Senators Reassign Leevi Merilainen, Activate Linus Ullmark
Feb. 3rd: According to a report from PuckPedia, the Senators have moved defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and forward Noah Gregor to LTIR. The move has allowed Ottawa the flexibility to activate Ullmark and have $105K in LTIR cap space.
Feb. 2nd: The Ottawa Senators have assigned goaltender Leevi Merilainen back to the minor leagues. This seems to be an indication that top goaltender Linus Ullmark is nearing a return from his long-term injury, as pointed out by TSN’s Bruce Garrioch. The NHL media site shows that Ullmark has been activated from long-term injured reserve. Ullmark has missed the team’s last 18 games with a back injury. Ottawa’s visit to Nashville on Monday could be his first game back.
Merilainen performed incredibly well in relief of Ullmark. He served as the team’s backup behind Anton Forsberg, but still appeared in 12 games and posted a dazzling 8-3-1 record and .925 save percentage. Should he not play in any more NHL games this season, Merilainen’s .925 would tie for the sixth-highest a Senators goaltender has ever recorded in a minimum of 10 games. Above him are three Craig Anderson seasons, and flash-in-the-pan years from Andrew Hammond and Robin Lehner. Ron Tugnutt (1998-99) and Dominik Hasek (2005-06) each posted .925 save percentages in 43 games of their own.
That’s certainly welcome company for Merilainen, who will now take his red hot play back to the minor leagues. He served as the Belleville Senators’ clear starter to begin the year, posting a 7-2-4 record and .901 save percentage through 13 games before his call-up. That still stands as the winningest record and highest save percentage on the AHL Senators, who have turned towards a rotation of goaltenders to fill Merilainen’s role. Malcolm Subban has been their more prominent fixture – playing in 11 games – though Michael Simpson, Mads Sogaard, and Mark Sinclair have each received their own shots at the AHL crease. All four fill-ins have posted save percentages below .890 – or in Sogaard’s case, below .860. Those numbers set Merilainen up for clear control of the Belleville crease upon his return – and continued strong play could force the NHL Senators to soon reconsider their choice of backup.
Ullmark will be rushed back to the NHL starting role in much the same way. The Senators have struggled immensely to find a consistent goaltender, and made a brazen move to acquire the former Vezina Trophy this summer. Aside from the long-term injury, the move has paid dividends extremely quickly. Ullmark recorded a 12-7-2 record and .915 save percentages in 23 games before getting hurt. After plenty of speculation around how he’d translate to a tougher environment, Ullmark has looked every ounce of cool, calm, and collected for the duration of his Senators tenure. This return from injury will give him a chance to continue that streak, and ramp up the Senators’ 7-2-1 hot streak over their last 10 games.
Atlantic Notes: Lalonde, Matheson, Lundell, Chaffee, Gregor
Analyst Darren Dreger shared worrying news for the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, Derek Lalonde, in yesterday’s edition of TSN’s ‘Insider Trading‘. Dreger highlighted Detroit’s three-game homestand, which begins tonight, as the last chance for Lalonde to continue in his role behind the Red Wings bench.
Lalonde is in the final year of his contract originally signed before the 2022-23 NHL season. He’s compiled an 85-79-21 record as head coach of the Red Wings and has missed the playoffs in his two full seasons behind the bench. General manager Steve Yzerman has typically stayed patient with his head coaches since his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Still, it’s seemingly growing thin with Detroit’s lack of competitiveness.
The firing of Lalonde would mark a significant shift in how the Red Wings have approached coaching in the recent past. Detroit has not fired a coach in-season since the late Mike Illitch purchased the organization in 1982.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- The Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Mike Matheson will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury. It’s concerning that Matheson has missed two games in a row but the Canadiens won’t play again until Saturday which should give Matheson plenty of time to recover if it’s a minor injury. He’s been an effective puck mover again this season with 12 assists in 20 games.
- Chances are Anton Lundell‘s availability for tonight won’t be decided until warm-ups. According to Colby Guy of the Associated Press, Lundell’s status is still in the air depending on his ability to see through a bubble shield after suffering a facial injury in the Florida Panthers’ last game against the Washington Capitals. The Panthers are expected to change their lines should Lundell not feel ready to go.
