Minor Transactions: 02/09/2019
It’s a busy Saturday slate for the NHL, with 28 teams set to square off today. All seven Canadian clubs are set to play, as the nation celebrates Hockey Day in Canada, while in the U.S. ten teams will get an early start with 1:00pm ET puck drops. With several other games in the late afternoon, evening, and late night, it’s a true all-day affair for the league. While you enjoy all the action, keep up with what should be a busy day for transactions as well:
- Attached to the trade yesterday that saw Laurent Dauphin and Adam Helewka head to the Nashville Predators from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Emil Petterson was an AHL exchange as well. The Tuscon Roadrunners, affiliate of the ‘Yotes, announced that they have acquired forward Jeremy Gregoire from the Preds’ affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, for future considerations. Gregoire, a former Montreal Canadiens prospect, was not qualified by the team after last season and signed with the Admirals as a free agent. The 23-year-old center has 12 points in 42 AHL games this year. Arizona GM John Chayka has shown in the past that he values a postseason run for his minor league team, adding pieces at each of the past few trade deadlines to help his top prospects experience the postseason even if the Coyotes don’t qualify.
- CapFriendly reports that the Anaheim Ducks have recalled goaltender Kevin Boyle from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. This is not a positive sign for the status of starter John Gibson, who left Thursday night’s game with an injury and did not practice yesterday. It seems likely that Boyle will back up Chad Johnson today when the Ducks visit the Philadelphia Flyers. Boyle, 26, has been with the Ducks organization for the past three seasons after signing as a free agent out of UMass – Lowell, but is still looking for his first NHL appearance.
- The Ottawa Senators have called up veteran grinder Darren Archibald, the team announced. Archibald, who turns 29 years old today, was acquired alongside Anders Nilsson from the Vancouver Canucks earlier this season. The big winger has two points in ten NHL games this year, but was held scoreless in his Ottawa debut early last month and then sent back down. Yet, as Archibald continues to quietly put together a productive AHL campaign and brings a heavy, physical presence to any lineup, he has earned another shot with the Senators. The impending UFA is trying to prove to possible suitors this off-season that he is more than just a minimum salary, two-way player.
- After their victory over Winnipeg earlier today, the Ottawa Senators announced they have returned Archibald to Belleville. He did not appear in today’s win.
- The New Jersey Devils have made a flurry of moves, according to CapFriendly. They report that the team has officially placed forward Miles Wood on the injured reserve and activated rookie winger Joey Anderson. Wood left the Devils’ last game with an arm injury, but his injury status had been unclear. Obviously, this is an injury that will keep Wood sidelined for some time. Hopefully Anderson can make up for his absence; the collegiate product had two points through eleven games this season before breaking his ankle in November. New Jersey has called up additional reinforcements from AHL Binghamton as well in forward Nick Lappin and recently-acquired defenseman Ryan Murphy. Lappin has yet to play in the NHL this season after suiting up for 49 games with the Devils over the past two years, but brings some added experience to the table among the options to replace Wood. Murphy, who came over from the Minnesota Wild last week, will hope to show that he can still produce at the NHL level. The 2011 twelfth overall pick has failed to live up to his draft position so far in his pro career.
- CapFriendly also notes that the St. Louis Blues have called up defenseman Chris Butler from the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. The 32-year-old veteran has over 400 NHL games to his credit, but only 12 this season and 24 total over the past four seasons with St. Louis. However, Butler – the Rampage captain – has continued to be effective in the minors. With the Blues suddenly surging toward a playoff berth, a recent report indicated that they might prefer to hold on to one or both of their impending free agent defenseman on the roster, Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson. If that is the case, the team could be using this opportunity to showcase Butler for a potential trade to a contender so that they might walk away with some kind of return at the deadline without moving an established NHLer.
- Haydn Fleury’s recent stretch of bouncing back and forth between the NHL and the minors continues. The Hurricanes announced that they have sent the defenseman back to AHL Charlotte. It’s the third time in less than three weeks that they’ve done so with recalls coming shortly after each time, something that will likely be the case again this time. Fleury isn’t getting much playing time in Carolina so this is allowing him to at least get some game action in to stay ready in case he’s called upon by the big club.
- It didn’t take long for the Pittsburgh Penguins to get their starting goaltender back as Matt Murray is expected to back up Casey DeSmith Saturday. Therefore the Penguins announced they have returned Tristan Jarry to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. Jarry was recalled Thursday on an emergency basis while Murray was out, Jarry’s trip didn’t last long and he didn’t see any action with the club either.
