Calgary Flames Re-Assign Dennis Gilbert, Recall Radim Zohorna
Dec 30, 11:13 am: Less than 24 hours later, Calgary has brought Zohorna back up to the roster from the Wranglers. Calgary plays tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks.
Dec 29, 12:54 pm: The Calgary Flames, fresh off a win against the Seattle Kraken and headed home for a game on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, have sent two players to the minor leagues. Dennis Gilbert and Radim Zohorna have been assigned to the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL for the time being.
The moves will allow the Flames to bank a little more cap space over the next few days, as they continue to prepare for a trade deadline without much wiggle room.
Gilbert was only activated from injured reserve yesterday and has played just a single game for the Flames over the last month. The 26-year-old has one point in eight NHL appearances this season, averaging just over ten minutes a game.
Zohorna, meanwhile, went scoreless in his five games with the team earlier this month – all five of which the Flames ended up losing. The 26-year-old was nabbed off waivers at the beginning of the season from the Pittsburgh Penguins but hasn’t quite made the impact some expected.
It is very likely that at least one if not both will be back up when the Flames go on the road again next week.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Seattle Kraken
As we approach the end of the year, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Seattle Kraken.
Who are the Kraken thankful for?
The second-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and the first pick in the history of the Kraken, Beniers has had a quick rise to success, and stardom, in the NHL. The recently-turned 20-year-old currently sits third on the team in points with 24 and fourth amongst Kraken forwards in average time-on-ice, playing 17:13.
Impressive as Beniers’ offensive game has been thus far, looking a little deeper at his numbers beyond just points, shows how impressive the rookie is. Coming into tonight, Beniers currently holds a +6 rating along with a 56.5 Corsi and 56.2 Fenwick, albeit with far more offensive-zone starts than defensive.
One might also expect a player of this age and experience to be fairly irresponsible, but for Beniers’ 16 giveaways in 31 games this season, he’s countered with 17 takeaways. Perhaps you’d think that surely he wouldn’t be throwing his body around much in his first full season, but Beniers also comes into today with 37 hits. You also wouldn’t be blamed for thinking a 20-year-old who plays physical hockey would definitely have piled up plenty of penalty minutes, putting his team on the penalty kill over and over. That’s also not the case with the beyond-his-years forward, who has a grand total of two penalty minutes over those 31 games.
Beniers still has plenty to work on and is a few years away from entering his prime, but when looking for reasons why Seattle was able to have such a quick turnaround after a disappointing inaugural season, at the top of the board is this rookie sensation.
What are the Kraken thankful for?
A quick turnaround
When the expansion Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first season, it got many prospective new franchises (their potential owners, especially) excited at the prospect of adding a team in their city too. Seattle was fortunate enough to receive the next expansion team, but their inaugural season provided the disclaimer on Vegas’ success to all future expansion franchises: results may vary.
The Kraken finished 30th overall in the NHL in their first campaign, ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens. While the franchise probably doesn’t appreciate being compared to the Golden Knights every step of the way, one would assume they were hoping for a comparable first season. That, of course, didn’t happen, though the team did receive a nice consolation prize: the fourth-overall pick and the opportunity to select Shane Wright.
Good as Wright is, and will be, Seattle knew it needed to flip the switch after last season and did plenty to address the situation this offseason, highlighted by adding Andre Burakovsky in free agency and acquiring Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Beniers’ breakout, along with a resurgence from Jordan Eberle and newfound success from Daniel Sprong in the bottom-six also aided Seattle’s turnaround, the team currently sitting third in the Pacific Division entering the day.
Now in their second season and the weight of last season’s poor performance off their shoulders, the group can continue to focus and push for the playoffs as just another one of the NHL’s 32 teams, a good situation for players, coaches, management, ownership, and fans of any team, including the newest.
What would the Kraken be even more thankful for?
Average (or better) goaltending
Quality goaltending was more or less impossible for the Kraken to find last season. None of their three goaltenders, Philipp Grubauer, Chris Driedger, or Joey Daccord, recorded a save-percentage over .900 and only Driedger’s goals-against average, 2.96, was below 3.00. Keeping the puck out of the net is a team effort, however it’s reasonable to suspect that had Seattle received at least league-average goaltending, they may have been competitive for a long stretch of last season.