- According to Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times, forward Mitchell Chaffee won’t be in tonight’s lineup for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Chaffee only skated in 9:55 of Tampa Bay’s dominant win against the Colorado Avalanche Monday night after skating on the team’s second line next to Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. In his three recent games on the second line, Chaffee recorded one goal and three points.
- Depth forward Noah Gregor will be a game-time decision for the Ottawa Senators tonight (X Link). Gregor has missed five straight games for the Senators after scoring two goals and three points in his first 16 contests.
Senators Sign David Perron, Michael Amadio, Three Others
The Senators have picked up forward Noah Gregor on a one-year deal worth $850K, per Sports 1440’s Jason Gregor. He became a UFA after being non-tendered by the Maple Leafs yesterday. Additionally, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch announces the Senators are nearing an agreement with David Perron that will likely check in around $4MM a season. Furthermore, the Senators continue to round out their forward core as Darren Dreger of TSN reports the team has also agreed to terms with Michael Amadio on a three-year, $7.8MM contract.
Attacking the middle and bottom six of their forward core, the Senators made several improvements without having to dish out much capital. As the most sizeable addition regarding salary figures, Perron brings a good work ethic and leadership capabilities to a young Ottawa roster.
Over the last two years spent with the Detroit Red Wings organization, Perron scored 41 goals and 103 points in 158 games, with 39 of those points coming on Detroit’s powerplay. The veteran forward also elevated his physical play as he amassed 218 total body checks in a top-six role. In Ottawa, the Senators can move Perron up and down the lineup depending on team needs and matchups as he enters the twilight years of his career.
Amadio and Gregor will both improve Ottawa’s bottom six this upcoming season. As one of the more underrated bottom six players in the league over the last few seasons, Amadio scored 41 goals and 72 points over 193 games for the Vegas Golden Knights while averaging 11:25 minutes of ice time per night. Gregor has shown flashes of 20-point campaigns in the past but only managed to score six goals and 12 points for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.
The team also announced they’ve inked minor league forward Garrett Pilon to a two-year, two-way contract with a $775K cap hit. Lastly, there’s another minor-league signing in the form of defenseman Jeremy Davies, who joins on a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K NHL/$350K AHL.
Atlantic Notes: Red Wings Draft Plans, Barkov, Gregor
In an article today from Max Bultman of The Athletic (Subscription Required), he theorizes three hypothetical options for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2024 NHL Draft: stay put, trade down, and trade up. After it took until the last game of the regular season for the Red Wings to be eliminated from the postseason, there are several different directions that General Manager Steve Yzerman could take in Vegas.
If Detroit stays put, one of the most common mock picks at 15th overall is Michael Brandsegg-Nygård of Mora IK in the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan. Brandsegg-Nygard would be a very safe pick at 15th overall, given that he is one of the most mature players in the draft already, meaning it shouldn’t take him too long to crack the Red Wings roster. However, if Detroit does stay put, with a decent amount of organizational depth at the forward position, they could look for a high-risk high-reward prospect at 15th overall such as Cole Eiserman or Michael Hage.
Yzerman’s second most likely option would be to trade down a few spots to clear some cap space for the offseason. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks represent likely trade options in this scenario, given the bevy of cap space each team has. The Red Wings may be able to move the 15th overall pick and Justin Holl‘s contract to the Blackhawks in exchange for the 18th overall pick, or send the 15th overall pick and potentially both Holl and Ben Chiarot to the Ducks in exchange for the 31st overall pick if they want to get aggressive.
Lastly, since the Red Wings are unlikely to trade into the top 10 of the NHL Draft, their most likely partners in a trade-up scenario would be the Philadelphia Flyers or Buffalo Sabres. With the Flyers amid their rebuild, and the Sabres unlikely to trade with a division rival, would it make sense for Detroit to move up three spots? The price would be too high for Yzerman to trade up, and they may be left with similar options with the 15th overall pick regardless.
Other Atlantic notes:
- With plenty of eyes on the status of Aleksander Barkov ahead of Game 3, Jameson Olive, the Senior Digital Content Manager of the Florida Panthers reported that Barkov looked and felt good today. They will continue to monitor his status during the team’s skate in Edmonton tomorrow. After taking an elbow to the head from Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl towards the final minutes of Game 2, Barkov’s status has already led to a fair amount of controversy in the Stanley Cup Final.
