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Atlantic Notes: Norris, MacEwen, Mittelstadt, Brown

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Injury troubles have been a persistent issue for Ottawa Senators center Joshua Norris, as since his 35-goal breakout campaign he’s only managed to play in eight NHL games. Despite undergoing shoulder surgery all the way back in January, Norris’ status remains in question as the Senators prepare for an extremely important 2023-24 season.

Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan relays word from Senators head coach D.J. Smith that there is currently still no timeline on Norris’ recovery, though the hope remains that he will be back shortly. At this point, no LTIR placement is being considered and Scanlan adds that Norris will travel with the team to Carolina for its game against the Hurricanes. The Senators’ center depth is currently in somewhat rough shape, as Rourke Chartier and Ridly Greig are the team’s projected middle-six centers (they combine for just 39 games of NHL experience) so getting Norris back in action is going to be a major priority for the team as they look to start the season on the right foot.

Some other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Another Senator currently battling injury is winger Zack MacEwen. Scanlan reports that MacEwen is currently unavailable on a day-to-day injury timeline, and as a result, the Senators may be forced to start the season with an opening-night lineup short a player. Ottawa currently does not possess the necessary cap space to recall a replacement player from the AHL’s Belleville Senators, so the club could be forced to play with just 11 forwards tomorrow in Raleigh.
  • According to The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, Buffalo Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt “tweaked something” in his upper body yesterday and as a result sat out of practice today. Head coach Don Granato reassured reporters saying that Mittelstadt’s absence is not expected to extend into the team’s opening-night contest Thursday against the New York Rangers. Mittelstadt is an important cog in the Sabres’ offense, and is coming off a breakout 2022-23 season where he scored 15 goals and 59 points.
  • Just shortly after he cleared waivers and was assigned to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, Boston Bruins forward Patrick Brown was recalled back to the NHL roster today. The 31-year-old veteran forward will likely be in the TD Garden press box for the Bruins’ opening-night contest against the Chicago Blackhawks, though he could end up claiming the fourth-line center role on the team should rookie John Beecher fail to carry over the momentum he built in the preseason into regular-season action.

Waivers: 10/08/23

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Oct. 9: Four players on this list were claimed today: A.J. Greer (Calgary), John Ludvig (Pittsburgh), Ivan Prosvetov (Colorado), and Lassi Thomson (Ottawa). All others have cleared and are expected to be assigned to their team’s respective AHL affiliates, aside from Boyd, who PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports remains on the Coyotes’ active roster for now.

Oct. 8: It’s expected to be a busy day on the waiver wire, as NHL teams are making their final adjustments to the roster they’ll bring into the start of the 2023-24 season. There have already been numerous notable names exposed to the waiver wire thus far this preseason, and that list could only expand today. All players from yesterday’s waiver wire have cleared.

Anaheim Ducks

D Lassi Thomson
G Alex Stalock
F Andrew Agozzino

Boston Bruins

F Patrick Brown
F A.J. Greer

Arizona Coyotes

F Travis Boyd
F Zach Sanford
G Ivan Prosvetov

Carolina Hurricanes

D Dylan Coghlan

Chicago Blackhawks

F Joey Anderson

Colorado Avalanche

F Riley Tufte

Dallas Stars

F Riley Damiani

Detroit Red Wings

F Zach Aston-Reese

Edmonton Oilers

F Raphael Lavoie
F Lane Pederson
D Ben Gleason

Florida Panthers

F Zac Dalpe
D John Ludvig
D Casey Fitzgerald

Los Angeles Kings

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Montreal Canadiens

F Joel Armia
D Gustav Lindström

Ottawa Senators

F Bokondji Imama

Pittsburgh Penguins

G Magnus Hellberg
F Colin White
D Mark Friedman
F Vinnie Hinostroza
F Radim Zohorna

St. Louis Blues
F Mackenzie MacEachern
D Calle Rosen
G Malcolm Subban
F Nathan Walker

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Zach Bogosian
F Gabriel Fortier

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Martin Jones
F Kyle Clifford
F Dylan Gambrell
D William Lagesson
D Maxime Lajoie

Vancouver Canucks

F Jack Studnicka
D Christian Wolanin

Vegas Golden Knights

F Grigori Denisenko

Winnipeg Jets

D Kyle Capobianco
G Collin Delia
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

The big surprise here out of Arizona regards Boyd. The versatile 30-year-old veteran doesn’t have an exorbitant contract (just $1.75MM through the end of the season) and has scored 69 points across the last two seasons.

