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Zach Bogosian

Sabres And Hurricanes Have Multiple Defensemen Available

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Teams that are looking to add defensive depth should be focusing on a pair of Eastern Conference squads.  TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports in the latest edition of Insider Trading (video link) that on top of veterans Zach Bogosian and Marco Scandella who were known to be available, the Sabres are also willing to part with Colin Miller.  Meanwhile, the Hurricanes aren’t just open to moving Trevor van Riemsdyk as recent acquisitions Jake Gardiner and Joel Edmundson are also believed to be trade options for them.

Bogosian ($5.143MM) and Scandella ($4MM) are on expiring contracts and have had limited roles when healthy over the last couple of years.  In Bogosian’s case, he recently asked to be dealt following the first of his healthy scratches earlier this month.  But Miller has another two years left after this one at a reasonable $3.875MM AAV.  While he hasn’t performed to expectations with Buffalo, the 27-year-old put up 70 points in his two seasons with Vegas and averaged over 19 minutes a night in both years.  That was enough for the Sabres to part with second and fifth-round picks for Miller back in June although they may not be able to recoup that now considering he has spent time as a healthy scratch recently.

As for Carolina, Gardiner just signed with them back in September, inking a slightly-backloaded four-year, $16.2MM deal to match his $4.05MM AAV from his previous contract.  He has struggled considerably with his new team though, recording just eight points along with an ugly -17 plus/minus rating; only four blueliners in the league have a lower rating.  With those struggles, his contract, and a seven-team no-trade clause, the market for him may be somewhat limited.

Edmundson ($3.1MM) and van Riemsdyk ($2.3MM) are both pending unrestricted free agents.  Edmundson was part of the Justin Faulk trade at the beginning of the season and has been a steady presence on their third pairing.  However, the team would like to give Haydn Fleury some more playing time so clearing out one of their left-shot defenders would help create that opportunity.  As for van Riemsdyk, he has been available for a while now but his value has taken a bit of a dip as he’s averaging less than 14 minutes a night, well below his career average which is up over the 17-minute mark.

McKenzie notes that both teams are looking for scoring help but at this stage, they may have to settle for future assets in return and then try to turn those around into the forward that they covet.  While we’re only hours away from the Holiday Roster Freeze coming into effect, these players will be ones to keep an eye on heading into 2020.

Zach Bogosian Requests Trade

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The Buffalo Sabres have had an overload of NHL-caliber defensemen for the entire season, and now one of their veterans wants out. Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that Zach Bogosian—who is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight—has requested a trade.

Bogosian, 29, is in the final season of the seven-year, $36MM deal he signed with the Winnipeg Jets in 2013 and carries a cap hit of more than $5.14MM. That number makes him a very difficult asset to move, given how his career has gone the last several years.

Originally selected third overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008, Bogosian seemed to be the whole package. A 6’3″ right-handed defenseman that could skate, move the puck and was willing to engage physically, he entered the league as a teenager and immediately made an impact. When the Thrashers closed their doors and went to Winnipeg, he already had 199 NHL games under his belt and was logging nearly 23 minutes a night.

After that however, health issues seemed to crop up every year. Bogosian hasn’t played more than 65 games in a single season since arriving in Winnipeg in 2011, only even breaking 60 on four occasions. This year he has suited up just ten times for the Sabres and even when he does get into the lineup, he’s averaged the fewest minutes since his rookie season.

For a player like Bogosian, requesting a trade is the only chance he has at securing a market for himself next summer. If the Sabres aren’t going to play him on a regular basis, he might as well try to go to another team that will. Buffalo isn’t going to get any real assets for him at this point though, and may even have to eat salary to accomplish it.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

John Gilmour Placed On Waivers

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Saturday: Gilmour has cleared waivers, the Sabres have reported. He has been assigned to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. With a roster spot open, head coach Ralph Krueger stated that Bogosian is likely to re-join the team this weekend.

Friday: The Buffalo Sabres have decided to place John Gilmour on waivers. The move likely precedes the return of Zach Bogosian, and is the first to start clearing the log jam of defenders on the Buffalo roster.

Gilmour, 26, has played just four games this season for the Sabres, his first after signing a one-year, $700K contract with them in the offseason. The left-handed defenseman spent the first three seasons of his NHL career with the New York Rangers, but after failing to become a full-time player with them qualified for Group VI unrestricted free agency.

A member of the 2015 Providence College team that took home the National Championship, Gilmour was actually a relatively high profile college free agent when he first signed with the Rangers. Originally selected in the seventh round by the Calgary Flames, he never signed with them and instead took his talents to New York.

The Sabres have a huge number of defensemen ready to contribute at the NHL level, a group that they’ve been trying to deal from for some time. Looking for a forward to help kickstart their offense, the team will try to slip Gilmour through the cracks to open up a spot on the roster.

Minor Transactions: 11/23/19

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As usual, Saturday is a very busy day on the NHL calendar with 28 teams in action.  There should be plenty of roster movement around the league as a result and we’ll keep tabs on those moves here.

