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Mathieu Joseph

Central Notes: Athanasiou, Mrazek, Joseph, Heinola

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The AHL’s Rockford IceHogs have announced that forward Andreas Athanasiou has suffered a wrist injury and will miss the next four to six weeks. He’s just three games into a tenure with Rockford, after passing through waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on November 13th. Athanasiou recorded two goals on four shots in his AHL debut but didn’t manage any scoring in two games this weekend. He’s playing in his first minor league games since the 2015-16 season, working to earn a recall after failing to score in his first five NHL games this season.

The slow start this season has continued Athanasiou’s unpredictable career. He’s only two seasons removed from a 20-goal, 40-point season with a much weaker Blackhawks lineup, but was limited to only 28 games last season by a lower-body injury that lasted nearly five months. He hasn’t rediscovered his scoring on the other side of that injury – and now gets stifled from a potential resurgence in the minor leagues for the time being. Athanasiou carries a $4.25MM cap hit and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Sticking in Chicago, starting goaltender Petr Mrazek will sit out of the team’s Tuesday night game against Anaheim for personal reasons per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. Arvid Soderblom will take over the starting crease, and Drew Commesso has been called up to serve as backup. Soderblom has posted a .934 save percentage in five games this season, well ahead of Mrazek’s .906 in 13 games. He’ll need to stay strong, with no indication of how long Mrazek may miss and Chicago currently on a two-game losing streak.
  • It will be Mathieu Joseph stepping out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup to make room for Robert Thomas’ return from a fractured ankle per NHL.com’s Elise Butler. Joseph only has one point in his last seven games, and has fallen to a fourth-line role after a strong stint in late October. St. Louis acquired Joseph and a third-round pick for future considerations from the Ottawa Senators this summer. Joseph scored a career-high 35 points last year, but has so far struggled to find his scoring in St. Louis. He’ll look to take better advantage of his minutes when he’s called on again, while Oskar Sundqvist also steps out of the lineup in favor of Zachary Bolduc.
  • Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel said that defender Ville Heinola could rejoin against Minnesota on Monday, shares NHL.com’s Mitchell Clinton. Heinola was assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for a conditioning stint after starting the year on injured reserve with an ankle injury. He hasn’t slotted into the Jets’ lineup since January of 2023, when he was assigned to the minors after scoring just one point in 10 NHL games. He went on to score 64 points in 89 AHL games over the last two seasons, though he continues to fight with routine injury. Heinola was the 20th-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Central Notes: Colorado Injury Updates, Blackwood, Stankoven, Joseph

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The Colorado Avalanche continue to inch closer toward a healthy roster. Play-by-play announced Conor McGahey reported earlier that Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog were present on the ice during the team’s morning skate while Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin skated in non-contact jerseys.

The jury is still out on whether Landeskog can return this season but the expectation is that Nichushkin, Wood, and Drouin will return to the lineup over the coming weeks. This would leave Landeskog and Ross Colton as the only formidable top-six talents left on the injured reserve making the deepest rendition of Colorado’s lineup up to this point in the 2024-25 campaign.

Colorado has stayed afloat in the Western Conference thanks to the team’s usual suspects. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar are all well over a point-per-game production this season, and the Avalanche could start to generate rapid success should the team get closer to fully healthy.

Other Central notes:

  • Staying in Colorado — one of the most disappointing factors for the team this season has been its goaltending. Avalanche netminders have combined for a .868 SV% over 15 contests leading many pundits to believe Colorado will trade for a goaltender. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke about the issue in his latest episode of ’32 Thoughts’ and reiterated that the Avalanche have circled back on San Jose Sharks’ netminder Mackenzie Blackwood. Colorado’s interest in Blackwood, which reportedly spanned back to last season, could have been reignited by the netminder’s recent 44-save shutout against his former team last night.
  • Senior draft writer of the NHL, Mike G. Morreale, recently surveyed the top rookies in the NHL’s Central Division and it’s no surprise that Logan Stankoven of the Dallas Stars is leading the pack. Stankoven currently leads the 2024-25 rookie class with two goals and 12 points in 13 games while averaging top-six minutes. Morreale quoted Stars head coach Peter DeBoer saying, “Anybody you put him with, he complements. Good players want to play with a guy like that because he’s competitive, he’s on pucks, he recovers pucks, he can make a play.”
  • Expect forward Mathieu Joseph to be in the lineup tomorrow night for the St. Louis Blues after missing the team’s last six games (X Link). Joseph, who had been nursing a lower-body injury, hasn’t played since October 26th. In his first year with the Blues organization, Joseph has collected two goals and four points in nine contests while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per night.