He’s been something of a breakout player for the Coyotes as his 17-goal, 35-point 2022-23 was far and away his best season in his career, so it’s definitely a surprise to see him exposed on waivers.

For Anaheim, the move to waive Stalock likely means that Lukáš Dostál has won the Ducks’ backup goalie job behind John Gibson, as should Stalock clear the Ducks will have the option to send him down to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.

In Edmonton, it comes as a little bit of a surprise to see Lavioe waived. The 23-year-old power forward was drafted just outside of the 2019 first round, and took a real step forward in his development last season. He became a genuinely impactful AHLer, scoring 25 goals and 45 points. He’s a name to watch in terms of players with the potential to be claimed out of this group.

Anderson-Dolan finally made the NHL on an extended basis last season, and scored 12 points in 46 games. He even got some playoff action under his belt, but seeing as he was a near-point-per-game scorer in his last season in the AHL, it seems the Kings could prefer to have him start the season with the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

Rosen appears the likeliest candidate from the Blues’ group of waived players to be of interest to other teams, as he’s owed just a $762.5k cap hit this season and impressed in 49 games of NHL action last season. He scored 18 points in that span and could interest teams in need of some additional defensive help.

Out of Tampa is Bogosian, and it’s reported that the Lightning are hoping to put the veteran blueliner in a position to land on another team where he can play a bigger role than he’d be offered in Tampa. The 33-year-old won a Stanley Cup for the Lightning and it seems that the organization is looking to do right by the player while also turning to other options to staff their defense.

One of the biggest names on waivers comes out of Toronto, as Jones played in 48 games last season but now finds himself exposed to 31 other clubs. With an $875k cap hit, the veteran netminder could end up claimed by teams in need of instant goaltending support, such as the Lightning who don’t have much depth after the injury to superstar Andrei Vasilevskiy.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Boston Bruins Sign Kevin Shattenkirk, Five Others

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Per Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest, the Boston Bruins have signed veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to a one-year deal, just over $1MM. NBC Sports Boston’s Ty Anderson adds they’ve also signed forward Patrick Brown, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman saying it’s a two-year deal worth $800K per season.

They’ve also added forward Anthony Richard on a one-year deal with a hefty $450k AHL salary, per TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie. In another signing, they’ve brought in right-shot blueliner Parker Wotherspoon on a two-way deal, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. Dreger adds that Wotherspoon’s deal has a league-minimum cap hit and a hefty $500k AHL salary, underscoring the Bruins’ significant investment in their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.

The Bruins have also signed forward Jayson Megna to a one-year, two-way contract at a league-minimum $775k cap hit, as well as Luke Toporowski to a two-year entry-level deal, per Anderson.

Shattenkirk provides the Bruins with some proven NHL experience on the cheap and won’t be forced into anything higher than a bottom-pairing role, sitting behind Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo on the Bruins’ depth chart of right-shot defenders. A dual threat on the power play and penalty kill, this should be an incredibly effective use of space for the cap-strapped Bruins.

Brown, who played in a career-high 61 NHL games this season, is a likely candidate to stick around on Boston’s roster without many AHL talents ready for NHL ice time. He could very well begin the season slotted as the team’s fourth-line center. Richard, Wotherspoon, Megna, and Toporwoski are all likely destined for AHL Providence.

Evening Notes: Räty, Gagnier, Brown

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Ian Kennedy of The Hockey News is reporting that decorated netminder Noora Räty is set to sign with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation. The 33-year-old has backstopped Finland to two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics and was named Best Goaltender at the World Championships a whopping five times while leading her country to four bronze medals.

Just this past October, Räty had announced that she was retiring from Finland’s national team, but she left the door open to continuing her hockey career. Now she will do so in America, which must be a big moment for her given that she has advocated for a long time for a professional league in North America that could push women’s hockey forward. Räty put up sparking numbers one again this past season as she posted a .943 save percentage in nine starts for HPK of Naisten Liiga to go along with a 1.56 goals against average.

In other evening notes:

  • The Rockford Ice Hogs announced today that they’ve signed center Ryan Gagnier to a one-year AHL contract. The 20-year-old Gagnier spent the last three seasons with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and was the team’s leading scorer this past season putting up 31 goals and 38 assists in 66 games. The 6-foot, 186-pound Tecumseh native improved dramatically over the course of his junior career and finished with 113 points (53G, 60A) in 189 OHL games. Gagnier was never drafted to the NHL and was somewhat of a late bloomer, he was an excellent penalty killer this past year and finished second in voting for the OHL Eastern Conference’s best penalty killer.
  • Team USA has added Ottawa Senators forward Patrick Brown to their 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship roster. This will be Brown’s first appearance ever at an IIHF world championship as the 30-year-old has never represented the U.S. at any level in these tournaments. Brown was dealt mid-season by the Philadelphia Flyers to the Ottawa Senators and finished the year with four goals and eight assists in 61 NHL games split between the two clubs. The Americans have won their first three games of the tournament and will face Austria on Wednesday in their fourth of seven preliminary round games.

