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Zach Bogosian

Atlantic Notes: Lightning, Senators Sale, Barkov

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The Lightning transferred defenseman Cal Foote to injured reserve today, notes Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider (Twitter link).  He has missed the last three games since suffering an upper-body injury on a hit from Capitals winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel last week, one that earned him a three-game suspension.  The placement might be a short-term one, however, as the 23-year-old is skating in a non-contact sweater which suggests he might be close to returning.  Tampa Bay has the option to back-date the placement to last week in which case they’d be able to activate Foote as soon as Monday.

What the placement does is give the Lightning an open roster spot, one that Erlendsson suggests could be used to activate blueliner Zach Bogosian tomorrow.  The 32-year-old has yet to play this season since undergoing shoulder surgery back in July and would be a welcome addition to their third pairing if he is indeed given the green light to suit up in that one.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Add another suitor to the list of groups interested in purchasing the Senators as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Angelo Paletta and his family have expressed interest in the franchise. Paletta looked to bring another team to Southern Ontario back in 2018 while also looking to purchase the Coyotes one year later.
  • While the Panthers had to play short a player last night due to a lack of cap space, that won’t be the case for their game against Calgary on Saturday. Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link) that he is optimistic that center Aleksander Barkov will return for that contest after missing yesterday’s game against Dallas due to an undisclosed injury.  Since they played with only 17 skaters for that one, they’re now allowed to make an emergency cap-exempt recall from AHL Charlotte but Maurice indicated that they don’t plan to do so at this time.

Injury Updates: Kakko, Lightning, Okposo, Murray

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The upper-body injury that landed Rangers winger Kaapo Kakko on injured reserve is one that has been lingering for a little while and could keep him out for a while, reports Mollie Walker of the New York Post.  It has been a disappointing third season for the 2019 second-overall selection who has managed just 14 points in 37 games although the fact he was playing through this could at least play a small role in his sluggish start.  Head coach Gerard Gallant indicated that the 20-year-old is currently listed as out week-to-week.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • The Lightning will be without defensemen Zach Bogosian and Erik Cernak for the next three games, relays Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bogosian is dealing with a lower-body injury while Cernak’s hasn’t been disclosed yet.  Both blueliners will be re-evaluated after that stretch which suggests they’ll be out at least a little longer beyond that point.
  • Sabres winger Kyle Okposo has resumed skating but is not with the team on their road trip which begins tonight in Ottawa, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. The veteran is working his way back from an upper-body injury and has actually been one of Buffalo’s better offensive players this season as he ranks fourth in team scoring with 23 points in 37 games.
  • Avalanche defenseman Ryan Murray skated in a non-contact jersey on Monday and is getting close to returning to the lineup, mentions Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. The veteran has missed five straight games with an upper-body injury and his return would be a welcome one with there being no timetable for Bowen Byram’s return.

Atlantic Notes: Mrazek, Del Zotto, Cernak, Bogosian

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The Maple Leafs will activate goaltender Petr Mrazek off LTIR to start him tonight against Chicago, notes Postmedia’s Lance Hornby (Twitter link).  The veteran has been limited to just two appearances this season due to a groin injury and after being brought in to push Jack Campbell for playing time, it may be hard to come by with Campbell currently sporting a 1.99 GAA with a .935 SV%.  Joseph Woll, who had been serving as Toronto’s backup, will soon return to the minors.

While not yet announced by the team, it would appear as if winger Mitch Marner will be transferred to LTIR to create the cap space for the Maple Leafs to activate Mrazek.  Marner suffered a shoulder injury in practice earlier this month that was expected to keep him out for a few weeks.  In his case, an LTIR transfer (which can be done retroactively to his initial IR placement) would keep him out for at least 10 games and 24 days.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Ottawa’s decision to waive Michael Del Zotto on Friday came as a bit of a surprise considering they only recently gave him a two-year deal. However, head coach D.J. Smith told reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link) that injuries have forced the Senators to shift more towards making this a development year which means the prospects get the priority moving forward.  Smith referenced that Jacob Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson are young blueliners that should start seeing NHL action again soon.
  • Erik Cernak’s timeline for a return has been delayed as Bryan Burns of the Lightning’s team site relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner is now listed as week to week and won’t play until after the holiday break. The 24-year-old suffered a lower-body injury last week in just his third game back from an upper-body issue.  In between those ailments, Cernak has been an important part of Tampa Bay’s top four, logging 19:30 per game.  The extended timeline will make him LTIR-eligible.
  • Cernak isn’t the only injured Lightning blueliner either as the team announced (Twitter link) prior to their game against the Sens that Zach Bogosian is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Injuries have limited the 31-year-old to just 15 games this season where he has four points, 41 hits, and 34 penalty minutes.