Entering 2022-23, if the team wanted to turn things around, it appeared they would need the goaltending situation to improve in a big way. Interestingly, the team has turned things around in a major way, however the goaltending hasn’t improved all that much. Grubauer’s play has in fact deteriorated even further, though the newly-signed Martin Jones is having somewhat of a rebound.
Jones, 32, has shouldered the load for the Kraken thus far, getting into 22 of the team’s 31 games, posting an .889 save-percentage and 2.91 goals-against average. Those numbers aren’t much better than anything else Seattle has seen, but they also don’t tell a complete story. After a strong start, Jones has trailed off a little in the past couple of weeks and was impacted by an outlier 9-8 win over the Los Angeles Kings on November 29th, where he recorded 27 saves on 35 shots.
While Jones’ numbers are an improvement, they aren’t exactly good either. If Seattle wants to succeed and make a run not only at the playoffs, but in them, the internal goaltending performance will need to improve significantly. With $11.4MM tied up in goaltending for this season, there isn’t much room to make an immediate upgrade at the position. Even after this season when Jones and his $2MM come off the books, the team still has Driedger signed for another year at $3.5MM AAV and Grubauer signed for another four years at $5.9MM AAV.
Bringing in a new netminder in the offseason wouldn’t necessarily be impossible, but would be difficult given their commitments. Even then, adding a goaltender with a strong pedigree is great, but they would need him to perform like it. After all, the team signed a goaltender with a strong pedigree before last season: Grubauer.
What should be on the Kraken’s holiday wishlist?
A puck-moving defenseman
Some Vezina-quality goaltending would probably top the list in Seattle, but as we explained, that’s not as easy as it sounds. After that, the Kraken could certainly benefit from a defenseman who could get their strong crop of snipers the puck in key areas, especially on the powerplay.
The Kraken could more realistically address this need in-season, with a few options available. The team currently has just under $1.2MM in salary cap space, which should get better as the deadline approaches. Perhaps the biggest name in this category would be Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Klingberg, who could have been a fit for the Kraken in free agency. Klingberg ultimately signed a one-year, $7MM contract with the Ducks where he, like his team, hasn’t been at his best. Still, the talent is there and the last-place Ducks are expected to move the blueliner for an asset before the deadline approaches.
Another option could be Shayne Gostisbehere of the Arizona Coyotes. The 29-year-old, who is set to be a free agent this offseason, had a fantastic comeback in 2021-22 with 51 points in 82 games and is well on his way to repeating upon that success with 21 points in 31 games this year. Considering Arizona’s struggles, Gostisbehere’s performance appears that much more impressive and putting him in a situation like Seattle with a number of talented point-producers could serve to grow his production that much more.
Shane Wright Named Captain Of Team Canada For 2023 WJC
- With the World Junior Championship just eight days away, Hockey Canada announced its leadership group for this year’s World Juniors team. Captaining the group will be Seattle Kraken forward and fourth-overall pick in 2022, Shane Wright. Assisting him will be Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther, Dallas Stars draft pick and current Kamloops Blazers forward Logan Stankoven, Anaheim Ducks draft pick and Quebec Remparts forward Nathan Gaucher, as well as Chicago Blackhawks draft pick and Mississauga Steelheads defenseman Ethan Del Mastro. Canada will kick things off against Czechia on December 26th.
Seattle Kraken Recall Gustav Olofsson
December 18: The Kraken announced this morning that they have reassigned Olofsson to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The defenseman got into two games during this recall, recording a pair of hits and four blocked shots during that time.
December 12: With the Seattle Kraken down two key defensemen, Gustav Olofsson has been recalled from the minor leagues. This will be his second recall of the season, after previously seeing a week of NHL action in November.
Jamie Oleksiak is still serving his three-game suspension for a check to the head of Alexander Alexeyev, and will miss tomorrow’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Thursday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The more concerning absence is that of Justin Schultz, who was forced from yesterday’s game against the Florida Panthers after a hit from Ryan Lomberg. There has been no word yet from the Department of Player Safety on whether Lomberg will receive a hearing for the hit, which resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
If Schultz is out for any length of time, Olofsson could get a chance to see meaningful NHL action for the first time in several years. The 28-year-old defenseman suited up once earlier this season but has just four NHL appearances since 2017-18, when he played 41 games for the Minnesota Wild. A minor league veteran at this point, he has five points in 15 games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Seattle Kraken, Colorado Avalanche Looking For Centers
As analytical models have gained in popularity, dissecting hockey into a series of micro statistics, the importance of faceoff percentage has declined. Don’t tell NHL coaches that, though. There’s nothing that makes a bench calmer than having a reliable option to take defensive zone draws, and at the very least avoid losing them clean.