Ottawa Senators Acquire Patrick Brown

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Right at the buzzer, the Ottawa Senators have added another player for a late-season playoff run. Patrick Brown has been acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a 2023 sixth-round draft pick.

Brown, 30, is a straight-line forechecking machine, who will add a ton of energy to the Senators fourth line but not much else. The undrafted forward has scored just eight goals in 120 career regular season games, including just two this season with the Flyers. What he does have, though, is some legitimate playoff experience as a role player with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021 and Carolina Hurricanes in 2019, both teams that advanced to the third round.

If the Senators make the playoffs—which appears a real possibility after some strong play in recent weeks—players like Brown will be useful for head coach D.J. Smith and the rest of the staff. His speed, physical play, and penalty-killing ability make him a valuable option at the bottom of a lineup card, as long as he’s not being asked to do too much. His ability to play center is also a nice fit for a Senators team that has struggled to stay healthy down the middle of the ice.

A sixth-round pick is not a lot, but the Flyers will take anything they can get to piece a roster back together. It’s hard to call it a true rebuild, but draft capital will help even if general manager Chuck Fletcher tries to go with the “retool” option to satisfy ownership. Brown, on an expiring contract, was a chip they did well to cash in, given he was claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights in 2021.

Philadelphia Flyers Activate Patrick Brown

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The Philadelphia Flyers are getting some forward help back, activating Patrick Brown off long-term injured reserve. Brown had been loaned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a conditioning stint but didn’t actually play a game with the team before re-joining the Flyers today.

Now 30, Brown has been an interesting player to follow over the years. Signed by the Carolina Hurricanes out of Boston College as an undrafted free agent in 2014, he had only really found success in his senior year at the program. It seemed at first as though that success may have been a mirage, as Brown struggled to contribute at the professional level. In seven games with Carolina he was held scoreless while adding just two goals and ten points in 60 games with the Charlotte Checkers.

Slowly, though, and with the help of several one-year deals with the Hurricanes, he carved out a niche for himself as a useful minor leaguer and regular call-up. There was still almost no consistency to his NHL playing time, but that changed, somewhat, in 2021 with the Vegas Golden Knights when he played in 12 of the team’s playoff games. Last season was his best opportunity at the highest level, suiting up 44 times with the Flyers – more than he had in his entire career prior.

He racked up 100 hits during those 44 games while winning nearly 59% of his 400+ faceoffs, showing he could be relied on as a fourth-line, penalty-killing option. Now, with the Flyers dealing with several injuries, he’ll likely get a chance to reclaim that role on a regular basis.

Philadelphia Flyers Recall Max Willman

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The Philadelphia Flyers have made a roster swap, recalling Max Willman from the minor leagues while assigning Tanner Laczynski back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL. He’ll be joined there by Patrick Brown, who has been loaned on a long-term injury conditioning assignment as he approaches a return.

Willman, 27, will potentially give the team a better replacement for Wade Allison, who left a game on the weekend. Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic reported that initial tests suggested that it wasn’t overly serious, but he missed yesterday’s game against the Dallas Stars.

In that game, the Flyers actually played decent but were blown out of the building by special teams, allowing two powerplay and one shorthanded goal to the Stars. Laczynski, who played just nine minutes, doesn’t contribute to either of those. Whether Willman gets a chance to kill penalties remains to be seen but it is Brown that could really help on that side of the ice.

Brown won 58.5% of his faceoffs last season and averaged nearly two minutes of short-handed ice time in his 44 appearances. While those games resulted in just nine points, he could give the team another useful body to put in the bottom six. Willman, meanwhile, had just six points in 41 games last season and was rarely used shorthanded. The conditioning loan does not mean Brown has been activated from LTIR, only that he is ready to get into some game action to test out his recovery.

