Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Kyle Turris

Petr Mrazek, Four Others Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 11 Comments

March 21: Mrazek, Clifford, Turris, Jaros, and Nash cleared waivers today ahead of the Trade Deadline. Sateri, Richardson, and Pouliot were all claimed.

March 20: The Toronto Maple Leafs have been dealing with goaltending issues for the past while, and after Erik Kallgren was given the net for the last several games, it was unclear where Petr Mrazek fit into the future of the team. Today, the Maple Leafs have offered Mrazek to the rest of the league by placing him on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He is one of three Maple Leafs on the list today, joined by Kyle Clifford and Harri Sateri, a free agent goaltender the Maple Leafs have signed from the KHL, who has to clear waivers before he comes back to North America.

Those aren’t the only players on waivers though. The full list is as follows:

Riley Nash (ARI)
Brad Richardson (CGY)
Kyle Turris (EDM)
Christian Jaros (NJD)
Kyle Clifford (TOR)
Petr Mrazek (TOR)
Harri Sateri (TOR)
Derrick Pouliot (VGK)

Sateri, 32, just won an Olympic gold medal with Finland and has been an excellent netminder in the KHL for the last three seasons, but certainly doesn’t have a very long track record of success in North America. Drafted 106th overall back in 2008 by the San Jose Sharks, he struggled in parts of four minor league seasons before going to Russia. A few years later he was back with the Florida Panthers, where he played in nine NHL games and posted a .911 save percentage. After another sub-par year in the minors he was back overseas.

His signing, which will consist of a one-year contract that carries a cap hit of $750K through the end of this season, could be seen as nothing more than organizational depth at the deadline. With Mrazek’s struggles and placement on waivers today though, along with a recent injury to Jack Campbell, the Maple Leafs crease is completely up for grabs, even for a player like Sateri that is coming in fresh from outside the organization. That is of course as long as he clears, something that is certainly not a guarantee given how inexpensive his contract is.

It’s Mrazek that is the big name, given the fact that he signed a three-year, $11.4MM contract with the Maple Leafs just last summer. With a $3.8MM cap hit through 2023-24, a loan to the minor leagues would only clear $1.125MM for Toronto ahead of the deadline. With how quickly he has fallen out of favor with the Maple Leafs, Mrazek seems a prime buyout candidate for this offseason, should the team be unable to trade his contract elsewhere in the coming months.

Among the rest of the names are some veterans who could be snatched for a playoff run, though none are difference-makers at this point in their respective careers. Notably, for a player to be eligible for the rest of the AHL season and playoffs, he has to be on the roster at tomorrow’s deadline. For these players to get to that threshold, they needed to be placed on waivers today, if there was any thought of stashing them in the AHL down the stretch.

Oilers Place Ryan Nugent-Hopkins On IR, Activate Kyle Turris

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Edmonton Oilers have performed a roster swap of sorts, moving Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to injured reserve in order to activate veteran forward Kyle Turris, as per the team.

Nugent-Hopkins has already been on the shelf for about a week with an upper-body injury suffered on February 26th against the Florida Panthers, causing him to leave the game after just three shifts. It’s his second injury-related absence this season after a lower-body injury kept him out for most of January.

Turris, who has just a goal and three assists in 22 games this season, has played just one game since January 5th. He subsequently entered COVID protocol, played one game, and then suffered an undisclosed injury that’s sidelined him for around a month.

With Nugent-Hopkins still out of the mix for a little while yet, the team will need to rely more on wingers such as Kailer Yamamoto and Warren Foegele to up their production. Yamamoto has especially lagged in the points department this season, notching just 11 goals and nine assists in 53 games despite getting consistent top-six usage.

As the Oilers have been icing 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the past while, though, it’s a natural fit for Turris to potentially get his feet back under him with some game action.

Kyle Turris, Tim Soderlund Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 6 Comments

Jan. 22: Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that both Turris and Soderlund have cleared waivers. Soderlund had his NHL contract terminated and a new one announced by Djurgardens. He signed back with the SHL club for the rest of this season, after which he’ll become an unrestricted free agent once again.

Jan. 21: The Edmonton Oilers have made one change, as Kyle Turris has been placed on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The veteran forward was on waivers at the start of the season and cleared, but had been with the NHL team long enough that he needed them again in order to be assigned to the AHL. The Oilers have also placed Tim Soderlund on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination.

Turris, 32, carries a cap hit of $1.65MM for the Oilers, which means just $1.125MM would come off the cap if he were sent to the minor leagues. That, plus the opening of another contract slot with the termination of Soderlund, could suggest the Oilers are set to make an addition of some sort. Evander Kane is the obvious connection here, though the results of his investigation with the NHL have still not been released.