- With Travis Hamonic officially back, the Calgary Flames opted to make a roster move with eight defenseman on their roster. The Flames announced they have assigned defenseman Rinat Valiev to the Stockton Heat of the AHL. The 23-year-old was recalled last Saturday as an emergency defenseman, but never saw the ice.
Tristan Jarry Recalled Under Emergency Conditions
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in action tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers, and aren’t expected to have Matt Murray in net. That’s because Murray is out with another injury, this time listed as day-to-day with an upper-body ailment. That means Tristan Jarry has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under emergency conditions, not the first time he’s replaced Murray for injury reasons this year.
Head coach Mike Sullivan made it clear that the injury to Murray is not a concussion, but would not further elaborate. Unfortunately this seems to be par for the course when it comes to Murray, as the young goaltender can’t seem to stay healthy for any length of time. After dealing with another concussion earlier in the year, Murray was activated in mid-December and has looked good since, carrying a .930 save percentage over his last 15 games. That kind of production is exactly what the Penguins need, especially as they try to catch the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals for a higher playoff seed.
Jarry, who is still just 23 years old, has spent the majority of this season in the minor leagues where he has posted a .912 save percentage across 27 games. Having him in the system is integral for the Penguins even after extending DeSmith earlier this year, as they need someone who can step in and contribute in case of injury.
Snapshots: Jarry, Shattenkirk, Red Wings, Chicago’s Goaltending
The Hurricanes have shown an interest in Penguins goalie prospect Tristan Jarry in the past, notes Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. With Pittsburgh signing Casey DeSmith to an extension recently, Jarry’s name has come up as a speculative trade candidate between now and the February 25th trade deadline. Carolina’s top two goalies at the moment in Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek are both slated to become unrestricted free agents this summer so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the Hurricanes circle back on Jarry at some point over the next month.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Kevin Shattenkirk has fared better in recent weeks compared to his tough start to the season. With that in mind, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that this stretch may give the Rangers an opportunity to trade him. The 29-year-old hasn’t lived up to his four-year, $26.6MM contract signed back in 2017, one that has two years remaining on it. However, he has been a quality point producer before his time in New York and with teams looking for help on the right side, there may be an opportunity to get out from under his deal (or at least most of it). Shattenkirk has a no-move clause in his deal as well as a 10-team no-trade list.
- While the Red Wings are believed to be likely to move some of their pending unrestricted free agents, GM Ken Holland indicated to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press (video link) that he’s open to moving anyone that isn’t part of their young core (which likely includes winger Anthony Mantha plus centers Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou) or future assets such as prospects and draft picks. Detroit wound up making a deal of significance involving a player like that last season when they moved winger Tomas Tatar to Vegas and since they have several other veterans on long-term deals, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to go that route again.
- With Corey Crawford resuming on-ice drills as he works his way back from a concussion, Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times mentions that there will be a roster logjam when he’s cleared to return. The team thinks highly of youngster Collin Delia and likely won’t want to return him to Rockford of the AHL while Cam Ward and his no-move clause is also on the roster. Assuming Crawford gets the green light to return before the trade deadline, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Chicago ask Ward to consider waiving his clause to accept a trade somewhere else.
Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Jarry, Van Riemsdyk, Hickey
The Washington Capitals look like they can breathe a sigh of relief as goaltender Braden Holtby was at practice Sunday after Columbus’ Cam Atkinson accidentally put his stick through a hole in Holtby’s mask into his left eye, forcing him to leave the game. It’s still unclear if the goaltender would start against St. Louis on Monday, the first of a back-to-back set, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.
“Obviously anything with your eyes is a little scary,” Holtby said. “It’s fortunate that it wasn’t anything too serious. You just move on. … I didn’t have the sight to keep going. I just wouldn’t have been a benefit to the team. it was one of those things. Eyes heal quickly, so just 24 hours and I’ll be back to normal.”
The incident on the ice Saturday in the second period and the immediate thought looked scary with many worrying that the team’s star goaltender could miss a significant amount of time. However, it looks like the injury isn’t as serious as originally thought. Head coach Todd Rierden said that the team doesn’t intend to recall a goaltender from the AHL at this moment with the general belief that the team could start Pheonix Copley Monday and start Holtby on Tuesday against Nashville on Tuesday.