When it comes to the trade deadline, relatively one-dimensional centers (often called two-way players, despite not having much upside in a rather important direction) are swapped regularly. So, while most will be focused on big names like Bo Horvat or Jakob Chychrun as trade season arrives, there should also be some time spent considering these depth additions, and which teams are on the lookout for help in the dot.
In his latest 32 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman pointed out two clubs that are already poking around in this area. The Seattle Kraken, ranked 32nd overall in faceoff percentage, and the Colorado Avalanche, 31st, are looking for centers.
Seattle’s struggles there are to be expected. The pivot position was always going to be a weakness for the team as they started their NHL journey, as clubs were loath to leave centers exposed in the expansion draft. Add in the youth of Matthew Beniers, who has taken the second-most draws on the club, and you have a recipe for disaster on the dot. Young centers often struggle with faceoffs, as they try to learn the tricks and techniques that veterans use to get an advantage. Take Auston Matthews, for instance, who was a 46.9% faceoff man in his rookie year, only to reach 56.2% last season.
While Beniers will likely get better, the same can’t be said for Alexander Wennberg, who has been under 50% for every year of his career. Yanni Gourde has been up-and-down but is struggling with a 45.9% this season. All three of them are left-handed, leaving 24-year-old Morgan Geekie as the only right-handed option for them at the moment.
For Colorado, it really comes down to the fact that Gabriel Landeskog hasn’t been healthy this year. A winger by trade, he is the team’s best faceoff player and often takes the most important draws of the game. He has taken at least 400 faceoffs in each of the last five seasons, and won more than 54% of them. Without him, the team has to rely on Nathan MacKinnon, who has always been below average, and J.T. Compher, whose best season reached 51.4%.
Faceoff percentage isn’t as important as some believe. After all, a 40% player still wins four of every ten draws. But if you are trying to find trade targets that a club might go after, it still carries significant weight.
Dysin Mayo Clears Waivers
Dec 13: While Kuhlman was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets, Mayo has cleared, according to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. The defenseman is expected to be assigned to the AHL.
Dec 12: Two more players have hit waivers today, as Dysin Mayo of the Arizona Coyotes and Karson Kuhlman of the Seattle Kraken are available for claim, according to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets.
Mayo, 26, was one of the best stories from last season. After grinding for five seasons in the minor leagues, the fifth-round pick finally made it to the NHL and played in 67 games for the Coyotes, racking up 12 points and averaging nearly 21 minutes a night. While the results weren’t great, he was given absolutely brutal deployment against the other team’s best nearly every night and managed to put together a respectable rookie season.
This year, with other options in place, Mayo has slipped down the depth chart and out of the lineup entirely. For a five-game stretch in November, he failed to reach even nine minutes of ice time. Now, he is likely headed to the minor leagues given a waiver claim would be surprising. Not necessarily because of his skill, but because of the three-year extension that the Coyotes gave him in February, hoping to lock up a breakout player. Mayo will carry a cap hit of $950K through the 2024-25 season.
Kuhlman, meanwhile, is being pushed off the roster by the incoming Eeli Tolvanen, who the Kraken claimed today. The 27-year-old forward has three points in 14 games so far this season and has played very sparingly of late. In his last appearance, Kuhlman was given just six shifts. On a one-way deal worth $825K, he too seems an unlikely candidate to be claimed off waivers.
Winnipeg Jets Claim Karson Kuhlman
The Winnipeg Jets have claimed Karson Kuhlman off waivers from the Seattle Kraken. Kuhlman ended up on waivers after Seattle claimed Eeli Tolvanen yesterday.
The move to add the depth forward comes after Jets head coach Rick Bowness was very clear about his frustration with the bottom of his lineup. Speaking with Murat Ates of The Athletic, he explained:
I’m not happy with that fourth line at all. Last game they had two goals against and they’re not generating anything. We’re going to give it a different look tonight.