There is little chance that another team claims Turris, but if they did, the Oilers would likely welcome the departure. The veteran forward has recorded just one goal and four points in 21 games for Edmonton this season, averaging fewer than nine minutes when he does get into the lineup. There’s not much to suggest he’s providing any more value than a $750K replacement from Bakersfield, meaning the cap savings would be worth more than having him on the roster. PuckPedia reported this morning that the Oilers were expected to sign Ryan Malone from Bakersfield for exactly that reason, but Ryan Rishaug of TSN adds that a COVID situation in the minor leagues makes this impossible for now. Malone would need to clear waivers to report to the Condors if signed to an NHL deal.

Still, this certainly isn’t an answer to the Oilers’ problems unless the goaltending and defense are also addressed at some point. The team is struggling in all aspects of the game, meaning any slight cap space will have to be spent carefully.

Kyle Turris Placed In COVID Protocol

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers have placed Kyle Turris in the COVID protocol, likely taking him out of consideration for their game this weekend against the Ottawa Senators. If Turris tested positive he’ll be kept out a minimum of five days.

While Oilers fans aren’t wishing him any ill health, they also likely won’t be that disappointed by the announcement that Turris is coming out of the lineup. The 32-year-old forward has just four points in 21 games this season and just nine since he arrived in Edmonton in 2020.

Once a dynamic offensive player, Turris is far from that at this point in his career and averages fewer than nine minutes of ice time when he does get into the lineup. His absence now is only painful because of the number of other missing players they have. Warren Foegele, Tyler Benson, Brendan Perlini, Kailer Yamamoto, Josh Archibald, Dylan Holloway, Slater Koekkoek, Evan Bouchard, and Ilya Konovalov are also all in the protocol, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is injured.

39 Players Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 15 Comments

Oct 11: Barre-Boulet, Brooks, Brown, and Jonsson-Fjallby were all claimed, but the other 39 players cleared and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Oct 10: On the final day to waive players before opening-night rosters are due, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports these 43 players have been placed on waivers:

F Sam Carrick (ANA)
D Jacob Larsson (ANA)
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (BUF)
D Eric Gelinas (CAR)
D Maxime Lajoie (CAR)
F Josh Leivo (CAR)
F Stefan Noesen (CAR)
F C.J. Smith (CAR)
D Gabriel Carlsson (CBJ)
D Mikko Lehtonen (CBJ)
F Kevin Stenlund (CBJ)
G Collin Delia (CHI)
G Malcolm Subban (CHI)
D Jacob MacDonald (COL)
D Alexander Petrovic (DAL)
F Riley Barber (DET)
F Taro Hirose (DET)
D William Lagesson (EDM)
F Kyle Turris (EDM)
D Lucas Carlsson (FLA)
G Christopher Gibson (FLA)
D Austin Strand (LAK)
F Austin Wagner (LAK)
F Frederik Gauthier (NJD)
G Connor Ingram (NSH)
F Michael McCarron (NSH)
F Andrew Agozzino (OTT)
D Nick Seeler (PHI)
F Alex Barre-Boulet (TBL)
D Fredrik Claesson (TBL)
D Andrej Sustr (TBL)
F Adam Brooks (TOR)
F Justin Bailey (VAN)
D Madison Bowey (VAN)
F Phillip Di Giuseppe (VAN)
D Travis Hamonic (VAN)
F Sven Baertschi (VGK)
F Patrick Brown (VGK)
F Gage Quinney (VGK)
G Zachary Fucale (WSH)
F Garrett Pilon (WSH)
D Nelson Nogier (WPG)
F Dominic Toninato (WPG)

Read more

West Notes: Hertl, Wild, Turris, Delia

at CDT | by 2 Comments

While Sharks center Tomas Hertl is a highly-speculated candidate to be traded this season, San Jose GM Doug Wilson has other plans.  Speaking with reporters including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Wilson indicated that extension talks are well underway:

I’ve had several conversations with his agent. And when you have conversations with agents, they’re always kept in confidence. The rhythm of the negotiation, the time and place of it. Tomas knows how we feel about him.

However, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News points out, the Sharks may not be able to afford to carry another long-term deal on their books with over $48MM tied up in just seven players for 2023-24 and a salary cap that’s not expected to go up much in the next few years.  Hertl has said he’s open to the idea of taking a bit less to stay in a winning environment but San Jose will have to quickly turn things around to have a chance at him signing a slightly lower deal.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Wild announced that they have named defenseman Matt Dumba and winger Marcus Foligno as alternate captains. They take the place of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise who were both bought out this summer.  Dumba, who had been in trade speculation for the past couple of years before Suter’s departure, is heading into his ninth NHL season, all with Minnesota while Foligno is entering his 11th NHL campaign and fifth with the Wild.
  • With Edmonton adding Derek Ryan this summer as their presumptive third center plus Ryan McLeod being a strong candidate to make the roster, the Oilers have shifted long-time middleman Kyle Turris to the right wing, notes Postmedia’s Jim Matheson. Last season was a tough one for Turris who started as the third center and finished as a frequent healthy scratch while spending time on the taxi squad.  He’s entering the final year of his deal with a $1.65MM AAV.  Nearly 70% of that could come off Edmonton’s cap if he’s waived and sent to the minors so he’ll need a strong camp to make the team and not be eyed as a possible avenue to free up some wiggle room on the cap.
  • The Blackhawks announced that goaltender Collin Delia was not available to practice with the team today due to a non-COVID-19-related illness. The 27-year-old got into six games with Chicago last season but will likely be on the outside looking in at a roster spot for this season following the acquisition of Marc-Andre Fleury and the return of Kevin Lankinen.

2021 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Charlie Coyle

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Mikael Backlund

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Connor Murphy

Colorado: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Esa Lindell

Detroit: Dylan Larkin

Edmonton: Kyle Turris

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Moore

Minnesota: Mats Zuccarello

Montreal: Jonathan Drouin

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Anders Lee

NY Rangers: Chris Kreider

Ottawa: Thomas Chabot

Philadelphia: Scott Laughton

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Kurtis Gabriel

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: John Tavares

Vancouver: Tyler Motte

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Several Players Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Saturday: All four players passed through waivers unclaimed, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.

Friday: The Ottawa Senators have placed Clark Bishop on waivers in order to be able to place him on the taxi squad once again. He’s not the only one on the wire, as the Edmonton Oilers have placed veteran forward Kyle Turris and the Montreal Canadiens have placed Paul Byron on waivers. The New York Islanders have also signed Kenneth Appleby to an NHL contract, meaning he has to clear waivers to remain in the AHL.

For Bishop and the Senators, this is a simple move to regain the roster flexibility they have had for most of the season. After clearing waivers before the season began, Bishop was able to move freely between the active roster and taxi squad depending on need, saving the Senators some cash on off days. His exempt status expired earlier this month, meaning he needed to clear again to be assigned to the taxi squad. With just three points in 12 games, Bishop is likely to clear again.

Byron too should be used to this by now, given he has cleared waivers twice this season and is part of a near-daily rotation through the taxi squad. The 31-year-old forward was once an important part of the Canadiens attack but is limited to mostly fourth-line duties these days. Given his contract carries a $3.4MM cap hit through the end of the 2022-23 season, he will clear again.

Turris hasn’t cleared this season, but it won’t be a surprise if he does. The 31-year-old forward is a shadow of the player that once scored 64 points for the Ottawa Senators and is overpaid even at $1.65MM this season. Turris signed a two-year deal with the Oilers in the offseason that the team is probably already regretting after he registered just five points in his first 25 games this season. Moving his deal to the taxi squad could bury $1.075MM of it, giving the Oilers some added flexibility.

Appleby, the biggest unknown of the bunch, is a 25-year-old minor league goaltender that would need an NHL deal in order to serve as the taxi squad netminder. In two appearances with Bridgeport this season he has an .896 save percentage and there is no suggestion that he’ll ever see time in the Islanders net.  CapFriendly reports that Appleby receives a two-year contract, making him eligible to be exposed to Seattle in the upcoming expansion draft.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 03/16/21

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is the list so far:

NY Islanders – Noah Dobson
NY Rangers – Phil Di Giuseppe, Pavel Buchnevich, Adam Fox

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Kyle Turris, Edmonton Oilers; Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils

No new additions so far today and a couple of names come off the list. Importantly, Turris ended up being the only Oiler that hit the list. The North Division hasn’t had a single game postponed so far, a record that the league would obviously like to keep intact as long as possible.

*denotes new addition

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 03/15/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is the list so far:

Edmonton – Kyle Turris
New Jersey – Will Butcher
NY Islanders – Noah Dobson
NY Rangers – Phil Di Giuseppe, Pavel Buchnevich*, Adam Fox*

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders; Olli Maatta, Los Angeles Kings

For the Rangers, seeing two more names pop up is certainly not a good sign. The team canceled their morning skate today but as of now are still scheduled to take on the Flyers this evening. Perhaps that will change in the next hour, but if not, the team will be without some key players. Fox, in particular, is an important cog who averages over 24 minutes a night and plays on both special teams. In fact, one could argue that he is the team’s most important player given how much he contributes at both ends of the rink. Losing him for tonight is bad, but if he remains on the list for a while the Rangers will be hard-pressed to replace his production.

*denotes new addition

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top