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Nolan Foote

Afternoon Notes: Global Series, Athanasiou, Foote

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The NHL has announced their Global Series matchups for the 2024-25 season, with the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils slated to face off in Prague, Czechia on October 4th and 5th, and the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars set to play in Tampere, Finland on November 1st and 2nd.

The games will mark homecomings for players on all sides, headlined by Florida star Aleksander Barkov’s return to his hometown of Tampere. He grew up through Tampere’s youth hockey program, playing for the Tappara Tampere (often shortened to just ’Tappara’) at every level from U16 in to his professional debut in the Liiga. Barkov’s father, who shares the same name, ranks fifth in Tappara’s all-time scoring, with 416 points in 517 Liiga games. He also coached for the program, though he never oversaw his son. Top Stars scorer Roope Hintz was born in Nokia, Finland – just outside of Tampere. He and Barkov are two of the eight Finns between the Florida and Dallas lineups. When asked about visiting home, Barkov said, “It’s more than a dream come true because you don’t even dream about this… This will probably be one of the best days in my life.”

Meanwhile, New Jersey Devils winger Ondrej Palat will be able to stay at his house in Prague while the team visits. Palat grew up playing in Vitkovice, just a few hours outside of Prague, and told NHL.com that he’s excited to play in front of friends and family. Fellow Devil Tomas Nosek grew up much closer to Prague, in Pardubice. The pair are the only two Czechs on New Jersey’s roster, with recent recall Lukas Rousek being the only one on Buffalo’s roster. However, the two teams do have plenty of other talents from Central Europe – including Germans Nico Daws (NJD) and John-Jason Peterka (BUF), Swiss skaters Nico Hischier, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Timo Meier (NJD), and Slovakia’s Simon Nemec.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Andreas Athanasiou is expected to make his return from injury on Tuesday night, when the Chicago Blackhawks take on the Anaheim Ducks. Athanasiou has been out for the last four months with a groin injury, playing just 11 games this season. He’ll re-enter the lineup still searching for his first goal on the year, recording just four assists prior to his injury. Athanasiou has proven to be an effective winger in Chicago, scoring 20 goals and 40 points in 81 games last season.
  • The New Jersey Devils have formally activated Nolan Foote off of non-roster injured reserve. He’s been working his way back from an upper-body injury suffered during the pre-season that’s since delayed his season debut. Foote was primarily a minor-leaguer last season, scoring 20 goals and 37 points in 55 games with the AHL’s Utica Comets. He’s also managed five goals and seven points in 19 career NHL games, dating back to his debut in 2020-21.

Devils Recall Nolan Foote From Conditioning Stint

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Left winger Nolan Foote led the New Jersey Devils onto the practice sheet today as he was officially recalled from his AHL conditioning stint. Foote has been working his way back from a preseason upper-body injury that held him out until February 26th, when he was assigned to the Utica Comets. Foote has appeared in four games with Utica, scoring three goals and four points. He’ll now have a chance to establish himself in the NHL, back with the Devils for the first time since late March of last season.

Foote is still new to his professional career, making his AHL debut in the 2020-21 season. He’s since spent the majority of his time in the minors, including 55 games in each of the last two seasons, though he’s received six or seven NHL games every year. In total, he’s managed 86 points across 134 career AHL games, on top of five goals and seven points in 19 NHL games.

Foote’s return comes at an apt time, coming right after the team traded top-scoring winger Tyler Toffoli to the Winnipeg Jets. That’s left a hole in the lineup that’s currently being filled by utility player Kurtis MacDermid, who has just two goals in 33 games this season. Foote should be able to compete for that role, though he’ll need to take advantage of his opportunity, with the Devils on the tail ends of the playoff race.

Morning Notes: Blue Jackets, Hoglander, Foote and Halonen

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The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline recently sat down with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ President of Hockey Operations, John Davidson, to discuss the team’s early season woes. But despite the nine-game losing streak, which has seen Johnny Gaudreau get benched and Patrik Laine get scratched, Davidson says no rash changes are inbound for the Blue Jackets. “Woe is me does not work. It’s an emotional game, a hard game,” Davidson told Portzline, “but we need the improvements we’re seeing with some of our younger players — Alexandre Texier, Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, these guys — to continue, and we need our best players to start playing like they’re capable of playing.”

Davidson went on to support the hard decisions being made by first-time NHL head coach Pascal Vincent, who has benched and scratched players at will through his first two months on the job. Davidson said, “Coach is the coach. Coach works tightly with Jarmo. They discuss things daily, and Jarmo fills me in. The bold moves that Pazzy has made … you have to make bold moves sometimes.”

The topic of Columbus’ slide was also discussed by Elliotte Friedman in the most recent episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman disagreed with the decision to scratch Laine but did speak optimism about the impact that significant struggles can have on a young star like Fantilli, calling back to his days covering former NBA rookie of the year Damon Stoudamire. The 32 Thoughts team closed the conversation by acknowledging that, while no rash decisions were inbound, heavy losing can still weigh on the team’s veterans. Columbus will be looking to avoid their 10th loss in a row on Wednesday. If they can’t, they could change their tune on what decisions are looming.

Other morning notes:

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