- Touching on several different members of the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into the offseason, Joshua Kloke of The Athletic (Subscription Required) passes along that Noah Gregor‘s time with the organization has likely ended. With the emergence of forward prospects and depth pieces down the stretch, Gregor’s role was severely diminished towards the end of the regular season, and the Maple Leafs will likely use his roster spot for other purposes. Throughout the regular season, Gregor managed six goals and 12 points for Toronto over 63 games but only managed one goal in his last 35 contests.
Tom Wilson Offered In-Person Hearing For High-Sticking
6:46 p.m.: Wilson’s in-person hearing will be held Friday afternoon, per the department, meaning we’ll get clarity soon on how long he’ll be out of the lineup.
12:05 p.m.: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has offered Capitals winger Tom Wilson an in-person hearing after he high-sticked Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor in last night’s 7-3 loss. The hearing date has not been announced, but the in-person option allows DoPS to suspend Wilson for six or more games.
Officials assessed Wilson a double minor penalty on the play, which occurred 12:15 into the third period. After engaging in a puck battle with Gregor along the boards, Wilson swung his stick one-handed, striking Gregor in the mouth (video link).
If suspended, it would be his sixth in the last seven years. Wilson, who made his NHL debut in 2013, was suspended on three separate instances in the 2017-18 season, one each in the preseason, regular season, and playoffs. All were less than five games. In the 2018 preseason, however, he was handed down a massive 20-game suspension by the league on a play that injured Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, but it was later reduced to 14 by an independent arbitrator. His most recent suspension, a seven-gamer, came in March 2021. He’s also been fined five times.
After an injury-plagued 2022-23 campaign, Wilson has played in 66 of 68 games for the Caps this year. His 18:03 ATOI is second among current Caps forwards, while his 17 goals (4th) and 32 points (5th) are also near the top of the team leaderboard. A major minutes-muncher and still a truly impactful player, any long-term absence could significantly inhibit Washington’s chances at reaching the postseason. Their .551 points percentage is tied with the Red Wings for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Injury Notes: Larkin, Reaves, Blackwell
In a positive report for the Detroit Red Wings organization, captain Dylan Larkin was back at practice this morning as a full participant (X Link). It is undetermined whether or not Larkin will be available in the team’s important game tomorrow night against the New York Islanders.
Working his way back from a lower-body injury suffered on March 2nd, the team as a whole as certainly looked different without their captain in the mix. Since Larkin’s exit after the game against the Florida Panthers, the team has produced a 2-6-0 record, coupled with a pedestrian 2.5 GF/G.
With only 13 games remaining in the regular season for Detroit, they will be hoping that Larkin’s return to the lineup will bring an added boost to the rest of the roster. Amid a battle for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings are looking to break a seven-year playoff drought by the end of the season.
Other injury notes:
- David Alter of The Hockey News is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves will miss tonight’s game due to an eye injury. The injury was suffered in the team’s most recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers and was likely due to Reaves’ fight against Flyers grinder Nicolas Deslauriers. In Reaves’ absence, depth forward Noah Gregor will draw into the lineup after not having played since March 16th.
- Sticking with the Original Six theme, the Chicago Blackhawks have some injury concerns as well, as Scott Powers of The Athletic reports that forward Colin Blackwell is out with an upper-body injury. Without much to play for down the final stretch of the season, it is still unfortunate news for the organization. Over the team’s last five games, Blackwell has been on a solid streak, scoring three goals and four points, with all three of those goals coming in a game against the Arizona Coyotes.
Atlantic Notes: Knies, Liljegren, Larkin
Sportsnet’s Luke Fox tweeted this morning that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies returned to practice today but is unlikely to return to the lineup tonight as he is still not 100%. Knies has been dealing with an illness the last few days that already caused him to miss Tuesday night’s 7-3 win over the New York Rangers. Lance Hornby of Postmedia added that there is a small chance that Knies could play and that things are a bit up in the air as the Maple Leafs have had a flu bug circulating through their dressing room. Should Knies miss tonight’s game Noah Gregor would likely take his spot on the top line once again with Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
The 21-year-old Knies has had an okay start to his first full season in the NHL registering six goals and five assists in 25 games. Expectations for the Phoenix, Arizona native were quite high after a solid seven-game showing in last year’s playoffs in which Knies posted a goal and three assists. He’s been physical, good defensively and responsible with the puck. However, he has not been able to drive play, which is surprising given that he has spent time on a line with two of the best play drivers in the NHL.