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have returned defenseman Christian Jaros to Belleville of the AHL. His NHL stint lasted just one day but he did log a little more than ten minutes of ice time on Friday.  It’s expected that Nikita Zaitsev (personal) will be available for their next game on Monday.
  • Joseph Blandisi is back on his way to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per a Penguins team release. The 25-year-old has a goal and an assist in nine games with Pittsburgh this season but had been a healthy scratch over their past two games.  The Pens are off until Monday so the move may just be to bank a little bit of cap space as well.
  • The Red Wings announced that they’ve assigned defenseman Joe Hicketts to AHL Grand Rapids.  The 23-year-old has played in six games with Detroit this season, logging a little over 18 minutes per night.  Although he has been productive in the minors (nine assists in 11 games), that didn’t translate to the big club as he has just a pair of NHL helpers on the season.
  • Eric Comrie is back with the Coyotes who announced that they’ve recalled the goalie from his conditioning stint.  He got into four games with the Roadrunners, posting a 2.75 GAA and a .900 SV%, but had spent the maximum amount of time possible in the minors and had to be recalled.  Where things go from here is a bit trickier.  He’s waiver-eligible and clearly the third-string option behind Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta.  In the short-term, he’ll likely be spending a lot of time in the press box in Arizona.
  • The Boston Bruins have returned Urho Vaakanainen to the AHL in anticipation of the return of Torey Krug to the lineup on Saturday. Vaakanainen has not done much scoring at either level this season –  scoreless in the NHL and just two assists in the AHL – but he did not look out of place in five games with Boston. The Bruins’ top defensive prospect, Vaakanainen may be developing into more of a smooth-skating puck transition defenseman than an offensive dynamo.
  • The San Jose Sharks have announced that veteran defender Dalton Prout has been placed on injured reserve. Taking his roster spot for the time being is forward Noah Gregor, promoted from the AHL Barracuda. Gregor has yet to record his first NHL point through ten games with the Sharks this season, but has been better than a point-per-game in the minors.
  • The Athletic’s Joe Yerden relays that the Buffalo Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian has already been activated, while forward Vladimir Sobotka has been placed on LTIR, which puts the Sabres just over $3MM into their LTIR allotment.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Keefe, Ritchie

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Sabres GM Jason Botterill hasn’t been hiding the fact that he is looking for forward help.  However, it’s not just the trade market that he’s scouring as Botterill also indicated to reporters, including John Vogl of The Athletic (Twitter link) that they have also considered adding a free agent although they haven’t pulled the trigger on that just yet.  Veterans Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville each have a history in Buffalo and have been skating with the hopes of landing another NHL contract.

The team has been hit hard on the injury front when it comes to their forward group but they’re pretty healthy on the back end with eight on their active roster plus Zach Bogosian nearing a return.  Their salary cap situation will make any sort of move tricky though as they’ll need to free up some money before they can activate Bogosian.  Accordingly, any move that sees a defenseman move for a forward will need to be pretty close to cap neutral for them.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reported in the latest Insider Trading (video link) that some believe that Botterill is hoping to get a deal or two done within the next week.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Maple Leafs wasted little time getting their new head coach under an NHL contract as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the team has inked Sheldon Keefe to a three-year contract. There was no provision in Keefe’s deal with the AHL Marlies that said what his NHL pay would have been upon being named head coach so they moved quickly to get a deal done.
  • Bruins winger Brett Ritchie is dealing with a flare-up of an early-season infection, notes NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty. This and other injuries have limited him to just 14 games so far this season where he has recorded three points while logging just under 11 minutes a night.  There is no timetable for his return.

Vladimir Sobotka Out Four To Six Weeks

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The Buffalo Sabres Have made several announcements in regards to their injury situations today, including one on Vladimir Sobotka. The veteran forward will be out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury following the low hit from Nikita Kucherov that occurred in Sweden at the Global Series games. The team will however get Zach Bogosian and Marco Scandella back at practice today as they get closer to a return, and have recalled Curtis Lazar from the AHL.

While Sobotka’s absence was expected after he was helped off the ice, the return of Bogosian and Scandella is an important step if the Sabres want to move out some of their defensive depth for help up front. When both return the team has at least nine NHL-caliber defensemen, with other names like Lawrence Pilut and William Borgen waiting for their next chance in the minor leagues.

Lazar may get some time in Sobotka’s spot, but it’s obvious why the Sabres are looking to add another forward to the mix. The team has lost five straight after their hot start and have scored just eight goals during that stretch, obviously not enough to compete in the high-flying Atlantic Division.

Hurricanes, Sabres Shopping Defensemen

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The Carolina Hurricanes were seeking a top-nine forward when they traded away long-time defenseman Justin Faulk this summer. However, the best return they could find was a prospect forward, Dominik Bokk, and another established defenseman in Joel Edmundson from the St. Louis Blues. Now, the Hurricanes are more or less back in the same situation, trying to deal from their blue line depth for help up front. Even after moving Faulk and Calvin de Haan in the off-season, the additions of Edmundson, Jake Gardiner, and Gustav Forsling has created yet another logjam on defense. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Carolina is calling around to other teams and shopping veteran Trevor van Riemsdyk, as well as 23-year-old Haydn Fleury, who is no longer waiver-exempt, in hopes of landing a scoring forward in return.

