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Noah Juulsen

Flyers Sign Christian Dvorak, Noah Juulsen, Dennis Gilbert

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12:32 p.m.: The Flyers have confirmed those signings and also announced a one-year deal for defenseman Dennis Gilbert worth $875,000. Gilbert, 28, had six points and 63 hits in 29 games last year with the Sabres and Senators.

11:04 a.m.: According to Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, the Philadelphia Flyers are expected to sign defenseman Noah Juulsen. PuckPedia quickly followed up, indicating it’ll be a one-year, $900K investment by Philadelphia. Furthermore, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Flyers have also signed center Christian Dvorak to a one-year, $5.4MM contract. PuckPedia added that Dvorak will earn a $4MM base salary with Philadelphia and a $1.4MM signing bonus.

Juulsen will be following his former head coach, Rick Tocchet, with the Vancouver Canucks, to the Flyers organization. He was only afforded a quick trip through unrestricted free agency after a disappointing year with the Canucks. Limited by injuries, Juulsen concluded the 2024-25 campaign with no points over 35 games, averaging 16:17 of ice a night in a bottom-pairing role.

Already carrying quality depth on the right side of their defense, the Flyers are likely expecting Juulsen to fit into a depth role this season. He’s a fairly physical blue liner, averaging nearly three hits per game throughout his career. Furthermore, he earned a 90.3% on-ice save percentage at even strength throughout his tenure in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, the Flyers have also added one of the best remaining free-agent options at center in Dvorak. He’s coming off a quality season with the Canadiens, scoring 12 goals and 33 points in 82 games with a -5 rating. He’ll be a boon for Philadelphia in the faceoff dot, managing a 53.1% success rate throughout his 534-game NHL career.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see how the Flyers utilize Dvorak. He’s a natural center, best deployed in a third-line role. However, if the team hopes to use freshly acquired Trevor Zegras down the middle, Dvorak could move to either wing. It’s a high cap-hit for a third-line forward, but he’ll give Philadelphia some stability toward the bottom of their forward core, especially with an influx of young talent expected next season.

Furthermore, if the Flyers are unable to compete for a playoff spot down the stretch, Dvorak could become a quality trade piece come deadline season. Contending teams are scouring the market for potential centers nearly every season, and Dvorak would be a valuable trade candidate considering his tertiary scoring capabilities and strength in the faceoff dot.

Pacific Notes: Andersson, Granlund, Seabrook, Juulsen, Chovan

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A few days ago, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the Vegas Golden Knights had attempted to acquire Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson last week. No deal came to fruition, and TSN’s Darren Dreger doesn’t believe that the Golden Knights were the only intra-divisional opponent to try to poach Andersson from Alberta.

Speaking on The Nielson Show, Dreger indicated that the Los Angeles Kings put together a formidable offer for Andersson at the 2025 NHL Draft. Dreger believes that the offer was compelling enough for the Flames that they brought it up to Andersson, but the nine-year veteran had no interest in playing for Los Angeles.

After being previously connected to Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram and now Andersson, it appears the Kings are under the impression that Vladislav Gavrikov won’t be back with the organization next summer. At any rate, General Manager Ken Holland is being aggressive in pursuing a replacement top-four defenseman in any way that he can.

Other notes from the Pacific Division:

  • Being one of several teams looking to add a second-line center from a thin pool tomorrow, the Vancouver Canucks have been connected to one of the top available options remaining in the free agent class. David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period reports that the Canucks are expected to aggressively pursue Mikael Granlund if he becomes available in free agency tomorrow. Pagnotta noted that Granlund is seeking a new contract with the Dallas Stars; however, it will be nearly impossible due to their limited salary cap space.
  • Back in Calgary, the Flames have added a three-time Stanley Cup champion to their player development staff. Earlier today, the Flames announced that they’ve hired Brent Seabrook as a player development coach. Despite having no prior affiliation with the Flames organization, he has been serving as a development coach for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants since retiring from his playing career.
  • Unsurprisingly, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported that the Canucks aren’t expected to re-sign defenseman Noah Juulsen before he becomes an unrestricted free agent tomorrow afternoon. Coming off of arguably the worst season of his NHL career, Juulsen went completely scoreless in 35 games with Vancouver this past season, with a -12 rating before having his season cut short due to injury.
  • According to Ben Leeson of the Sudbury Star, Kings’ draft pick Jan Chovan has signed with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves to continue his development. The Bratislava, Slovakia native was selected 184th overall in last week’s draft. The Wolves selected Chovan in the first round of the 2024 OHL Import Draft, and he’s coming off a year with the U20 SM-sarja’s Tappara, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 39 games with a +7 rating.

