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Snapshots: Raanta, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs

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Antti Raanta has been activated off injured reserve and is expected to start tonight against the Buffalo Sabres according to Craig Morgan of AZ Sports. Raanta hasn’t played in three weeks with a lower-body injury after being acquired this summer to be the Coyotes starting goaltender. He’ll head to the crease with a new backup in Scott Wedgewood, a tandem that could prove capable for Arizona as they try to climb out of the bottom of the standings.

The team unfortunately will not have Niklas Hjalmarsson on the ice however, meaning Dakota Mermis will make his NHL debut on the blueline. The Coyotes are currently last in the league with just one win in their first 13 games, and right now look like the odds-on favorite for the first-overall pick next June.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights will not trade for another goaltender, according to general manager George McPhee. The front office boss told Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Golden Knights will “ride it out with who we have.” Currently who they have is Maxime Lagace and 19-year old Dylan Ferguson, the last two goaltenders in the entire organization on NHL contracts. The team has given up six goals in back to back games, and still have four games remaining on their current road trip. Riding it out is likely the best move long-term for the organization, but it won’t feel good for Vegas fans who were on cloud nine after the team’s early season success. That excellent record could evaporate if they can’t find some stability in net soon.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs are clearly not settled with the fringes of their lineup, as even after a win last night in Anaheim head coach Mike Babcock intends on shaking things up. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Kasperi Kapanen and Roman Polak will draw back into the lineup in place of Josh Leivo and Connor Carrick for tonight’s matchup with Los Angeles. That uncertainty will be an interesting one to follow as the Maple Leafs’ season continues. For a team that is expected to compete not only for a playoff spot, but for a considerable seeding in the postseason, they have several unresolved issues with their lineup. James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov are all unrestricted free agents, and remain possible mid-season trade candidates. If they are moved, the rotating bottom-pairing on the Toronto blueline is likely the target of upgrade.

Snapshots: Streit, Sharks, Three Stars

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Mark Streit has decided to call it quits after he couldn’t make it in the NHL this season. The 39-year old defenseman has retired from professional hockey according to the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. Streit was signed by the Montreal Canadiens this summer, but was eventually waived and came to a mutual termination of the deal.

It’s interesting that Streit’s news was announced by the national program, as many assumed he would suit up for the Swiss Olympic team in the upcoming Pyeongchang Games.  If it is the last we see of Streit, it’s the end of a fantastic career that includes 786 games, a Stanley Cup and the honor of being the first Swiss-born captain in the NHL.

Snapshots: Shipachyov, Mete, Eaves

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Vadim Shipachyov has reported to the Chicago Wolves and was on the ice practicing with them today, meaning he’ll likely accept his demotion to the AHL and avoid suspension from the team. The 30-year old forward will still earn his full $5MM salary ($2MM of which was already paid out as a signing bonus) while in the minor leagues, but the team will benefit from a bit of cap relief. Still, with his agent apparently talking to other teams about potential trades he may not be there for long.

Representatives from Shipachyov’s former team SKA St. Petersburg in Russia made clear to KHL reporter Aivis Kalnins that they cannot negotiate with him while he’s still under contract with the Golden Knights or any other NHL team. There can be no talks until a mutual termination is achieved which both seems unlikely for a number of reasons, and has never been intimated by Shipachyov or his representatives. For now, he’ll have to just continue to try and adjust to the North American game while playing in the AHL.

  • Victor Mete played in his tenth NHL game this season last night for the Montreal Canadiens, crossing the threshold to burn the first year of his entry-level contract. There is another (sometimes more important) threshold at 40 games, in which the player moves a year closer to unrestricted free agency, but Mete seems destined to clear that as well. The team today told him to find a place to live according to Richard Labbe of La Presse, as he won’t be sent back to junior anytime soon. Mete has been a shining light in an otherwise dark start to the season for the Canadiens, serving as their lone true puck-moving defenseman. The 19-year old is undersized, but has shown all the makings of a top-4 defenseman for the long-term. While Montreal has many problems to start the year, Mete isn’t one of them.
  • Lastly, some great news out of Anaheim. After Ducks’ forward Patrick Eaves was hospitalized with Guillain-Barre syndrome earlier this month, he announced on his Twitter page that he’s home and resting with his family. Eaves is expected to make a full recovery, though there is no clear timetable on his return to the ice. For now, the Ducks will need to move on without the 33-year old forward, whose long-term health is much more important than the games he is missing.