However, they aren’t alone. LeBrun’s colleague Darren Dreger reports that the Buffalo Sabres are also making calls to dangle defenders in anticipation of their team getting healthy. Dreger states that Zach Bogosian and Marco Scandella will make their returns “right around the corner”, but first Buffalo will need to clear space. The red-hot Sabres likely want to avoid a major shake-up, such as moving the now-content Rasmus Ristolainen, but also likely aren’t keen to move recent additions like Brandon Montour and Colin Miller. The team can demote Lawrence Pilut and even Henri Jokiharju, but will still need to make room on the blue line. Dreger states that Buffalo is hoping to land both a top-six and bottom-six forward, so trading away a John Gilmour won’t get the job done. Bogosian, Scandella, and Jake McCabe seem like the most likely to be dealt at this point.

So who could take advantage of a market flush with capable defenders? Top contenders like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, and San Jose Sharks are all struggling defensively this season and have the depth of forwards to swing a deal. The Minnesota Wild are known to be open to moving several forward and could pursue a defenseman that they see as a long-term fit. The same could be said for other struggling teams, especially those with intriguing impending free agents, such as the Los Angeles Kings (Tyler Toffoli) and New York Rangers (Chris Kreider). The Hurricanes’ and Sabres’ competition to make a deal may even lower the acquisition costs for any interested teams. The trade market appears to be heating up early this season and the odds of a deal – or several – before the holiday trade freeze are high.

East Notes: Ho-Sang, Bogosian, Kuhlman

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Josh Ho-Sang continues to wait for some sort of resolution to his situation as he continues to be away from the Islanders AHL affiliate in Bridgeport in the hopes of securing a trade.  While there has been no movement on this front over the past three weeks, TSN’s Darren Dreger notes (Twitter link) that GM Lou Lamoriello is still working to find him a new home.  In the meantime, the 2014 first-rounder continues to skate on his own to try to stay in game shape.  Ho-Sang was a productive scorer in junior but it has yet to translate to the professional level and he wound up clearing waivers at the end of training camp.  At this point, a swap of players that need a change of scenery – similar to the recent Chicago-Florida swap – seems like the eventual outcome although Ho-Sang may have to report to the minors to show the acquiring team that he’s in playing shape.

More from the East:

  • Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian was initially expected to miss five-to-six months after undergoing hip surgery back in April but setbacks have delayed that as he has yet to resume practicing yet. However, GM Jason Botterill told reporters, including Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald, that the veteran is expected to play at some point this season and noted that he has resumed skating.  Bogosian is presently on LTIR so Buffalo would need to get into salary cap compliance before they’re able to activate him.
  • Bruins winger Karson Kuhlman will miss at least a month due to a hairline nondisplaced fracture of his right tibia sustained over the weekend, the team announced. He will be re-evaluated at that time so in all likelihood, he’ll be out even longer.  The timeline means that Boston is eligible to place him on LTIR to give them a bit more recall flexibility with blueliner John Moore also presently on there.

Minor Transactions: 10/01/19

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Teams all around the league are setting their opening day rosters to get cap compliant, while minor league clubs are still out finalizing their groups for the upcoming season. We’ll be right here to keep track of all those moves like always:

Training Camp Notes: Byfuglien, Dach, Perry

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The Winnipeg Jets today announced that Dustin Byfuglien has been granted a leave of absence from the team and will not be participating at the start of training camp. Head coach Paul Maurice and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff both explained that it is not injury related and that it is “nothing sinister.” There is no timetable for his return, but hopefully he can get whatever it is sorted out quickly.

More notes from around training camp:

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have given an update on the status of top prospect Kirby Dach after he was removed from a game during the prospect tournament recently. Dach is in the concussion protocol and will not be in the Blackhawks lineup when they start their exhibition schedule. Philipp Kurashev, who left the same game (along with two others), will not practice today with left knee and shoulder contusions. Calvin de Haan, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery, also now has a groin strain and is expected to be out for another two to three weeks.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have officially announced that Zach Bogosian, Matt Hunwick, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Lawrence Pilut will not take part in training camp due to injury. These had been previously reported, but it is still disappointing for a player like Pilut who has a chance to make a big impact on the NHL club this season.
  • Nolan Patrick wasn’t on the ice when the Philadelphia Flyers opened camp, sidelined with an upper-body injury according to Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. After missing much of his draft season with various injuries, Patrick has battled minor ailments through each of his first two NHL seasons but still managed to play in 145 games. Still waiting for his breakout, missing camp would be a frustrating outcome for the 20-year old forward.
  • Though all the questions were about Julis Honka’s trade request, the Dallas Stars also announced that Corey Perry has a small fracture in his foot and will be reevaluated in two weeks according to Sean Shapiro of The Athletic. That isn’t a good start for Perry in Dallas where he’s trying to revitalize his career following a buyout from the Anaheim Ducks.

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