Central Notes: Joseph, Kapanen, Marchment

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St. Louis Blues forward Mathieu Joseph skated today as he tries to work his way back into the lineup from a lower-body injury (as per Lou Korac of NHL.com). Joseph hasn’t played since October 26th against the Montreal Canadiens after he was hurt in the third period of a 5-2 loss. To this point, Joseph has missed four games, and it seems likely that his number of missed games will increase.

Joseph is unlikely to play tomorrow night given that he didn’t take much contact today and focused more on flow drills. The 27-year-old has had a decent start to the season, posting two goals and two assists in nine games to go along with 13 hits and 14 shots on net.

In other Central Division notes:

  • St. Louis Blues head coach Drew Bannister believes that forward Kasperi Kapanen could be an option to return to the Blues lineup tomorrow night (as per Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Kapanen has missed the Blues’ past three games with an upper-body injury and will be looking to get his season on track as it has been a rough start for the former first-round pick. Kapanen has just a single goal in eight appearances this season and has struggled with possession, committing seven turnovers and seeing his team control just 46.5% of the play (at even strength).
  • Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury according to head coach Pete DeBoer (as per Lia Assimakopoulos of Dallas Morning News). Marchment has been dealing with an issue since he fought during the second Global Series game on Saturday night against the Florida Panthers. Marchment had a run-in with Panthers defender Nate Schmidt after he had boarded the defenseman from behind. Marchment took the worst of the exchange and eventually fell to the ice.

Injury Updates: Blues, Vlasic, McKegg

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Blues winger Kasperi Kapanen skated before practice today after missing Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury, notes Lou Korac of The Hockey News.  Head coach Drew Bannister labeled the 28-year-old as out day-to-day.  Kapanen has a goal in eight games so far this season while averaging just under 12 minutes per game and has been the subject of speculation that he could be a waiver candidate when everyone up front is healthy.

Meanwhile, Korac added that winger Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Nick Leddy also skated before practice as they work their way back from lower-body injuries that cost them the last two and seven games respectively; they are also listed as out day-to-day.  However, neither of them nor Kapanen is expected to play against Toronto on Saturday.

Other injury news from around the hockey world:

  • Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic has resumed skating on his own as he works his way back from a back injury, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 37-year-old was only hoping to miss part of training camp with the issue but instead, he has yet to play this season.  Vlasic has seen his role drop sharply in recent years as he’s no longer the high-end shutdown defender he was in his prime but is rather more of a depth piece now and is likely to be in a sixth or seventh role when he returns; head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t have a timeline for when Vlasic could start to skate with the team.
  • After spending the last two seasons in the minors, veteran forward Greg McKegg decided to sign in the Czech Extraliga this summer. However, he won’t play for BK Mlada Boleslav after all as the team announced that he is dealing with a significant knee injury, one that appears to have been pre-existing before he came to the team before it flared up in practice early in training camp.  The 32-year-old will now undergo surgery for the injury.  McKegg has 233 NHL appearances over nine seasons and 454 career AHL games under his belt and might look to try to sign with a North American team again next summer.

Evening Notes: Vesey, Hague, Joseph

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Mollie Walker of New York Post Sports reports that New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey has been upgraded from a non-contact jersey and skated in a regular one today at Rangers practice. The 31-year-old sustained a lower-body injury during the preseason and has yet to dress in a regular game after playing 80 games last season and 81 the year before.

The Boston, Massachusetts native only resumed skating last Thursday and could play at some point this week if he progresses. New York has been using a revolving group of forwards in Vesey’s absence and re-called Matt Rempe yesterday from Hartford to presumably fill in until Vesey is ready to return.