Snapshots: Athanasiou, Sateri, Blackhawks

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Andreas Athanasiou is back. The 23-year old forward that has spent the last few weeks holding out for a new contract, was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings today, practicing with Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm. While there’s no clear indication when Athanasiou will get back into the lineup, it was a promising sign to have him working with the team.

After a summer that was filled with speculation, rumor and intrigue, the Red Wings will welcome back their talented young sniper. Athanasiou has excellent speed and skill, and had just scratched the surface of his offensive potential last season, scoring 18 goals and 29 points. That number could increase this year even with the lost time, especially if given plenty of powerplay opportunities. The Red Wings, now losers of five straight, could use some offensive punch. They’ve scored just one goal in their last two games.

  • Harri Sateri has been sent back to the AHL by the Florida Panthers, after the team claimed Antti Niemi off waivers yesterday. The 27-year old Sateri didn’t get into a game, and has a slow start in his return to North America. Originally a draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, Sateri left for the KHL in 2014 where he found immediate success. Earlier this summer he turned down an extension with his KHL club in order to try and secure and NHL job, and eventually signed a two-way deal with Florida to essentially be their #3. With a .859 save percentage in the AHL, and now Niemi in the fold, he’ll have to play better if he wants to get a crack at a full-time NHL role (even as a backup) down the road.
  • Shane Doan has found the next chapter in his NHL career, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the former Arizona Coyotes’ captain will join the league’s Hockey Operations group. Working with Colin Campbell, Doan will follow the path set out by other former players like Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake. Shanahan and Blake of course are now running franchises in Toronto and Los Angeles.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made quite a few moves over the years to get their core group under the salary cap, but perhaps never so many as this offseason. The team saw Artemi Panarin, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Marcus Kruger, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Scott Darling all leave through trade, Brian Campbell retire and of course Marian Hossa kept out with a chronic skin condition. That’s a lot of talent to have leave in one offseason, but as GM Stan Bowman tells Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times, he’s pretty happy with how it’s turned out. Chicago is 5-3-2 so far this season, but on most nights still look like a team that could compete for the Stanley Cup. In terms of improvement, Chicago doesn’t have to make a deal, as they have talented players sitting in the press box or AHL most nights. Or, as Bowman puts it: “I’m not, like, itching to make a trade.”

Snapshots: Koekkoek, Schroeder, Farnham

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When the Vancouver Canucks announced that Troy Stecher would be absent from their blueline for at least a month, questions started popping up over who the Canucks would promote to a starting role. While Alex Biega is set to get the first crack at his spot, he’s shown before that he doesn’t bring anything close to the type of game that Stecher was known for. Patrick Wiercioch is also up with the team, but similarly doesn’t represent much upside for the Canucks.

Cue the speculation, and an interesting name out of News 1130’s Rick Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal reports that an agent asked him “if [he has] heard the Canucks are talking to Tampa Bay about Slater Koekkoek.” While it’s not clear if that means they have in fact had any conversations, the possibility is interesting. With Mikhail Sergachev confirmed as staying with the team past the nine-game threshold, there isn’t a ton of ice time for Koekkoek. He’s clearly the odd man out in Tampa’s rotation, but would require waivers to be sent to the minor leagues.

  • Jordan Schroeder has indeed been sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, even with the injury to Lukas Sedlak. Schroeder cleared waivers earlier today, and will head to Cleveland to continue his season. The Blue Jackets, now down to 13 forwards, are currently carrying an extra roster spot. Whether that’s filled with another forward, or an eighth defenseman is still to be decided.
  • The Ottawa Senators have signed Jack Rodewald to a two-year entry-level contract. Rodewald had been playing with their AHL affiliate Belleville this season on a minor-league deal, but could now be called up to the NHL should his play warrant it. The undrafted forward scored 85 points in his final year of junior for the Moose Jaw Warriors, and has four points in his first five games this season in the AHL.
  • Bobby Farnham has signed a professional tryout with the Springfield Thunderbirds according to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal. Farnham had appeared in New York Rangers’ training camp on a tryout earlier this summer, but failed to make the team. The undrafted forward has 67 NHL games under his belt, but is know more for his rough play than his scoring ability. He has just 10 career points, all with New Jersey in 2015-16.

