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Injury Notes: Marner, Oilers, Kraken

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After colliding with teammate Jake Muzzin during practice, Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner is “uncertain” for the team’s Saturday game in Minnesota, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Marner left practice early after the hit with medical personnel, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said it was precautionary in nature and that it’s “not looking like anything serious.” Hopefully, that holds true for the red-hot Leafs, who are 15-2-0 in their past 17 games. Marner has six points in his last five games and is fourth on the team with 21 points on the season after a really rough start.

Some other injury notes from around the league:

  • The Edmonton Oilers are banged up, especially on left defense with all three regulars out of the lineup. They got some good news today though, as head coach Dave Tippett reports that Darnell Nurse, winger Devin Shore, and goalie Mike Smith all skated today. However, Duncan Keith wasn’t a part of that group and remains sidelined. The team’s handled this recent stretch of adversity well, winners of three straight and a 16-5-0 record overall. The Oilers certainly still want these names back in their lineup though, especially Nurse, who leads the team by a long shot in ice time with 26:06 played per game.
  • The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports that the Seattle Kraken’s Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz are both day-to-day, but Schwartz hasn’t skated while Eberle has. The team’s two leading scorers both missed their Wednesday game against the Detroit Red Wings with lower-body injuries. It’s been a tough opening ride for the Kraken, who sit seventh in the Pacific Division with an 8-13-2 record. While they’ve performed above-expected offensively, they’ve had structural and goaltending issues that few foresaw.

Jarnkrok, Driedger Placed On Injured Reserve

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It’s not a very happy morning for the Seattle Kraken, as the team places both Calle Jarnkrok and Chris Driedger on injured reserve. To take their roster spots, Kole Lind and Joey Daccord have been recalled from the Charlotte Checkers.

Driedger won two starts for the Kraken just recently, stopping 65 of 70 shots against the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres in their last two games. Losing him to injured reserve will put all the pressure once again on Philipp Grubauer, something that hasn’t been a very good plan this season. Grubauer has a save percentage of just .890 through 17 appearances, though that number has improved in his last few starts as well.

It’s not clear how long the goaltender will be out, but he must miss seven days with the injured reserve placement. It can be retroactive to his last game (Nov 29), but Driedger will have to recover from whatever is bothering him before he takes the net again.

Jarnkrok on the other hand has already been missing games, and this IR placement comes as little surprise. The former Nashville Predators forward has played just 14 games this season and has just two points, never really getting his footing under him before dealing with another minor injury. The 30-year-old will also have to miss seven days, but he last played a week ago already, meaning he’ll be eligible to return whenever he’s healthy enough to do so.

Kraken Recall Riley Sheahan

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  • The Kraken have recalled center Riley Sheahan from Charlotte of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log.  The 29-year-old cleared waivers earlier this month after recording just three points in 14 games with Seattle and got into four games with the Checkers where he picked up a goal and an assist.  He’ll take the place of defenseman Mark Giordano on the active roster after he was placed in COVID protocol on Friday.

Kraken Captain Mark Giordano Enters COVID Protocol

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Seattle Kraken defenseman Mark Giordano has entered the NHL’s COVID protocol and is unavailable for Friday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, per a team tweet.

The 38-year-old Giordano hasn’t had the dreamiest season with his new Kraken club. He has seven points in 19 games on the season, but none in his last five. He’s seen his ice time dip to 20:52 per game this season, the lowest such mark for him in 12 seasons.

The former Norris Trophy winner was expected to be the biggest name on a strong defense in Seattle, but the team has struggled mightily out of the gate due to unexpectedly poor defense and goaltending. It’s likely that Haydn Fleury draws into the lineup in his place.

Giordano could potentially miss the team’s next five games if he’s absent for 10 days, and would miss four games if he’s absent for seven. Both of those timeframes include matchups against two of the league’s best in the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

New Jersey Devils Claim Nathan Bastian

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Welcome back, Nathan. The New Jersey Devils have claimed Nathan Bastian off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, bringing back the player they lost in the expansion draft.

Bastian, 23, never seemed like a player that would make it through waivers, given the mix of size, draft pedigree and relative youth that he brings. A second-round pick in 2016, he played 41 games for the Devils last season, scoring ten points and forming a nice line with longtime teammate Michael McLeod.

While he failed to provide much offense with the Kraken, scoring just one goal and two points in 12 games, Bastian does actually have some upside on that side of the puck. The 6’4″ forward has scored 44 goals in 188 AHL games and even his seven in 60 NHL games show a player who can chip in once in a while.

He’ll now avoid a return to the minor leagues, as the Devils will have to keep him on the active roster. To make room, Jesper Boqvist has been moved to injured reserve retroactive to November 18.

For Seattle, this appears to be another case of wasting an expansion pick. There wasn’t a ton of talent available on the Devils roster, but it seems likely that someone like Andreas Johnsson would have been more valuable, even despite his contract. Now they’ve lost Bastian for nothing (save the small fee a team must pay to claim a player), after just 12 games.

Nathan Bastian Placed On Waivers

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The Seattle Kraken had to make room for Mason Appleton, who has been activated off injured reserve, so Nathan Bastian finds himself on waivers today.

Bastian, 23, was the Kraken’s expansion pick from the New Jersey Devils, but saw very limited time in his games with Seattle. Averaging just over nine minutes of ice time through 12 appearances, he hadn’t even gotten into the lineup since November 9. With Appleton returning, someone on the roster was going to have to be exposed, since none of the Kraken skaters are waiver-exempt.