- While there have been reports out of Pittsburgh that the team may be ready to move a defenseman, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that general manager Jim Rutherford may also be ready to move third-string goaltender Tristan Jarry as well. The 23-year-old and second-round pick in 2013 is a solid prospect, but with 24-year-old Matt Murray locked in as the starter and the fact that backup Casey DeSmith was recently extended for another three years, Jarry could be a nice trade chip. He has one more year at $675K before he hits restricted free agency, although his two-way deal will turn into a one-way deal next season. NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz adds, however, that goaltenders don’t often bring a lot back in trades, pointing out that Filip Gustavsson was a better prospect and he was just one part of a package to get Derick Brassard last season.
- Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes that Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk has a 50-50 chance of playing Monday after being banged up Saturday against New Jersey. Van Riemsdyk, who has struggled with injuries as well as production, had one of his better games of the season, playing 17:01 and scoring a goal and adding an assist, despite the loss. The 29-year-old has two goals and two assists in the last two games.
- Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, who has missed 11 straight games with an upper-body injury, has had a slowdown in his recovery, according to head coach Barry Trotz. Hickey has been skating on his own, but was held out of the team’s last full practice on Wednesday. “We want to do what’s best for the player,” Trotz said. “I don’t know if it’s a setback. We just want to be cautious with it. He’s real important for us and we’re not trying to rush him at all. We back him off a little bit and that’s on trainers’ orders.”
Matt Murray Activated From Injured Reserve
The Pittsburgh Penguins finally have their expected starter back. Matt Murray has been activated from injured reserve, while Tristan Jarry was sent back to the minor leagues. Now the question becomes how the Penguins will use Murray, given Casey DeSmith‘s stellar play as the starter in his absence. DeSmith has posted a .925 save percentage through 20 appearances this season, a number Murray has reached since 2016-17.
Back in October, head coach Mike Sullivan claimed that Murray was still obviously the team’s number one, despite DeSmith’s success early on. That assertion will be tested as the season progresses, and the Penguins attempt to continue their climb up the ladder of the Metropolitan Division standings.
After starting his career about as well as possible with back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, Murray has struggled recently to find an elite level capable of putting the Penguins over the edge. Some of that has to do with injury—Murray has suffered from multiple ailments including several concussions over his short career—and some with simple inconsistency. Both things will be tested now that he has ample competition for the starter role, in both DeSmith and top prospect Jarry. The team certainly can’t wait around for his play to rebound if they want to keep pace in the Metropolitan, where the Washington Capitals are starting to extend their lead and look like the dominant team that took home the Cup last season.
Florida Panthers Seeking Upgrade In Goal
Entering the season, the Florida Panthers’ goaltender trio of Roberto Luongo, James Reimer, and Michael Hutchinson seemed like one of the deepest in the league. As the second month of the season wraps up, the Panthers currently hold the second-worst goals against average in the NHL and their play in the net has been the team’s greatest weakness. As a result, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports (subscription required) that, despite their considerable depth, Florida is looking for an upgrade behind the injury-plagued Luongo.
Injuries have limited Luongo, 39, to just nine appearances, but even when healthy he has not looked like himself. Luongo holds a 3.07 GAA and a .902 save percentage that, if the season were to end today, would be his career-low. It could be that Luongo’s play is reflective of his poor health, especially considering his strong performance just last year. However, between his injury issues and inconsistent results, Luongo simply can’t be relied upon as a bona fide starter. Of course, that was the reasoning behind the Panthers initially signing Reimer three years ago. Reimer looked the part in his first season in 2016-17, with perhaps his best NHL campaign. Yet, his numbers tailed off last season as he too struggled with injuries and now this year Reimer looks far from a starting option. The 30-year-old leads the Panthers with 14 appearances, but has just four wins, tied with Luongo despite five more showings. His performance has been bleak, with an .895 save percentage and 3.39 GAA. Yet, the injury concerns and inconsistency of Luongo and Reimer is exactly why Florida signed Hutchinson this summer. That has quickly proven to have been a mistake, as the AHL veteran has been out of his depths in four NHL games, sporting a brutal .839 save percentage and 4.17 GAA. Hutchinson has struggled to even perform at an average level in the minors this season.
