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International Notes: Filppula, Has, Andrighetto

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Triple Gold Club member Valtteri Filppula appears to be returning home for what is likely his final professional season. The 40-year-old is expected to join Jokerit of Finland’s second-tier Mestis for 2024-25, Sami Hoffrén and Marko Lempinen of Helsingen Sanomat report.

Filppula, a third-round pick of the Red Wings back in 2002, won the Stanley Cup with them six years later as part of a 16-year, 1,056-game NHL career. Split between the Wings, Lightning, Flyers and Islanders, he amassed 197 goals, 333 assists, 530 points, a -4 rating, and a 50.5% career win rate in the dot in the regular season.

The two-way pivot returned to Europe after becoming a free agent in 2021, and he’s spent the last three seasons in Switzerland with Genève-Servette HC of the National League. He was a premier offensive presence there, even in his late 30s, scoring 47 goals and 84 assists for 131 points in 145 games. But after a pair of seasons around a point per game, his production dropped off to 33 points in 51 games last year.

Filppula was a member of the Finnish national team that won gold at the Winter Olympics and the World Championship in 2022, making him the first Finn to win both in addition to a Stanley Cup. He now returns to Jokerit, where he played for two seasons before coming to the NHL in 2005.

The Helsinki-based franchise was once one of the top clubs in Europe, but their decision to leave the top Finnish league for Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League in 2013 proved fateful. They withdrew from the KHL midseason in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and missed 2022-23 entirely before restarting operations in Mestis last year.

More notable items from abroad:

  • Former Capitals defense prospect Martin Has has signed a tryout with HC Plzen of the Czech Extraliga, per a team announcement. A fifth-round pick back in 2019, Has never rose above the ECHL level in the Washington organization, spending 2022-23 with the South Carolina Stingrays before his signing rights expired, making him a UFA. Has, 23, spent last season with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets, where the 6’4″ right-shot was limited to five points and a -14 rating in 62 games. The Czech native will now look to latch on in one of the premier European professional leagues.
  • It doesn’t appear that an NHL comeback is in the cards for Sven Andrighetto, as he’s inked a four-year extension with the Swiss National League club ZSC Lions. Andrighetto, 31, is a Zurich native, and he had 31 points in 40 games for his hometown club last year before leading them to an NL championship. The 2013 third-round pick of the Canadiens scored 31 goals and 83 points in 216 NHL games with Montreal and Colorado between 2014 and 2019.

Senators Notes: Trade Targets, Martin, Tarasenko

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Ottawa Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios spoke with the media this morning to discuss a multitude of issues and concerns surrounding the franchise. In the mid-season update, Staios told the media that he has had a lot of discussions with other teams about potential trades and is looking to add players with leadership experience as well as complete 200-foot players.

The news isn’t that surprising given that the Senators don’t possess many players who have been part of a winning culture in the NHL. Outside of a couple of players, most of the Senators currently lineup have never played an NHL playoff game.

Staios’ desire to add complete players is also not surprising given that Ottawa has struggled to play a structured game over the past few seasons. While the offensive skill on the Senators is obvious, they don’t have a lot of defensively skilled forwards or defensemen and it’s been a glaring hole throughout their lineup for a few years now.

Staios mentioned that he would like to be active before the deadline but given most teams cap situation it is unlikely that the Senators will make many moves before the summer.

In other Ottawa notes:

  • Staios added that the Senators’ plan behind the bench is to have interim head coach Jacques Martin finish out the season. Martin hasn’t had a great start to his second run in Ottawa but did receive praise from Staios who said that Martin has laid a foundation for this group. Martin who has long been a good defensive coach, was seemingly brought into Ottawa to help the team find a defensive identity going forward. While the team didn’t see immediate improvement, they have shown signs of it lately with points in five of their last six games.
  • Staios also addressed the status of pending unrestricted free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Staios said that he has not talked to the 32-year-old about a move, but he has been impressed with the former Stanley Cup winner. Tarasenko was signed last summer to a one-year $5MM contract and has been as advertised with 12 goals and 19 assists in 41 games. While he is no longer a perennial 30-goal scorer, he is still providing offense at five-on-five and is on pace for 24 goals.

Blue Jackets Put Spencer Martin On Waivers, Jiricek Sent To AHL

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The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that they’ve placed goaltender Spencer Martin on waivers today and sent defenseman David Jiricek to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. Martin was placed on waivers for the purpose of sending him to the AHL, but he will need to clear waivers first before he can be sent there.