In other evening notes:

  • Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague remains day to day with a lower-body injury (as per Jesse Granger of The Athletic). The 25-year-old was injured in the second period of Friday night’s 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators after scoring his first goal of the season earlier in the game. Kaedan Korczak replaced Hague on Saturday against San Jose, and it appears as though Hague will miss tonight’s game against Calgary. Hague has a single point on the season in eight games and has struggled to start the year as his possession numbers have been abysmal with a 37.8 CF% at even strength (as per Hockey Reference).
  • St. Louis Blues forward Mathieu Joseph will be returning to St. Louis to be evaluated after he suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Montreal (as per Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post Dispatch). Joseph will reportedly miss the remainder of the Blues road trip which sees them in Ottawa tomorrow night and Philadelphia on Thursday. Joseph has had a decent start in his first season with St. Louis posting two goals and two assists in nine games while being one of the team’s top penalty-killing options.

Senators Shopping Mathieu Joseph

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This time a year ago, there was some speculation about Mathieu Joseph’s future with the Senators.  The team had limited cap room and needed to make some additions to the roster while keeping enough money to re-sign Shane Pinto which made Joseph a potential candidate to be moved.  As it turns out, that didn’t need to happen and they managed to stay cap-compliant throughout the year.

Fast forward to today and not a lot has evidently changed.  The Sens have some cap flexibility but need to re-sign Pinto again to a considerably pricier deal and once that’s done, they might not have enough left to add a key piece to their roster.  Accordingly, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa is trying to move Joseph before the draft begins on June 28th.

The 27-year-old is coming off a solid showing this season after struggling mightily in 2022-23, his first full season with the team.  Joseph notched 11 goals and 24 assists in 72 games, setting new career highs in assists and points along the way.  He was rewarded with a boost in playing time, going up to 16:28 per night while seeing action on both special teams units.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem like the type of player Ottawa should be trading.  However, Joseph has two years left on a contract that carries a $2.95MM AAV.  That is on the pricey end for a role player and if they could find a way to move him and have a lower-cost piece take his place, that might give GM Steve Staios enough extra flexibility to try to add an impact free agent.

Of course, the rest of the league knows that Joseph’s contract is a bit on the high side and with many other teams looking to try to make some splashes this summer, quite a few will be looking to save their cap room for those moves later in the offseason so the market for Joseph might not be particularly strong.  That said, Ottawa should have a better chance to move him now coming off a career year compared to the three-goal, 18-point performance he put up in 2022-23.  Will that be enough to find a trade fit by the draft this time around?  We’ll find out the answer to that within the next few weeks.

Senators Expected To Activate Mathieu Joseph

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The Senators are gearing up to activate winger Mathieu Joseph from long-term injured reserve, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports Sunday. To clear roster and salary cap space, the team assigned wingers Angus Crookshank and Jiri Smejkal to AHL Belleville.

Joseph, 26, was moved to LTIR just last week, but the move was retroactive to when he exited the lineup with a lower-body injury against the Stars on December 15. He will have satisfied the minimum 10-game, 28-day absence requirement ahead of their game Tuesday against the Flames and will be activated immediately upon becoming eligible.

Before the season began, Joseph and his $2.95MM cap hit were the subject of trade discussions to help alleviate the Senators’ difficult cap squeeze after a busy offseason. Without any takers, Joseph began the season still in Ottawa and responded with a career-best 0.76 points per game pace through his first 25 games, recording six goals, 13 assists, and a +12 rating that remains first on the team.

That depth production will prove extremely valuable in his return to the lineup. The Senators’ largest ailment this season has again been an inept bottom-six, one that’s produced a combined 18 goals sans Joseph as the season nears its halfway mark. Combined with subpar goaltending from Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, the team remains last in the Eastern Conference with a 14-21-0 record and 28 points.

Crookshank and Smejkal now return to minor-league action for the foreseeable future, although both fared decently well in their first career NHL stints throughout the first half of the season. The 24-year-old Crookshank scored a goal and an assist in seven games and posted positive possession metrics despite being leaned on heavily in the defensive zone, although he did it in just 8:50 per game. Smejkal, 27, has one assist and a -2 rating in nine games this season.

Senators Notes: Tarasenko, Pinto, Joseph

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With the Senators underachieving considerably this season, they’ll likely be selling leading up to the March 8th trade deadline barring some kind of significant turnaround in the standings.  To that end, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the team is expected to approach veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko about waiving his no-trade clause before the deadline.  The 32-year-old inked a one-year, $5MM deal in late July after longer-term agreements that were more to his liking failed to materialize on the open market even after changing agents just days into free agency.  Tarasenko hasn’t lit it up with Ottawa but does have 24 points in 32 games and would add some secondary scoring to a contending squad.  The Sens would likely need to retain up to 50% in order to maximize the return when the time comes to move him.