That different look is with the recalled Kevin Stenlund centering but soon could mean Kuhlman’s addition as well. The 27-year-old has played in 114 games at the NHL level – 14 of them with Seattle this season – and has 26 points. A player that brings a lot of energy, he also has connections to some other Jets from his time in college, where he played with Dylan Samberg, Neal Pionk, and Dominic Toninato.
With the claim, the Jets will take on Kuhlman’s $825K salary and fill up their roster to the maximum of 23 players. Seattle would have been able to bury his entire cap hit in the minors, but given the deal is one-way, would have been on the hook to pay him the full salary even if Kuhlman was assigned to the AHL.
Jamie Oleksiak Suspended Three Games
4:00 PM: The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Oleksiak will serve a three-game suspension for his hit to the head on Alexeyev. He will be eligible to return when the Kraken take on the Winnipeg Jets on December 18th.
9:16 AM: It will be a busy day for the Department of Player Safety today. After previously announcing a hearing for Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner, they also announced (Twitter link) that they will have a hearing today with Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak.
The veteran defender received a match penalty in the second period yesterday for a hit to the head on Washington blueliner Alexander Alexeyev. Alexeyev, who recorded his first career point earlier in the game, left with an upper-body injury and did not return. A clip of the hit can be seen here courtesy of NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich (Twitter link).
Oleksiak has been suspended once before in his career back in 2016. Notably, that was a two-game ban for an illegal check to the head, the same issue he’s being looked at for here. Seattle isn’t in action today with their next contest coming Sunday against Florida so if they want, the league can hold off on a decision for any potential supplementary discipline until tomorrow.
Shane Wright Loaned To Team Canada For World Juniors
Dec 8: As expected, the Kraken have officially loaned Wright to Team Canada.
Dec 7: Seattle Kraken top prospect Shane Wright is expected to report to Team Canada’s selection camp for the 2023 World Junior Championship tomorrow, per TSN’s Darren Dreger.
When Wright wasn’t named to Canada’s selection camp roster announced Monday, some eyebrows were raised. But Canada could not add him to their roster until the Kraken loaned him there, and after the team’s plan of getting Wright back into a game after his AHL conditioning stint, it appears that’s exactly what Seattle will do.
The 2022 fourth-overall pick scored his first NHL goal last night, making it two points in eight games with the Kraken. Appearing in five games with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, he sniped four goals in just five games, proving he belongs in professional hockey.
Yet the Kraken don’t have a choice in where they send him long-term this year: it’s either the NHL or juniors, given his age and the NHL-CHL transfer agreement. Given Wright’s limited role on the team, and with Seattle sitting pretty in a playoff spot, it seems Wright is destined to return to junior hockey when the tournament concludes.
Wright joins an offense loaded with talent, including defenseman Brandt Clarke, who was loaned to Team Canada by the Los Angeles Kings just hours ago.
Injury Notes: Canadiens, Blues, Brodin
The Montreal Canadiens will be without defenseman David Savard and forward Sean Monahan when they take on the Seattle Kraken tonight. Per the team, Savard is dealing with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. At the same time, Monahan has a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated when the team returns to Montreal after their road trip concludes tonight.
Savard is second among Canadiens defensemen this season in points (eight) and average time on ice (22:17). While his defensive play hasn’t been what it was during the end of his time in Columbus, he’s a vital minute-muncher on a youthful Montreal defense. His usage is the highest it’s been in more than five years, so it’ll be testing for the Habs rookies to see if they can handle some increased minutes in his absence. Monahan is also in the middle of a well-documented resurgence, sitting in fourth place on the Habs with 17 points in 25 games this year. He’s also been great in the faceoff circle, winning over 55% of his draws and leading the team in total faceoff wins (177).
- While the St. Louis Blues are on their way to a convincing road win on Long Island, they did it without a pair of key players in winger Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Torey Krug. Buchenvich was out with a lower-body injury, while Krug missed the game with an upper-body injury. Head coach Craig Berube noted pre-game that both players need further evaluations before “knowing whether the injuries would be more short-term or long-term.”
- Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason said today that although defenseman Jonas Brodin won’t make his return to the lineup tomorrow, the Swede looked “great” today and is close to returning. Brodin, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, has missed a combined five games this year with this injury and an earlier illness. While known for his defensive prowess, he’s still in the middle of a down year offensively, with just four assists in 19 games.