Snapshots: Parise, Mironov, Schroeder

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The Minnesota Wild could have some bad news to announce very soon, as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Zach Parise is considering back surgery to repair a herniated disk. The disk is giving him leg pain, and could take him out for up to two months. Russo reports the update will likely come on Tuesday.

The Wild had Mikael Granlund back in the lineup, but losing Parise for another two months would certainly hurt. Though he’s not the high-flying 45-goal man of his youth, the 33-year old forward is still a very effective two way player and a key part of the Minnesota team. Last year he recorded 42 points in 69 games, marking only the second time he hadn’t cracked 20 goals and 50 points in a non-lockout season since his rookie year. The first was a year lost completely to injury, when he tore the meniscus in his knee and needed surgery in 2010. Hopefully he doesn’t fall to a similar fate in 2017-18.

  • Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey tweets that his client Andrei Mironov will be recalled by the Colorado Avalanche today, returning him after just a few days with the San Antonio Rampage. Mironov was sent on a conditioning stint to get him into game action, since he was just sitting in the press box for the Avalanche. The Rampage had three consecutive games this weekend (all against the Texas Stars, a quirk of AHL scheduling), in which Mironov scored two points. He’ll try to get back into the Colorado lineup on a more regular basis in his first year in North America.
  • Jordan Schroeder, placed on waivers earlier today by the Columbus Blue Jackets, has also technically been recalled from his conditioning stint. Schroeder played in three games for the Cleveland Monsters, and will likely return to the AHL squad if he clears tomorrow. With him on the roster temporarily the Blue Jackets have 23 men, but are expected to activate Gabriel Carlsson from injured reserve in the next few days.

NHL Snapshots: MacDonald, Haula, Marchessault, Bennett

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The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that defenseman Andrew MacDonald will miss four to six weeks with a lower body injury. According to NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer, MacDonald stepped into a path of a slap shot from Edmonton’s Milan Lucic during a penalty killing shift of Saturday’s 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. It hit his knee and MacDonald suffered a deep bone bruise, according to CSN’s Tim Panaccio.

Despite the injury, MacDonald stayed in the game. In fact, after taking the hit and going down, he still forced himself to get up and help clear the puck. The 31-year-old blueliner had a dominant performance against the Oilers, as he recorded three shots on goal, six blocked shots and played the second-most minutes on the team at 22:03.

No corresponding moves have been made, although its possible the Flyers will promote defenseman Samuel Morin, who made the team out of training camp, but was a healthy scratch for four games before he was sent down to Lehigh Valley. In five games with the AHL team, he has put up a goal, three assists, 10 penalty minutes and a plus/minus of +3.

  • While the Vegas Golden Knights await the injury status of goaltender Malcolm Subban, Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp tweets out that Erik Haula, who was put on injured reserve eight days ago, practiced with the team today and told Carp he is ready to return to the team, but wouldn’t say when. David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tweets that Jon Marchessault, who was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 15, also says he is ready to return to the Golden Knights lineup and said he expects to be activated for Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks after practicing today. The team may reverse their transactions from last week and send Vadim Shipachyov and Alex Tuch back to the AHL. Both Shipachyov and Tuch tallied no points and neither had any shots on goal in Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. Shipachyov received only 10:22 of ice time, while Tuch had 8:49.
  • Kent Wilson of The Athletic (subscription required) answers mailbag questions about Calgary Flames center Sam Bennett, who has zero points after eight games. Wilson writes the lack of offense would be acceptable if he was impacting the game in other ways, but that isn’t the case. Bennett, whose first full season showed a lot of promise two years ago when he finished with 18 goals and 18 assists, took a step down last year when he only had 13 goals and 13 assists. Now his numbers look even more bleak. Wilson suggests the team move the 2014 fourth-overall pick to the wing in hopes of helping the 21-year-old’s success and promoting Mark Jankowski, who is tearing up the AHL right now with five goals and four assists in six games.

Snapshots: Athanasiou, Dubois, Lindholm, Vatanen

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Although Andreas Athanasiou has now agreed to terms on a new deal with Detroit, it’s still going to take some time before he rejoins the team.  GM Ken Holland told reporters, including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, that the team will apply for a work visa for the winger on Monday morning.  As we’ve seen in recent weeks, it can take a few days if not longer for that to be approved.  Once that happens, he’ll need some practices before being game-ready; while Holland wouldn’t definitively rule out an AHL conditioning stint for Athanasiou, he did note that it’s an unlikely scenario.