In other Atlantic Division notes:
- Lance Hornby of Postmedia tweeted that Toronto Maples Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren is getting close to returning to the lineup. In talking with Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe Hornby learned that the 24-year-old should only need another practice or two before being ready to return to action. Liljegren has been out of the lineup since suffering a high-ankle sprain on November 2nd that was the result of a controversial trip by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand. Liljegren has just a single assist in ten games this season and has been averaging just shy of 18 minutes a night of ice-time for Toronto.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin skated with the team this morning in a non-contact jersey. Larkin being back on the ice is certainly a positive development after he suffered what appeared to be a devastating injury on Saturday after he was hit up high by a couple of Ottawa Senators players. Larkin lay motionless on the ice as a melee ensued around him between the two teams. Larkin suffered what is being described as an upper-body injury and although it is a very positive development to see him back on the ice so soon, there is no timeline for his return to Detroit’s lineup.
Toronto Maple Leafs To Sign Noah Gregor
After a strong preseason performance, winger Noah Gregor has successfully turned his PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs into a full-time contract with the club.
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving informed the media today that Gregor would be signed, and The Nation Network’s Jason Gregor reports that it’ll be a one-year, league-minimum $775k pact.
Alongside the move, the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran reports that 2023 first-round pick Easton Cowan will be loaned back to his OHL team, the London Knights.
Gregor impressed in both training camp and the preseason, skating in five total exhibition games with the Maple Leafs. He scored a goal and added two assists in that span, tying him for the Maple Leafs’ team lead in preseason points according to Natural Stat Trick.
Now 25 years old, Gregor is a versatile forward capable of plying wing or center. He spent the last two seasons with the San Jose Sharks, the team that selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, but was non-tendered this summer.
Gregor scored 10 goals and 17 points last season, skating just under 13 minutes per night with virtually no exposure on special teams. That looks to be the role he’s been signed to play in Toronto.
Treliving did express some optimism that Gregor could earn an expanded role and even work as a penalty-killer. The Athletic’s Jones Siegel reports he’s playing alongside center David Kämpf and veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves, so it appears the fourth line is where Gregor will slot in to start the season.
Players Still On Training Camp Tryouts
While there have been many players who had been in training camps on tryout deals cut over the past week or so, there are quite a few whose fates have not yet been determined. Here’s a rundown of players who are still on PTO agreements with their respective teams.
Boston Bruins
Edmonton Oilers
F Adam Erne
F Sam Gagner
Gagner did not play in the preseason as he works his way back from hip surgery.
Florida Panthers
New York Islanders
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Libor Hajek
D Mark Pysyk
F Austin Wagner
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vegas Golden Knights
Some of these players will likely receive an NHL contract but cap-strapped teams will wait until it’s absolutely necessary to convert them to a guaranteed deal, either to optimize their LTIR pool or to try to save a day or two worth of cap space. Meanwhile, other teams could also come calling if a waiver target doesn’t make it to them. One way or the other, their fates will likely be decided soon.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Noah Gregor To PTO
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced this morning that they’ve signed center Noah Gregor to a PTO for their upcoming training camp. Gregor spent last season with the San Jose Sharks where he posted 10 goals and seven assists in 57 games.
The 25-year-old was slated to be a restricted free agent this summer until the Sharks opted to non-tender him a contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. The former fourth-round pick had put up 26 goals and 25 assists over parts of four seasons with the Sharks. Gregor also played for Canada at the 2022 World Championship posting two goals and an assist in seven games as Canada won a silver medal.
While he has dressed in 178 career NHL games, Gregor has struggled to remain in the NHL, having spent time in almost every season with the Sharks AHL affiliate. Last year was the first time in his pro career that Gregor didn’t dress in any AHL games, as he managed to stick with the big club. When he has played in the AHL, Gregor has been a very proficient offensive contributor with 40 career points in 43 career AHL games.
Gregor will now have an opportunity to make the Maple Leafs out of training camp and could be slated for their fourth line. Barring that, it is very possible that he ends up on a two-way contract that sees him shuttle back and forth between the NHL and AHL.