Lightning Assign Cole Koepke To AHL
With Anthony Cirelli close to returning, the Lightning need to open up both salary cap and roster space to bring him back onto the active roster. They made one of those moves this morning as they announced that they’ve sent winger Cole Koepke to AHL Syracuse.
The 24-year-old didn’t have any NHL experience heading into this season but made the roster out of training camp and has played close to a full-time role to this point. Koepke has suited up in 17 games for Tampa Bay this season, logging a little over nine minutes a game on the fourth line while chipping in with a goal and 22 hits.
Last season, Koepke was a productive forward with the Crunch, notching 20 goals and 19 helpers in 69 contests and at this stage of his development, a chance to play a much more prominent role in the minors will likely be beneficial.
Tampa Bay will have to wait to find out the fate of defenseman Philippe Myers for a few more hours. He was placed on waivers yesterday and his potential demotion coupled with Koepke’s return will give the Lightning just enough cap space to be able to activate Cirelli.
Tampa Bay Lightning Re-Assign Alex Barre-Boulet
Nov 28: Barre-Boulet has been returned to the AHL after playing in one game with the Lightning.
Nov 25: The Tampa Bay Lightning will bring an extra forward into action tonight against the St. Louis Blues, recalling Alex Barre-Boulet from the minor leagues. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is away from the team for personal reasons and won’t play.
Barre-Boulet, 25, is once again showing how easily he can dominate the minor leagues, with 24 points in his first 16 AHL games this season. While only four of those are goals, he continues to be one of the top playmakers for the Syracuse Crunch, a role he has held since the moment he stepped foot on a professional hockey rink.
Signed as an undrafted free agent, his scoring touch goes much further back than that even. In his final year with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL, he racked up 53 goals and 116 points in 65 regular season games. The talented, but undersized, forward is a perfect depth player to have in the system, even if it has only resulted in 31 games of NHL experience to this point.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare Will Join Team On Upcoming Roadtrip
As they navigate a cap crunch that has seen key pieces of their core stripped away one by one over time, the Tampa Bay Lightning have had to get more and more creative filling out their lineup. The organization has used a mix of young players in their system developed to their liking and affordable veterans with a winning pedigree to round things out. One of those players is 37-year-old Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who the team signed to a two-year deal back in 2021.
Recently, Bellemare has been away from the team on a personal leave of absence, the root of which is unknown. Earlier today, Tampa Bay Times reporter Eduardo Encina spoke with Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who confirmed that Bellemare will join the team on their upcoming road trip, which will travel through Buffalo, Boston, and Philadelphia. It’s unclear if Bellemare, who last played on Monday, is expected to play on this trip. Although the veteran hasn’t been out very long, it’s possible due to the leave that he may not have been able to continue skating regularly and could need an extra couple days to be ready.
Forward Notes: Iafallo, Howden, Balcers
Some good news is coming in the future for the Los Angeles Kings. LA Kings Insider’s Zach Dooley reports that Alex Iafallo has resumed skating on his own, although head coach Todd McLellan said he “won’t be in the lineup for a little while.”
Iafallo has missed 19 games so far this year with a lower-body injury. He remains week-to-week, and it’s likely another week or two at least before he returns. When he does, though, it’ll be a huge boost for a Kings team still in the playoff mix. The 28-year-old had five points through his first four games and remains a valuable top-nine piece in LA.
- Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden is out tonight against the Vancouver Canucks after sustaining a lower-body injury in Thursday’s contest against Ottawa. Head coach Bruce Cassidy still isn’t sure about his return, but he said Howden likely won’t travel on the team’s upcoming road trip. That would put him out for at least four games, potentially returning on December 7 against his former team, the New York Rangers.
- A recent pickup by the Tampa Bay Lightning is set to miss a few games. Forward Rudolfs Balcers, claimed on waivers from Florida earlier in the season, is unlikely to play on the team’s upcoming road trip, according to head coach Jon Cooper. The Bolts’ upcoming three-game swing sees them take on the Sabres, Bruins, and Flyers. Balcers has averaged under seven minutes per game in Tampa and has a goal in his first three Lightning appearances.