Canucks’ Noah Juulsen Out Three Months Following Surgery

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Feb. 28: The Canucks confirmed Juulsen underwent a lower-body procedure and will miss 12 weeks as a result. That’s season-ending unless Vancouver, teetering on the edge of a wild-card spot, makes a deep playoff run.

Feb. 27: Canucks defenseman Noah Juulsen won’t return this season following a hernia procedure, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports. Per the NHL’s media site, he was already on injured reserve and had been listed as out with an undisclosed injury since the team returned from the 4 Nations break.

Juulsen has not played since Feb. 2, ending Vancouver’s pre-break schedule with a run of three straight healthy scratches. The 27-year-old righty was a frequent scratch to begin the campaign but made 28 consecutive appearances from Nov. 16 to Jan. 14 while Derek Forbort and Filip Hronek were sidelined by long-term injuries.

That’s one of the more notable outcomes from an otherwise unremarkable campaign from the depth defenseman. He carries the dubious distinction of having the lowest rating (-12) among players who have yet to record a point this season. Only Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves (42) has played more games than Juulsen (35) without getting on the scoresheet. Juulsen does, however, lead Vancouver defensemen in hits with 101 and is tied for third on the team with 60 blocks.

A first-round pick by the Canadiens back in 2015, Juulsen has scratched and clawed to carve out an NHL career. Injuries derailed his development, including career-threatening concussion issues in the 2019-20 season. But after being claimed on waivers by the Panthers and later sent to the Canucks in an October 2021 trade, he revived his play with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford and stuck around on the NHL roster for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign.

Aside from his penchant for physicality, though, Juulsen hasn’t brought a ton to the table. He’s been a drag on the Canucks’ possession play, particularly this year. He’s controlled just 42.8% of shot attempts at even strength, ahead of last-place Carson Soucy by 0.1%.

Set for unrestricted free agency this summer, it seems unlikely he’ll be brought back unless it’s on another two-way contract. The 6’2″ defender hasn’t yet had the chance to test the open market in his NHL career.

Canucks Activate Kiefer Sherwood

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The Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Kiefer Sherwood off of injured reserve. Sherwood has missed Vancouver’s last four games with an undisclosed injury. His return brings some sense to Vancouver assigning Aatu Raty and, after he cleared waivers, Phillip Di Giuseppe to the minor leagues.

Sherwood is expected to return to the lineup in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. He’ll join a lineup full of new faces, including recent trade acquisitions Marcus Pettersson, Victor Mancini, and Filip Chytil. Sherwood should maintain his role on the team’s third line despite the lineup shuffle. He’s been one of the brightest performers in Vancouver’s bottom-six, boasting 13 goals and 21 points in 47 games this season. Sherwood has also recorded a staggering 273 hits – while no other Canuck has managed even 100 (Noah Juulsen has 99). In fact, Sherwood’s lofty hit totals lead the entire NHL by nearly 80 hits – with Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway ranked second with 197 hits. So long as he maintains his current hit pace, Sherwood is on track to finish the season with 453 hits – which would stand as an NHL record.

Sherwood has doubled down on the role of goal-scoring wrecking-ball after recording 10 goals, 27 points, and 234 hits in 68 games with the Nashville Predators last season. He seems to be finding plenty of comfort in his first year with the Canucks, sat just seven points shy of surpassing his career-high in scoring from last year. This news sets him up to continue pursuing new scoring heights, and the hit record, in a Canucks roster with plenty of minutes opened up by the trading of top forward scorer J.T. Miller.

Canucks Announce Four Roster Moves

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The Canucks will get some help tonight versus Nashville as the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Dakota Joshua and defenseman Noah Juulsen have been activated off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, winger Kiefer Sherwood was placed on injured reserve while winger Max Sasson was assigned to AHL Abbotsford.

Joshua had missed nearly the last four weeks with a leg injury.  It has been a tough year overall for him as his start to the campaign was delayed while recovering from testicular cancer.  Upon returning, he wasn’t as impactful as he was last season.  He has two goals and two assists through 24 outings although his physicality is still present as he has 83 hits while logging 12:21 per night with limited time on special teams.

As for Juulsen, he landed on IR retroactively last week with an undisclosed injury.  He winds up missing a little over two weeks with the issue.  Juulsen has played in 32 games this season, predominantly on Vancouver’s third pairing.  He’s still looking for his first point but does have 57 blocks and 89 hits in 16:34 of playing time per night, the highest that number has been since the 2018-19 season.