Nothing has worked out according to plan in Florida, so the team needs to make a move to improve in net. The problem with that plan, as LeBrun points out, is that Reimer still has two years remaining on his contract at $3.4MM. That contract could prove very difficult to move. Luongo is also signed long-term, with three years remaining, but it appears that the team would prefer to hold on to him despite his current struggles, even if they were able to find a take. As such, a long-term solution in net may be difficult to find, unless the team is also able to move Reimer. Nearly any established goalie signed beyond this season would put too much strain on the Panthers’ payroll, which is already close to $2MM from the salary cap. An expensive rental, such as Detroit’s Jimmy Howard, would also be difficult to manage. Cheap rentals, such as New Jersey’s Eddie Lack, Carolina’s Petr Mrazek, Edmonton’s Al Montoya, and recent waiver placement Calvin Pickard, are readily available, but would be unlikely to shift the status quo substantially. The Panthers could make a play for a young, affordable goalie lacking opportunity, such as Montreal’s Charlie Lindgren, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko, Los Angeles’ Cal Petersen, or Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry, but it would come at a cost. The Panthers may want to upgrade their goalie depth, but such a move won’t come easy for the team this season.
Matt Murray Placed On Injured Reserve
Speak up if you’ve heard this before: Matt Murray is headed to injured reserve. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that their young goaltender will be headed back to the shelf while Tristan Jarry has been recalled from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. Jarry will join Casey DeSmith in the Pittsburgh crease. Head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the lower-body injury to Murray will keep him out “longer term.”
Now 24, Murray has struggled to stay healthy for the last few years despite such an incredible start to his career. Winning a Stanley Cup in 2016 after coming on late in the season, he was still technically considered a rookie the next year when he helped Pittsburgh win again. That impressive, lanky goaltender has been hard to find over the last 18 months though, as Murray posted a .907 save percentage last season and is off to an even worse start in 2018-19.
DeSmith has held the Penguins together through the first few weeks of the season, and with Jarry pushing for an NHL role the decision to sit Murray down was probably made a lot easier. Sullivan explained that the problem had been bothering Murray for some time, but has become bad enough to need a stint on injured reserve and a long recovery period. That means Pittsburgh, who welcomed back their captain last night, will be in the capable hands of DeSmith and Jarry for the time being. The way both have played—DeSmith has a .924 save percentage this season in the NHL, while Jarry has a .909 in the minor leagues—it actually may be a good thing for the team moving forward.
East Notes: Penguins Goalies, Wideman, Maple Leafs, Brooks
Pittsburgh’s start to the season hasn’t gone as well as they’ve hoped but there have been some positives along the way. One of those is goaltender Casey DeSmith who not only won the backup job in training camp but has started to take starts away from Matt Murray. Accordingly, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that it’s time to change the question when it comes to the netminder from whether he’s good enough to hold down an NHL spot to whether or not the Penguins can afford to keep him as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The answer to that question may ultimately determine what they decide to do with youngster Tristan Jarry who has shown some signs of upside over his first four professional seasons. If the Penguins believe they can re-sign DeSmith, then it frees them up to move Jarry if they can get someone that can help their roster now. If not, they may be wise to hold off on moving him as they don’t have another goalie prospect that’s close to NHL ready at this time.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Senators defenseman Chris Wideman is dealing with a lower-body injury, the team announced on Twitter. While his offensive numbers have dipped a bit this season – he still has five points in 17 games – his playing time has gone up by nearly two minutes a night to 13:22. There’s no word on how long he’ll be out but with Ottawa only carrying six other blueliners on their roster, they will likely look to bring someone up from AHL Belleville if Wideman is expected to miss more than a couple of days.
- The Maple Leafs are likely to bring a forward up from the AHL’s Marlies, notes Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. Toronto is currently carrying the minimum 12 forwards and are set to embark on a three-game Western road trip that kicks off on Tuesday. Winger Trevor Moore was up with the team briefly earlier this month and could very well be the one who gets the nod here.
- From that same column, Koshan reports that center prospect Adam Brooks is dealing with some issues with his heart rate and will be held out of the lineup for a while. The Maple Leafs selected him in the fourth round back in 2016 and he has two points in as many games so far in his sophomore professional campaign.
Minor Transactions: 10/15/18
A new week of NHL action is on the docket, with four games set for tonight. Teams will need to adjust their roster for their next test, and we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have just one regulation win through their first four games, but seem to have gotten some good news today. The team has returned Tristan Jarry to the minor leagues after serving as an emergency call-up, and brought up recently waived Derek Grant to fill in. That surely means that Matt Murray is ready to return to action after suffering a concussion recently. Murray backed up Casey DeSmith this weekend, and is key to the Penguins’ hopes this season.