Martin has struggled this season after he was acquired on waivers from the Vancouver Canucks back in September 2023. He has not appeared in a game since a loss on January 2nd to the Boston Bruins. For the season, Martin has dressed in 13 games and has a 3-8-1 record with a 3.65 goals-against average and a save percentage of .887%. Those numbers are not great, and some might speculate that they are being dragged down by playing on a bad team in Columbus, however, Martin’s numbers are only slightly worse with the Blue Jackets as his career average goals against is 3.63 and his career save percentage is lower at .886. Martin’s demotion could lead to Elvis Merzļikins getting more playing time in the coming days, which could be interesting given his recent trade request.

Jiricek heads to Cleveland after dressing in 36 games this season for the Blue Jackets. The former sixth overall pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft has played okay this season, although he hasn’t posted much in the way of offense with just a goal and eight assists this year. The Blue Jackets tried to give the 20-year-old the bulk of his zone starts in the offensive zone and did appear to be sheltering him as best they could. With his demotion to Cleveland, he will likely see more minutes and have an opportunity to play in more high-leverage situations which could help his development long-term.

Matt Martin Out Day-To-Day, Gauthier Sick

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The New York Islanders have announced that forward Matt Martin is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and won’t play tonight against the Seattle Kraken. Martin played just 7:11 last night in the Islanders overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks which is below the 8:27 he has averaged this season.

Martin has a goal and an assist in 14 games to start the season and has seen his usage dip considerably which is unusual given that he is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. He has been less physical than he typically has been in the past averaging just over two hits a game which is a steep drop from the almost four hits he averaged a game last year.

No word on what specifically is keeping Martin from the lineup or if he will be able to dress for the Islanders on Saturday when they take on the Calgary Flames.

The Islanders also announced that forward Julien Gauthier is out with an illness and will miss tonight’s game in Seattle. Gauthier has been a healthy scratch more often than not this season so its hard to say whether or not he will dress when he recovers and is good to play again. The 26-year-old has no points in two games this season and the team has struggled immensely when he has been deployed for New York.

The Islanders are 5-6-4 to start the season and have already dealt with a ton of injuries just a month and a half into the regular season. They were relatively healthy going into last night’s game and can ill afford to lose any regular starters at this point.

Capitals Notes: Draft Rights, Fehervary, Dowd, Sandin

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Many NHL-drafted but unsigned players are set to become free agents today if they don’t sign within the next four hours. Today, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir confirmed two Capitals prospects will hit the open market: Czech defenseman Martin Has and Canadian defender Dru Krebs.

Krebs, the brother of Buffalo Sabres forward Peyton Krebs, was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 NHL Draft. While he had a strong year in 2020-21 in limited action due to COVID, the 2021-22 campaign was nightmarish for him, finishing with just 19 points in 66 games with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and a staggering -58 rating. He rebounded nicely this season, but the 20-year-old’s flaws displayed after his draft year likely signal an NHL future isn’t in the cards.

Has, 22, was a member of Washington’s 2019 draft class. The fifth-round pick played unsigned in the Capitals organization this year, registering 12 points in 50 games as a member of the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays.

  • Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan told reporters today that the team hasn’t begun speaking to pending restricted free agent defenseman Martin Fehervary about an extension yet, but “expects discussions to pick up soon.” Fehervary, Washington’s second-round pick in 2018, is coming off his entry-level deal. In his sophomore season with the Caps, the 23-year-old consistently played a top-four role and posted 16 points in 67 games.
  • MacLellan also said center Nic Dowd underwent core surgery recently, aiming to fix an ailment that was bugging him near the end of the season. Dowd is expected to recover in time for training camp in September. The 33-year-old bottom-six center has two seasons remaining at a cap hit of $1.3MM and is coming off a career-high 13 goals.
  • Lastly, in more positive news for Washington, MacLellan revealed the injury Swedish defenseman Rasmus Sandin sustained near the end of this year’s Men’s World Championship isn’t serious and carries no long-term concern. Sandin was electric for Washington after coming over from Toronto near the end of the season, posting 15 points in 19 games and averaging nearly 23 minutes per game. The 23-year-old former first-round pick will look to step into a consistent top-four role with the Caps next season, potentially alongside John Carlson.

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