In the meantime, Holland will likely be busy working the phones as he looks to make a roster move or two to free up the cap space required to add Athanasiou to the active roster.  A trade seems likely but if there is a significant injury between now and then, the Red Wings could use LTIR to get back into cap compliance in the short-term and give them more time to work out a trade.

More from around the league:

  • While Blue Jackets winger Pierre-Luc Dubois isn’t lighting it up (just one goal through seven games), Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that there are no indications that the team is planning on sending him back to junior before he plays his tenth game next week. The 19-year-old isn’t eligible to play in the AHL yet and the fact that he is playing a regular shift (he’s averaging nearly 13 minutes per game) is a good sign for him to officially burn the first season of his entry-level contract.  The focus will then shift to 40 games on the active roster when he will accrue a year towards UFA eligibility.
  • Although Ducks defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen have started skating with the team, both are out for tonight’s game against Montreal, the team announced (Twitter link). Both players had been targeting November 1st as a return date and while they’ll miss at least one more game, they still appear to be ahead of schedule in their recoveries from offseason shoulder surgeries.

Snapshots: Wiercioch, Avalanche, Svechnikov, Schneider

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The Vancouver Canucks have recalled Patrick Wiercioch from the AHL, likely to help replace Erik Gudbranson who is now serving a one-game suspension. While there is no guarantee Wiercioch gets into the lineup—Alex Biega was already up as the team’s extra defenseman—he’ll provide some more depth as the team continues their east coast road trip. Vancouver is in Buffalo today and Wiercioch is already with the team, thanks to the team affiliate Utica’s close proximity.

Wiercioch signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Canucks this summer after playing last year with the Colorado Avalanche, but was cut at the end of training camp. In two games with Utica, the 27-year old has one goal and no assists. An NHL veteran, Wiercioch has 268 games under his belt at the highest level and actually hadn’t seen the minor leagues in some time. Should he show that he’s ready to continue in the NHL, the Canucks could potentially keep him around even after Gudbranson returns.

  • The Colorado Avalanche got some bad news, as both J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost will be out for a while following injuries on Thursday night. Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that Jost will miss two to three weeks while Compher is out indefinitely with a broken thumb. It’s a tough blow for a team that was experiencing a good start to the season, and injury to insult after the league admitted they were wrong on the offside challenge last night.
  • Potential first-overall draft pick Andrei Svechnikov was lighting it up in the OHL this year, but will have to put his exploits on hold for the next two months. As Bob McKenzie of TSN reports, the young forward broke his hand while playing for Barrie and will need surgery. He’s expected to be out eight weeks. While the injury certainly puts a damper on his draft year, there is little chance of him dropping out of the first few spots unless the hand injury proves to limit his play after recovery. Svechnikov had ten goals and 14 points in his first ten games, and was already proving to be one of the most dynamic players in junior hockey at the age of 17. His size, speed and skill give him franchise-altering potential, and he’ll likely still be on display at the World Junior Championships at the end of December and early January.
  • The New Jersey Devils have placed Cory Schneider on injured reserve retroactive to October 19th, and recalled Scott Wedgewood. While normally this would be devastating for the Devils, after tonight they don’t play again until next Friday. Schneider is expected to be activated in time for that game. For now, Wedgewood will back up Keith Kinkaid in the Devils’ matchup tonight against the San Jose Sharks.

Snapshots: Josefson, Megan, Foligno

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Injury news out of Buffalo today has Sabres’ forward Jacob Josefson out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury sustained on Sunday. Josefson had been held scoreless through the first six games, but had been a key penalty killer for the team. The 26-year old signed a one-year, $700K contract with the Sabres this summer after not receiving a qualifying offer from the New Jersey Devils, and is looking to prove that he can be an effective bottom-six player for the team long-term.

Week-to-week doesn’t instill confidence that he’ll be back anytime soon, so the Sabres will have to find another way to fill out their forward group. Today at practice Sam Reinhart was back at center, with Justin Bailey jumping up beside Ryan O’Reilly on the second line. The Sabres are looking for some answer to their early season struggles as they take on Vancouver tomorrow night.

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