Injury Updates: Sundqvist, Pederson, Bogosian

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Blues center Oskar Sundqvist skated on the fourth line on practice on Friday but still isn’t cleared to play yet, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  That said, the fact he skated in a regular role suggests he’s nearing a return from the torn ACL he suffered back in March which would be a nice addition to their bottom six.  That said, there is another factor in when he can be activated; until Ville Husso can return which would allow current backup Joel Hofer to be sent to the minors, St. Louis doesn’t have the cap room to activate Sundqvist from LTIR.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Sharks winger Lane Pederson is expected to miss a week or two, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). He was injured on a hit from Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley on Thursday night.  Pederson hasn’t recorded a point in 11 games so far this season while being used primarily on the fourth line.  With San Jose getting seven players back from COVID protocol yesterday – resulting in seven AHL demotions – they’ll at least have enough healthy forwards on the roster to cover for Pederson’s expected absence.
  • The Lightning will have blueliner Zach Bogosian back in the lineup tonight as he returns from a foot injury, notes Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). His second stint with Tampa Bay got off to a rough start as he suffered the injury in the season-opener.  Bogosian will take the place of Erik Cernak who is dealing with an upper-body issue.

Zach Bogosian Out 4-6 Weeks

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The return of Zach Bogosian to Tampa Bay is off to a tough start. After the Lightning lost game one of this season to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bogosian won’t get another chance to get on the ice for quite some time. The veteran defenseman is out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury, according to team reporter Bryan Burns. The team has recalled Andrej Sustr in his place.

It’s been a very interesting few years for Bogosian, who was a highly-paid member of the Buffalo Sabres as of February 2020. The Sabres decided to waive and then assign Bogosian to the minor leagues, which didn’t sit well with the veteran defenseman, so he decided not to report and forfeited the rest of his $6MM 2019-20 salary. Turned out it was quite the successful move, as after going through a contract termination, Bogosian signed on with the Lightning just in time to help them win the Stanley Cup.

Last season, he ended up with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a Cup-winning veteran that was supposed to bring playoff toughness, but failed to help that team slay their first-round demons. Why chase rings around the league when you can just stay in Tampa? That’s exactly what Bogosian did this offseason, signing a three-year deal with the Lightning with a full no-trade clause.

Now out more than a month, the Lightning will need to find an answer on their third pair that isn’t Bogosian. Cal Foote, the obvious choice, is still working his way back from his own injury and was wearing a red no-contact sweater at practice. So it’s Sustr for the time being, despite the 6’7″ behemoth last playing in the NHL during the 2018-19 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Zach Bogosian Signs With Tampa Bay Lightning

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After a short stop in Toronto, Zach Bogosian is heading back to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The veteran defenseman has signed a three-year contract with the Lightning that will carry an average annual value of $850K, according to Darren Dreger of TSN.

Bogosian is still just 31, despite debuting way back in 2008 as a teenager. The third overall pick from that year’s draft, he dealt with injury after injury through the first decade of his career, never living up to his potential. Only recently has Bogosian gotten his career back on track, asking the Buffalo Sabres to terminate his contract in 2020 in order to sign with Tampa Bay. He won a Stanley Cup that summer during his first taste of the playoffs, certainly a factor in him returning this time around.

In the interim, he played one season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, stabilizing the team’s third-pairing and penalty kill. After being knocked out in the first round, he’ll take his gear back to Tampa Bay and lock in with one of the best teams in the league at an incredibly low price. In fact, Bogosian is actually taking a pay cut from last season and locking himself into a number only barely higher than the league minimum.

Maple Leafs Notes: Hyman, Andersen, Bogosian

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have a few key free agents scheduled to hit the open market later this month, with no one more important than Zach Hyman. The Toronto native has turned himself from a fifth-round afterthought into a legitimate top-six option, able to play both wings and score at a high rate. Hyman had 15 goals and 33 points in 43 games this season while also being a key member of the team’s top penalty-killing unit. That success should lead to a big raise this summer, but it appears as though the Maple Leafs and Hyman’s camp aren’t close on a number that works for both sides.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that there is a “sizeable gap in positions,” suggesting that Hyman will indeed hit the open market on July 28. The 29-year-old will likely be one of the top options for many teams looking for forward help because of his versatility, but that will also leave a pretty sizable hole in the Maple Leafs lineup. Of course, as with any of the free agents Toronto is dealing with, any contract before the expansion draft would put the team in a tough situation protection-wise.

  • LeBrun also tweets out that there have been talks between the Maple Leafs and free agent netminder Frederik Andersen, but no contract offer to this point. Obviously, Toronto wouldn’t want to sign Andersen before the expansion draft, but it does appear as though he will at least test the market even though there is mutual interest for a reunion. The Maple Leafs frankly just don’t have the cap space to commit much money to Andersen if Jack Campbell is penciled in as the team’s starter, meaning he very well could be looking at a much more lucrative offer on the open market.
  • While Hyman and Andersen represent core pieces that have been in Toronto for a while, there are many other unrestricted free agents on the Toronto roster who could be brought back as depth pieces. One of those is Zach Bogosian, who brought some stability to the third pairing for the Maple Leafs last season and is now a free agent once again at the age of 30. Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun reports that though there have been talks between the two sides, it seems likely that Bogosian will test the open market as well, which makes a lot of sense for a player that earned just $1MM on his one-year deal in Toronto. Bogosian is still young enough to earn a multi-year deal, is coming off a Stanley Cup with the Lightning and a strong campaign with the Maple Leafs, and is that always-enticing mix of physical and right-handed. For a Maple Leafs team that can’t overspend on the margins, he may be priced out of their reach.

