help him facilitate that breakout.

Yegor Chinakhov Out Six Weeks

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12/21/22: We now have some more clarity on Chinakhov’s injury and the timeline related to his recovery process. The Blue Jackets have announced that Chinakhov suffered a high ankle sprain in Monday’s game against the Dallas Stars, an injury that will cause him to miss approximately six weeks.

Chinakhov, the 21st overall pick at the 2020 draft, had been having a solid sophomore NHL season. While the Blue Jackets in general have struggled mightily, Chinakhov’s 13 points put him just one point behind his total production from last season. This year, though, he has scored those 13 points in 30 games, while last year it took him 62 games to score 14.

Needless to say, this high ankle sprain is an unwelcome development for the Blue Jackets. But the team can, at the very least, be encouraged by his progress on the ice so far this year as they monitor his injury recovery process.

12/20/22: It’s hard to believe just how many Columbus Blue Jackets players have suffered serious injuries this season but the list just keeps getting longer. Today, Yegor Chinakhov was moved to injured reserve with an ankle injury. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that the young forward will get an MRI later today but is expected to be out of the lineup for a while.

Elvis Merzlikins is also dealing with an illness, meaning Jet Greaves has been recalled under emergency conditions and will serve as the backup tonight for Daniil Tarasov.

Chinakhov, 21, joins an injured reserve list that could nearly be a full NHL roster. Jakub Voracek, Boone Jenner, Jake Bean, Joonas Korpisalo, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, Zach Werenski, and Adam Boqvist are already out, while Cole Sillinger is dealing with a more minor injury.

Already in last place in the Eastern Conference and on a four-game losing streak, the Blue Jackets look like prime contenders for a lottery pick next summer.

Blue Jackets Recall Daniil Tarasov, Joonas Korpisalo Out At Least A Week

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Dec 12: The Blue Jackets have swapped, sending Greaves back down and recalling Tarasov.

Dec 10: Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo left last night’s game against Calgary after the first period with what was called lower body discomfort.  Head coach Brad Larsen told reporters, including Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the veteran will be out for at least a week due to the injury.  That designation allows him to be placed on injured reserve, creating an open roster spot for the team to recall Jet Greaves from AHL Cleveland.

Korpisalo returned to the lineup last month after missing the start of the season due to the hip surgery he underwent back in March.  It’s unknown if this issue is related to that procedure but Columbus will understandably err on the side of caution here.  Through his first 12 appearances, he has a 3.53 GAA along with a .903 SV% and while those numbers may not look great, they’re considerably better than what starter Elvis Merzlikins has put up so far (4.82 and .862, respectively).

At first glance, it seems a bit surprising that Daniil Tarasov wasn’t the one brought up from the Monsters.  He has held his own in limited action with Columbus this season and as the presumptive backup starting in 2023-24, a chance to get him some more NHL experience at a time when the season is already well off the rails would have made some sense.  Instead, they’ll prioritize the 23-year-old getting steady playing time in the minors.

This will be Greaves’ second recall of the season although this one should last a little longer than his first one.  The 21-year-old undrafted free agent signing has played in 10 games with Cleveland this season, posting a 4.09 GAA with an .878 SV%.  His promotion means that it should be Merzlikins’ net exclusively until Korpisalo is able to return.

Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Kent Johnson

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Only a blip on the radar for top prospect Kent Johnson, who has been recalled by the Columbus Blue Jackets after missing their first game. The team has sent Jet Greaves, last night’s backup goaltender, back to the minor leagues to make room.

While Johnson had made the team out of camp, an illness for Elvis Merzlikins necessitated the early change. Things could be very different 24 hours later, as the Blue Jackets watched Patrik Laine leave last night’s game with an injury. If Laine is out for any length of time, it could be Johnson stepping into a top-six role, as his offensive skillset plays better there than lower in the lineup.

Selected fifth overall in 2021, the 19-year-old forward was a dominant offensive player at the University of Michigan and has shown his skills at the World Juniors, World Championship, and Olympics. In nine games down the stretch with Columbus last season he recorded three assists, a total that is indicative of his pass-first mentality.

That’s a much different style than Laine, but if the Finnish sniper is out, the Blue Jackets will need someone else to help Jonny Gaudreau carry the load. They were thoroughly outplayed by the Carolina Hurricanes last night en route to a 4-1 loss, with only Laine scoring for Columbus before exiting (he totaled 7:49 of ice time). The Blue Jackets are back in action tomorrow night but things won’t get any easier. They welcome in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Columbus Blue Jackets Loan Kent Johnson To AHL

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In a move that they certainly didn’t want to have to do, the Columbus Blue Jackets have loaned star prospect Kent Johnson to the minor leagues. The reason? Jet Greaves has been recalled under emergency conditions as Elvis Merzlikins is out with an illness. Greaves will serve as backup for Daniil Tarasov as the team opens the season.

While losing Merzlikins is noteworthy, the headline here will be Johnson’s demotion. It had been trending this way already during the preseason, as he appeared to be on the outside looking in as the final roster cuts approached. But then when things were finalized, Johnson was staying with the Blue Jackets after all. Head coach Brad Larsen told reporters that “Kent is here because he deserves to be here, period” and that even if he is a scratch for the first few games he was “not gonna sit on the shelf long.”

Now, with this emergency recall of Greaves, it shows how precarious Johnson’s position on the roster really was. As a waiver-exempt player due to his young age (Johnson will turn 20 in a few days), he can be bounced back and forth without issue. That yo-yo-ing isn’t usually a good strategy for a player of his skill level, but perhaps it will only happen for a few days as they get Merzlikins healthy enough to return to action.

Either way, how Columbus develops Johnson will have a huge effect on their future, as his offensive ceiling is as high as any other prospect in the league. Selected fifth overall in 2021, his time will come soon.

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