It will be interesting to see if Bastian clears, given his obvious upside. Though he has just two points this season, he has scored in bunches in the minor leagues, was a high draft pick in 2016 (41st overall), and possesses the size–6’4″–that many teams covet in the bottom-six. He’s more than willing to use that size too, as Bastian recorded 136 hits in just 41 games for the Devils last season and even drops the gloves on occasion.

New Jersey themselves could even bring Bastian back, though they made a move to bring up Chase De Leo recently to fill out the last spot on the roster and have other forwards who will return from injury at some point.

If he isn’t claimed, Bastian could be sent to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL.

Riley Sheahan And Leo Komarov Placed On Waivers

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November 14: Komarov made his move to the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg today, announcing it via an Instagram post. Komarov expects to join SKA “soon.”

November 13: A pair of veterans are on the waiver wire today as James Mirtle of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Kraken have placed center Riley Sheahan on waivers while the Islanders have done the same with Leo Komarov.

Sheahan signed with Seattle at the beginning of September to give them some extra depth down the middle, inking a one-year, $850K contract.  However, he has had a limited role this season, logging just 11:28 per game, the lowest average of his career, while tallying just a goal and two assists in 14 games this season.  With Colin Blackwell set to make his Kraken debut tonight – per The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark (Twitter link) – it will be Sheahan that loses his roster spot.  With center depth typically being something that teams covet, there is a reasonable chance that the 29-year-old could be claimed.

The same can’t be said for Komarov, who has cleared waivers several times including last month.  A report surfaced earlier this week that Komarov was expected to head back overseas and join SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL and today’s placement on unconditional waivers paves the way for that move to be made official on Saturday.  Assuming this is indeed the end of Komarov’s time in North America, he’ll leave with 170 points in 491 career NHL contests to go along with a whopping 1,572 hits.  Once his deal is terminated, the Islanders will free up $1.875MM in cap room.

Jared McCann Removed From COVID Protocol

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The Seattle Kraken are getting a reinforcement, as Jared McCann has been activated from the COVID protocol and was back at practice today. To make room on the roster, Max McCormick has been assigned to the Charlotte Checkers.

McCann hasn’t played for the Kraken since October 28 but up to that point had been arguably the team’s best forward. With three goals and seven points in his first eight games, he was picking up right where he left off last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In 43 games, he had 14 goals and 32 points for Pittsburgh playing mostly the wing. He has seen more time at center in Seattle and likely will be back in the middle if Yanni Gourde, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury according to Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic, is out for long.

The Kraken haven’t been able to keep the puck out of their net this season, allowing a Pacific Division-leading 44 goals against through their first 13 games. Getting their entire lineup healthy would certainly help in that regard, but they’ll need to start getting better goaltending if they want to compete for the playoffs at all. Chris Driedger returned for his first start last night but struggled by allowing four goals on 23 shots. They now have a league-worst .868 save percentage through the first month of the season.

AHL Reveals Coachella Valley Firebirds

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The Seattle Kraken will have a primary AHL affiliate next season and today the name, logo, and colors of that franchise have been revealed. In 2022-23 the Coachella Valley Firebirds will take flight, wearing uniforms of “flaming red and orange, with an ice blue accent.” Tim Leiweke, CEO of the Oak View Group, which will be part owners of the new AHL franchise, released this statement:

Over the last two years, and after listening to fans, our leadership, and partners, we’ve been heavily involved in identifying the best team name and brand to represent the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. As a proud resident of the valley, I think the Firebirds has a meaningful representation for the beauty and what people experience when they come to our great community.

The team will play out of a new arena in Riverside County that will house more than 11,000 seats and includes a brand new training facility for the minor league club. It is set to open in 2022, when the Firebirds will start play. The Kraken will at that point have an affiliate to drop prospects and oversee their development, instead of the current split agreement with the Charlotte Checkers.

Charlotte, which is an independent minor league club, are currently the affiliate of both the Kraken and the Florida Panthers. Seattle is providing just a handful of players to the AHL club (along with a coach) as they continue to build out their organizational depth. Next year, it’ll be the Firebirds they’re dealing with, not only closer geographically but also operated by the same organization.

Seattle Kraken Activate Chris Driedger

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When the dust had settled on the Seattle Kraken roster for their inaugural season, many of the observations were the same. The team had a strong defense corps and were expected to have quite the tandem of goaltenders. After all, they had spent nearly $10MM in cap space on Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, each coming off outstanding seasons.

The results haven’t exactly been as planned. Grubauer has been mediocre at best, posting an .896 save percentage in eight appearances, and Driedger has only seen 31 minutes of action before going down to injury. Even that performance came in relief, meaning he hasn’t started a single game yet this season. That could soon change, as Driedger no longer appears on the team’s injured reserve list and replacement Joey Daccord has been sent back to the Charlotte Checkers.

Driedger likely won’t be a savior for the Kraken, but his return is certainly promising. The 27-year-old netminder posted a .927 save percentage in 23 appearances for the Florida Panthers last season, winning 14 games and posting three shutouts. He has generally been excellent in the NHL in fact, and has a .929 over 39 appearances. It’s just 39 appearances though, so there are still doubts on whether Driedger can really hack it as a full-time starter.

Luckily, with Grubauer in town, it may not be necessary. His results haven’t been good enough through the season as a whole, but things have started to turn around for the 29-year-old. He’s allowed just four goals over his last three games (two wins) and now has his partner back to help him stay rested. If Driedger can get up to speed quickly and Grubauer finds some of the game that made him a Vezina finalist last season, those early observations of a strong tandem could come true after all.

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