Zach Bogosian Out Minimum Of Four Weeks

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The Toronto Maple Leafs had played the same six defensemen for nearly two months straight until recently but now may have to look for a new mix. Zach Bogosian went down with a shoulder injury in Tuesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks and head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Kristen Shilton of TSN that after further evaluation, the veteran defender will miss a minimum of four weeks.

That means Bogosian will miss the rest of the regular season and could even be out of the picture for the first few games of the playoffs. Rasmus Sandin has played the last two games for the Maple Leafs after an early-season foot injury and last night paired with Travis Dermott on the third pair. Bogosian’s injury could mean a longer runway for the young Sandin, but it also could potentially open the door for trade deadline addition Ben Hutton.

This kind of injury is exactly why the Maple Leafs added Hutton, though losing Bogosian certainly isn’t an ideal situation. One of only two right-handed shots on the active roster, the 30-year-old had been strong in his limited role. Penalty killing and a physical presence are exactly why Toronto added the Stanley Cup champion, and Bogosian provided both while averaging under 15 minutes a night.

Interestingly, the Maple Leafs could now move Bogosian’s $1MM salary on long-term injured reserve retroactive to when he last played. Normally after the trade deadline that doesn’t provide a huge bonus, but there is still at least some thought that Frederik Andersen will be healthy enough to play before the end of the year. Activating him is tricky at the moment given how little cap space they have, but perhaps the team can find a creative way to get around that. If Bogosian is placed on LTIR he would have to miss a minimum of 10 games, meaning he would not be able to return before the end of the year.

It is incredible just how injury-prone Bogosian has been throughout his career. After playing 81 games in his sophomore season as a teenager, he hasn’t been able to total more than 71 in a single year. In fact, only once since that second season has he even played in more than 65, with just 689 total across his 13-year career.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Zach Bogosian

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have brought another defender into the fold, this time signing Stanley Cup champion Zach Bogosian to a one-year, $1MM contract.

After adding T.J. Brodie yesterday on a four-year, $20MM contract, the Maple Leafs had changed the makeup of their defense but also pushed themselves over the salary cap ceiling. Today’s move of Andreas Johnsson changed that, meaning they can bring in a little more experience with Bogosian.

The 30-year-old defenseman had quite the rollercoaster 2019-20, going from a contract termination with the Buffalo Sabres in late February to lifting the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in late September. The Sabres were able to terminate the veteran’s contract after he failed to report to the Rochester Americans of the AHL, allowing him to sign a new deal with Tampa Bay for a playoff run.

A playoff run that Bogosian had been searching for his entire career. The third-overall pick in 2008, Bogosian had never played in a single postseason game, missing the playoffs regularly with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets and then Sabres. He managed to carve out a role on a deep Tampa team and averaged almost 18 minutes a game in the playoffs. Of course, that doesn’t include the several scratches he faced in the finals, where he suited up only twice against Dallas.

Even though he does possess good size, standing 6’3″ and weighing over 220-lbs, Bogosian isn’t actually the most physical defender on the ice. He will engage in front of the net and certainly doesn’t shy away from contact, but he was actually known as a puck-mover early in his career and can still contribute a little offensively.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he has a place in Toronto’s top-six right away, however. The Maple Leafs have eight NHL options including unsigned restricted free agent Travis Dermott, KHL import Mikko Lehtonen and top prospect Rasmus Sandin, meaning there may be another move in the coming days to free up a little more space.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Lightning Sign Zach Bogosian

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Zach Bogosian’s time as an unrestricted free agent was short-lived.  The Lightning announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year deal worth a pro-rated $1.3MM.

It has been an interesting last week for the 29-year-old.  After asking for a trade, the Sabres found no takers and decided to waive him.  Due to his $5.143MM AAV, he went unclaimed and was assigned to the AHL.  However, he chose not to report and was suspended without pay.  Buffalo then played him on unconditional waivers on Friday for the purposes of terminating his contract and once he cleared on Saturday, he became a free agent.

While he struggled with the Sabres both in terms of his on-ice play and staying healthy (he played in just 19 games this season, recording six points while logging a career-low 16:50 per contest), Bogosian should be a good fit with Tampa Bay.  Erik Cernak was injured on Saturday while Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta are still working their way back from injuries as well.  As a result, there’s an immediate need for him to step in and even if he was to fall out of their top six when everyone is healthy, he’d serve as capable injury insurance down the stretch and for what could be a lengthy playoff run.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Bogosian had reached an agreement with Tampa Bay.

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