Injury Updates: Flyers, Barabanov, Maple Leafs, Murray

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Don’t expect the Flyers to get many – if any – reinforcements from their injured list over the final few games.  Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays (Twitter link) that the only player that might be able to return is defenseman Nick Seeler with interim head coach Mike Yeo admitting that even that “might be a bit of a long shot”.  This means the season has come to an end for wingers Cam Atkinson and Patrick Brown, defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen, Kevin Connauton, and Cam York, as well as goaltender Carter Hart.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Sharks winger Alexander Barabanov is listed as probable for tonight’s game against Chicago, notes Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury.  Barabanov has been one of the bright spots for San Jose this season, notching 37 points in 65 games, a very nice return on a $1MM AAV.  He’s eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and will be looking at a sizable raise on his next contract.
  • The Maple Leafs could have defenseman Jake Muzzin back in the lineup tomorrow against Washington, reports Sportsnet’s Luke Fox (Twitter link). The veteran has been held out of the last few games after struggling a bit after returning from a concussion.  Meanwhile, Fox adds that blueliner Rasmus Sandin is expected to start practicing with the team as he works his way back from a knee injury that landed him on LTIR last month.  Toronto has enough cap flexibility to activate him if he’s able to get into a game before the end of the season but if not, he should be ready for the playoffs.
  • Senators goaltender Matt Murray is hoping to get into a game or two by the end of the season but it doesn’t seem likely to happen, mentions Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The netminder has been out for the last six weeks with a neck injury and is a speculative candidate to play for Canada at next month’s World Championships.  An appearance or two in the final week for Ottawa would go a long way towards demonstrating that he’ll be able to play in that tournament.

Philadelphia Flyers Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced several moves, including one that you don’t see very often. Carter Hart will be out for this afternoon’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with an eye infection. His status is unclear moving forward, though there is hope that it doesn’t keep him out long. To fill the spot, Kirill Ustimenko has been recalled under emergency conditions. Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen and Patrick Brown have both been activated from injured reserve, while Wade Allison has moved to IR to make room.

Among those moves, Ristolainen’s return may be the biggest. The veteran defenseman is a pending unrestricted free agent and could potentially be a prime target at the trade deadline. His health will likely determine how many teams are interested though, so getting him back into the lineup can only help the Flyers. Ristolainen hasn’t played since February 9 against the Detroit Red Wings where he logged nearly 24 minutes of ice time.

Overall, he’s averaging more than 21 minutes this season, his first in Philadelphia. The Flyers suggested earlier this season that they hoped to sign Ristolainen to an extension, though with the way the year has gone so far it’s hard to argue that a trade wouldn’t be more productive. Notorious for his poor plus-minus record, despite that statistic not inspiring much faith, Ristolainen is once again in the negative at -12 on the year. He’s been on the ice for 46 goals against at even strength, worse than all but 28 other defensemen in the league.

Still, the mix of size, skating ability, and offensive upside that the 27-year-old brings (along with the fact that he’s right-handed) will make him an interesting player to watch as the deadline approaches.

Flyers Notes: Cancelation, Giroux, Brown, Hextall

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The late-night cancelation of today’s Philadelphia Flyers-Carolina Hurricanes game is raising eyebrows all across the league, especially after the Flyers took the ice today for practice. The team seemingly has enough players to continue their season, even if several key ones would be missing tonight’s game. In an email to Sam Carchidi of Philly Hockey Now, deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote that the decision to postpone was “based on totality of circumstances” and that the league stands by it.

A bit later, the Flyers announced that Rasmus Ristolainen has been added to the COVID protocol. Perhaps his test is what predicated the postponement, as the league has always tried to contain spreading outbreaks.

More from Flyers practice:

  • Claude Giroux has exited the COVID protocol and rejoined practice today, skating for the first time since isolating a week ago. The Flyers captain is still leading the club in scoring with 29 points in 32 games despite the recent time off and is putting up a strong case for a new contract in the offseason. While his days in Philadelphia seem numbered if only because of the lack of team success the group has had, Giroux is proving to be a top offensive player in the league. An unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, he’ll turn 34 tomorrow.
  • The Flyers will be without Patrick Brown for the next month after he suffered an MCL sprain in Saturday’s game. The 29-year-old center has four points in 20 games this season but was a necessary option with so many others out with injury. Brown, who was claimed on waivers at the beginning of the season, is in the first season of a two-year deal that pays him the league minimum of $750K.
  • On the latest edition of the Cam and Strick Podcast, Flyers’ legend Bobby Clarke discusses Ron Hextall’s time as the Philadelphia general manager and specifically confirms that the team’s scouts wanted to select Cale Makar over Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick in 2017. Makar ended up going fourth to the Colorado Avalanche after the Dallas Stars took Miro Heiskanen third overall.

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