Sherwood has been a nice addition to Vancouver’s bottom six group this season.  He has recorded 13 goals and eight assists in 47 games while recording a league-high 273 hits; for comparison, no other player has reached 185.  He left last Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury and assuming they back-date his placement, Sherwood will be eligible to return as soon as Friday versus Dallas.

Sasson loses his roster spot to make the activations happen.  He has been up with Vancouver for six separate stints this season, spanning 24 games altogether where he has two goals and four assists in a little over 10 minutes a night.  After putting up 42 points in 56 AHL games last season, Sasson’s per-game numbers are down a bit with Abbotsford this year although he still has nine points in 16 outings.

Canucks Place Noah Juulsen On IR, Recall Elias Pettersson And Linus Karlsson

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The Canucks have made a trio of roster moves heading into Thursday’s game against Edmonton.  The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Noah Juulsen has been placed on injured reserve.  In corresponding moves, defenseman Elias Pettersson and forward Linus Karlsson were recalled from AHL Abbotsford.

Juulsen has missed the last week with an undisclosed injury.  The 27-year-old has played in 32 games with Vancouver this season and is still looking for his first point.  However, he has 57 blocked shots and 89 hits while averaging 16:34 per night, his highest ATOI since he was a prospect with Montreal over his first two professional seasons.  The team indicated that Juulsen’s placement was retroactive to January 14th, meaning he has already missed the required seven days and can be activated at any time once he’s cleared to return.

This is the second recall of the season for Pettersson, who has no relation to his namesake in Vancouver’s forward group.  The 20-year-old was a third-round pick by Vancouver back in 2022 and he’s in his first full season in North America.  Through 36 games in the minors, he has a goal and 12 assists and is still looking to make his NHL debut after his initial recall was only for one day.

As for Karlsson, the 25-year-old has been productive when available in Abbotsford.  He’s their only forward averaging more than a point per game as he has 12 goals and six assists through 17 outings at the AHL level.  That comes on the heels of a 2023-24 campaign that saw him collect 60 points in as many games.  Despite his success in the minors, NHL opportunities have been limited thus far for Karlsson.  He has just six games at the top level, two of which have come this season where he has been held off the scoresheet in a little over ten minutes per game.

With these moves, Vancouver’s active roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.

Nominees Announced For 2024 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

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The Bill Masterton Trophy is awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Nominees are selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, with finalists being named near the end of the regular season. Previous winners include Kris Letang (2023), Carey Price (2022), and Oskar Lindblom (2021).  Today, a new list of 32 nominees has been named.

Below are the nominees from each team:

Anaheim Ducks – Urho Vaakanainen

Arizona Coyotes – Connor Ingram

Boston Bruins – Danton Heinen

Buffalo Sabres – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Calgary Flames – Oliver Kylington

Carolina Hurricanes – Frederik Andersen

Chicago Blackhawks – Colin Blackwell

Colorado Avalanche – Jonathan Drouin

Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski

Dallas Stars – Matt Duchene

Detroit Red Wings – Alex Lyon

Edmonton Oilers – Vincent Desharnais

Florida Panthers – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Los Angeles Kings – Viktor Arvidsson

Minnesota Wild – Marco Rossi

Montreal Canadiens – Joel Armia

Nashville Predators – Michael McCarron

New Jersey Devils – Curtis Lazar

New York Islanders – Cal Clutterbuck

New York Rangers – Jonathan Quick

Ottawa Senators – Claude Giroux

Philadelphia Flyers – Sean Couturier

Pittsburgh Penguins – Sidney Crosby

San Jose Sharks – Justin Bailey

Seattle Kraken – Joey Daccord

St. Louis Blues – Nathan Walker

Tampa Bay Lightning – Michael Eyssimont

Toronto Maple Leafs – Ilya Samsonov

Vancouver Canucks – Noah Juulsen

Vegas Golden Knights – Alex Pietrangelo

Washington Capitals – T.J. Oshie

Winnipeg Jets – Laurent Brossoit

Vancouver Canucks Sign Noah Juulsen

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The Vancouver Canucks have agreed to terms with defenseman Noah Juulsen on a two-year, two-way contract, the team announced today via Twitter. CapFriendly reports Juulsen’s deal carries a $775K average annual value with the following structure:

2023-24: $775K NHL salary, $450K AHL salary
2024-25: $775K NHL salary, $475K AHL salary

Juulsen, a former first-round pick of Montreal, appeared in 12 NHL games for the Canucks this season, his highest total since he skated in 21 with the Canadiens in 2018-19. Between Vancouver and AHL Abbotsford, the 26-year-old played 61 regular-season games in 2022-23 – his most since turning pro in 2017. Once a highly touted two-way defense prospect, Juulsen’s pro career has been derailed by multiple severe injuries.