- Adam Gaudette has indeed been recalled by the Vancouver Canucks to replace Elias Pettersson on the roster, while the young forward deals with a concussion. Gaudette has four points in four games with the Utica Comets of the AHL this season, after signing and making his debut at the end of last year with the Canucks. The fifth-round pick is an exciting prospect for Vancouver, who dominated at the college level with Northeastern.
- After losing Marko Dano on waivers the Winnipeg Jets have activated Nic Petan from the non-roster list. Petan is still looking to break through and establish himself as a full-time NHL player with the Jets, but can’t seem to find much production thus far in his career. With Dano out of the way there is one less obstacle, but he’ll still need to improve his overall play.
- The San Jose Sharks have sent Dylan Gambrell back to the AHL, in order to get the young forward on the ice. He hadn’t yet suited up with the Sharks, but will now get another chance to play with the San Jose Barracuda, where he scored three points in his debut this season. Gambrell is a very interesting prospect for the Sharks who was one of the top playmakers in the country at the collegiate level, but is still waiting on his first NHL point.
- The St. Louis Blues will inject some youth and energy into their lineup, swapping out a veteran grinder for a young power forward. CapFriendly reports that the team has reassigned Chris Thorburn, while recalling Zach Sanford. Thorburn, in his fourteenth season in the NHL, is a serviceable checking line player, but at 35 has slowed down significantly and is no longer much of a two-way threat. He had skated in just one game for the Blues so far this year. Meanwhile, Sanford did not play in the NHL last season, missing most of the year due to injury, but now healthy has looked impressive in training camp and through four games with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. In his rookie season with the Blues and Washington Capitals in 2017-18, Sanford scored at a pace comparable to the best seasons of Thorburn’s career and should be a noticeable offensive upgrade over the older forward.
- Joseph Blandisi has been recalled by the Anaheim Ducks, CapFriendly reports. The former New Jersey Devils prospect played in three games for the Ducks last season, but hopes to stick around longer this year. Blandisi notched two assists in his first three games with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls this season.
Eastern Notes: Murray, Flyers’ Goalies, Kapanen, Zadina
Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray is back with the team on the active roster after suffering a concussion less than a week ago, but will serve as the backup to Casey DeSmith for tonight’s game in Montreal, according to Seth Rorabaugh of The Athletic (subscription required). Third-stringer Tristan Jarry traveled with the team in case Murray cannot serve as backup.
Head coach Mike Sullivan wasn’t surprised that Murray was ready to return from a concussion after just a few days.
“And the reason is, it’s really hard to compare one concussion to the next,” Sullivan explained. “The nature of that injury is that they’re all different. Some guys recover very quickly. With some guys, it lingers. There’s so many things associated with it.”
Murray has struggled in the two games he has appeared in this year, having allowed 11 goals, but Sullivan believes that sitting Murray on the bench rather than sitting in the press box is the best thing for his recovery.
“When you see the game up close on the bench, it’s a whole different game than it is from the press box,” Sullivan said. “Things happen a whole lot faster. It’s one step in the process that we think prepares our goalies to be successful when they step back on the ice.”
- David Isaac of the Courier Post writes that Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall isn’t opposed to the team keeping three goaltenders when injured backup Michal Neuvirth returns to the lineup, which is “not too far away.” The team has had quite a bit of success with the tandem of Brian Elliott and Calvin Pickard, but the team would have to expose someone to waivers if they want to keep just two goalies on the roster. “We’ll have to deal with that at the time,” Hextall said when asked if he intends on carrying three goalies on his roster. “It’s not an ideal situation, but if that’s what’s right for our hockey club, that’s what we’ll do. All these injuries, we have a roster issue. Thankfully we don’t have a (salary) cap issue. We’ll deal with it at the time and see what information comes to us between now and then and make a decision.”
- Jordan Samuels-Thomas of The Athletic (subscription required) profiles Toronto Maple Leafs top-line winger Kasperi Kapanen and how he’s found chemistry with the team’s top line while William Nylander holds out for a contract extension. Kapanen’s effort, well-rounded game and speed have made him a perfect fit alongside Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau.
- MLive’s Steve Kaminski writes that Detroit Red Wings prospect Filip Zadina is starting to get hot in Grand Rapids after posting a two-goal game in his third appearance for the AHL club. “I am getting better every single game, and I’m way more comfortable than I was when I played the first game,” the sixth-overall pick in this year’s draft said. “(The goals) helped me a lot mentally, and I am more confident with the puck.”