More from Ottawa:

  • Garrioch notes in the same piece that while the original plan was for Shane Pinto to have a conditioning stint with AHL Belleville later this month when he’s eligible to return, that’s no longer the case. The 23-year-old is allowed to start skating with the team on Wednesday while his first eligible game back is January 21st, allowing for ample time for him to work on his conditioning and get up to speed before making his debut.  Ottawa still needs to sign Pinto but that will likely have to be a low-cost one-year deal given their salary cap situation.
  • In a separate piece from Garrioch, he notes that winger Mathieu Joseph has resumed skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury. He was recently placed on LTIR to accommodate Thomas Chabot’s activation but that was a short-term solution as Joseph could return as soon as Tuesday.  If that happens, the Sens will need to do some roster juggling to get back into cap compliance.  Joseph was off to a strong start before suffering the injury last month, picking up 19 points in his first 25 games.

Senators Notes: Chabot, Joseph, Kubalik

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The Senators will welcome back defenseman Thomas Chabot a bit earlier than expected as TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner will play today against Buffalo.  Originally, Ottawa had been hoping that he’d be back at some point during their upcoming five-game road trip.  The 26-year-old has missed the last four weeks with a leg injury and had been on LTIR.  On top of that, he also missed time with a hand injury earlier in the year; as a result, he has only played in nine games so far.  Chabot’s return will certainly be a welcome one for an Ottawa team that has scuffled in its own end defensively throughout the season.

Other notes revolving around the Senators:

  • CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that winger Mathieu Joseph has been placed on LTIR. The 26-year-old suffered a lower-body injury a little over two weeks ago and was believed to be a candidate to return at some point on the trip.  However, this placement was needed in order to stay cap-compliant with Chabot’s activation.  Joseph has had a nice bounce-back campaign, picking up 19 points in 25 games so far after recording just 18 in 56 contests last season.  The earliest he’ll be eligible to return now is January 9th as he must miss 10 games and 24 days from the date of the injury.
  • Dominik Kubalik’s first season in Ottawa has been somewhat of a challenge as he has been limited to just seven goals and two assists in his first 31 appearances. Accordingly, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch believes that the 28-year-old is a lock to be moved before the March 8th trade deadline and that the Sens have already fielded some calls on him.  Kubalik is in the final year of his contract which carries a $2.5MM cap charge and does not have any trade protection.

East Notes: Chytil, Capitals, Jost, Senators

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Rangers center Filip Chytil has returned to his native Czechia as he continues his recovery from a suspected concussion sustained back in early November, reports Larry Brooks of the New York Post.  While the 24-year-old has made some progress skating on his own, this move will basically serve as somewhat of a reset in his recovery.  While there, Chytil will keep skating while working with the trainer and skills coach that he works with in the offseason.  There is no word for how long he’ll be at home but Brooks notes that Chytil is committed to returning this season.  Chytil had a career year last season with 45 points and was off to a nice start this year before the injury, collecting six assists in ten contests.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren left tonight’s game early with an upper-body injury, the team announced (Twitter link). He appeared to be shaken up on the first shot he faced and was only able to stay in for a few minutes before eventually coming out of the game.  The 30-year-old has done quite well this season, posting a 2.29 GAA with a .928 SV% in his first 14 games heading into this contest.
  • Meanwhile, in a separate tweet, the Capitals also noted that defenseman Martin Fehervary left tonight’s contest with an upper-body injury of his own which also occurred in the first period. The 24-year-old hasn’t lit up the scoresheet with just five points heading into this game but he had been logging a little over 19 minutes a night on Washington’s second pairing.
  • The Sabres announced that they’ve assigned center Tyson Jost to AHL Rochester. The move comes as little surprise after he cleared waivers earlier today on the heels of notching just four points in his first 29 games while carrying a $2MM contract.  With Ryan Johnson’s quick recall following the move, Buffalo will need to make another roster move to activate Zemgus Girgensons off IR; he could be cleared to return on Saturday.
  • On top of the Senators potentially getting Thomas Chabot back on their upcoming road trip which begins January 2nd, TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that forwards Mathieu Joseph and Rourke Chartier should also be back during that stretch. Chabot is closer to returning than Joseph while Chartier’s timeline is a little less certain as he’s dealing with a concussion.

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