Playing in 49 regular-season games with the Abbotsford Canucks, Juulsen recorded a career-high 17 assists and 20 points, good enough for third on the team among defenders. Vancouver/Abbotsford is Juulsen’s third stop in his NHL career after the Florida Panthers claimed him on waivers to begin the 2020-21 campaign. Vancouver acquired him in a swap involving another first-round pick that failed to pan out, Olli Juolevi, nine months later.

Juulsen likely doesn’t have much of an NHL future ahead of him, but it’s a good story to see him get significant compensation and (hopefully) continue a major role in the minors. That’s what Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin expects of the British Columbia-born defender over the next two seasons:

We are happy to have Noah back with our hockey club. He showed last season that he can step up and compete for a spot at the NHL level and also was a key leader and contributor in Abbotsford both on and off the ice.

Along with reigning AHL defenseman of the year Christian Wolanin, Juulsen will provide a high-end veteran presence to Vancouver’s developing defense prospects, including recent undrafted college free agent signings Cole McWard and Akito Hirose.

West Notes: Coyotes, Canucks Free Agents, Pearson, Zhigalov

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The Coyotes enter next week’s draft loaded with picks, to put it lightly.  The team currently has nine second-round selections and nine third-rounders over the next three years.  Accordingly, Chris Johnston reports in TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment (video link) that Arizona is looking to deal from some of that future draft capital.  Instead of being a dumping ground for bad contracts as they have been in recent years, it appears as if their focus has turned to trying to acquire better pieces who could be moved because the other team is forced into making a move to get into compliance.  Accordingly, instead of receiving picks for taking on the player the other team wants to get rid of as they’ve done several times before, they’re flipping that plan around.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • With Ethan Bear needing shoulder surgery, it is no longer a guarantee that the Canucks will tender the blueliner a qualifying offer next week, reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal (Twitter link). Bear is owed a $2.3MM qualifier but is set to miss at least the first couple of months of the season.  With cap space still at somewhat of a premium for Vancouver, that might be too high of a price tag for their liking.  Meanwhile, Dhaliwal adds that the Canucks are working on a new contract for pending UFA defenseman Noah Juulsen and have reached out with an offer to pending UFA rearguard Kyle Burroughs.  As for goalie Collin Delia, the door isn’t closed on a return but the odds of him re-signing appear to be dropping.
  • Also from Dhaliwal (Twitter link), he recently updated Tanner Pearson’s situation. The winger has now undergone seven surgeries as a result of his wrist injury and it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to return to the ice.  The NHLPA indicated back in January that they were looking into how Pearson’s injury was handled and the continued uncertainty can’t be helping things.  Pearson has one year left on his deal which carries a $3.25MM AAV.  At this point, it looks like he’ll at least be starting next season on LTIR.
  • Avalanche prospect Ivan Zhigalov is heading home next season as Yunost Minsk in Belarus announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a one-year contract. The 20-year-old was the final pick in the draft last June with the 225th selection and spent this past season with OHL Kingston, posting a save percentage of .889 with a 3.59 GAA in 45 games.  Since Zhigalov was selected out of major junior, Colorado only holds his NHL rights through next season.

Noah Juulsen Placed On Waivers

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The Vancouver Canucks aren’t going to make the playoffs this season, but the Abbotsford Canucks sure are. The AHL club has secured its postseason berth and will soon start a Calder Cup run. They may get a reinforcement, as Noah Juulsen has been placed on waivers today by Vancouver for the purpose of assignment to the AHL.

Juulsen, 26, was included in a paper transaction at the deadline so that he is eligible for the minor league postseason, and will now officially rejoin Abbotsford to help on the run. The 2015 first-round pick has bounced back and forth throughout his entire career, never able to establish himself as a full-time NHLer.

It’s been a very disrupted path for Juulsen, who has dealt with scary eye injuries, team changes, and a lack of consistent playing time. Since debuting in 2017, he has only played 223 professional games, and more than half of those have come since joining the Canucks organization in 2021.

It is almost unthinkable for him to be claimed at this point in the year, meaning he should have no issue reporting to Abbotsford and trying to help them win a Calder in the coming weeks.

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