Snapshots: McDonagh, Samsonov, Tarasenko
If the season were to end today, the Nashville Predators would, for a second straight season, find themselves in the playoffs as the eighth seed out of the Western Conference. Last season, the team was rewarded for its efforts with a 4-0 sweep in the first round at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche. This season, should they make the playoffs, they’ll now have a new weapon: a veteran shutdown defenseman with Stanley Cup pedigree in that of defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who they acquired this offseason from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though Nashville has had their struggles thus far, McDonagh has been the steady, reliable presence they’d hoped for, helping to keep them in the hunt early on.
However, as The Athletic’s Joe Smith details, there was a time when McDonagh was nearly on his way to the Columbus Blue Jackets this offseason. According to Smith’s discussions with McDonagh and agent Ben Hankinson, a deal to Columbus was rather close. But, on the morning of July 3rd, things began to change. As Smith writes, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois had set that day as a deadline to find a trade partner for McDonagh, who carried a no-movement clause on his contract. If they could not, Smith added, there was a chance McDonagh could have been placed on waivers. Instead, the story goes, Nashville and GM David Poile jumped into the mix that day and made the push to acquire McDonagh. Ultimately, it was the Predators who checked more boxes than any other interested team, McDonagh said.
- After Ilya Samsonov suffered a knee injury in a game against the Boston Bruins two weeks ago, many wondered how the Toronto Maple Leafs would resolve their issues in net, down both of their regular netminders. Toronto managed to bide their time, relying on Erik Kallgren, until Murray’s return this Tuesday, however they will need that pair to stay healthy for now, as Samsonov does not appear close to return. According to TSN’s Mark Masters, who spoke with Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, Samsonov did not skate Friday. As Keefe says, Samsonov is still healing and not yet at the point to push himself every day and make the push to return. Fortunately for Toronto, the comments don’t appear to point to any setback in Samsonov’s recovery, even if his return is not clear.
- NHL.com’s Chris Pinkert reports that St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko will not play tonight due to illness. It doesn’t appear that the illness is in any way COVID related. Skating in his place will be Alexey Toropchenko, who will play alongside Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas. The 23-year-old Toropchenko has just one goal in 11 games this season, but a chance to skate in the Blues’ top-six could reignite the winger.
Cal Foote Placed On IR
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.
Erik Cernak, Cal Foote Could Miss Tonight's Game
The Tampa Bay Lightning are lagging behind the pace in the Atlantic Division, and injuries are becoming a complicating factor. Neither defensemen Erik Cernak nor Cal Foote was on the ice for their morning skate today after sustaining injuries in Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, according to The Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina. Mikhail Sergachev, who was also injured in that game, was present.
Tampa could be without both Cernak and Foote when they take on the Capitals in a rematch tonight. If neither is ready to go, no recalls will be necessary as Haydn Fleury and Philippe Myers are already on the active roster as healthy extras. The Lightning’s depth is doing little to support the strong play of its stars, a stark change from years past. They’ll need a gritty performance tonight to avoid dropping to .500 on the season.
Lightning Claim Rudolfs Balcers Off Waivers
Rudolfs Balcers is staying in Florida. At least, he’s staying in the State of Florida as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have claimed the winger off waivers from the Panthers.
The 25-year-old signed a one-year deal with Florida this past summer after being bought out by San Jose despite putting up 11 goals and 12 assists in 61 games last season, all career highs. He had played in all 14 games for the Panthers this season, potting two goals and two assists despite logging a little under 11 minutes of playing time per game. However, the team needed to waive someone in order to create a spot for Aaron Ekblad to be activated off LTIR and the team decided that Balcers was the better choice between him and veteran center Eric Staal.
Florida will be at 12 forwards on the active roster once that move is officially made later today with one of those being Patric Hornqvist who has been injured for more than a week. However, the team confirmed (Twitter link) that the veteran will be able to return today, meaning the Panthers will be able to ice a full roster although they won’t have enough cap space to carry any spare players which could be problematic when injuries arise.
Balcers could immediately jump into Tampa Bay’s lineup with the team only previously carrying the minimum 12 forwards including youngster Cole Koepke who hasn’t produced much in the early going as he has been held off the scoresheet through his first dozen career NHL contests. Balcers would be an upgrade on Koepke on their fourth line, one that won’t have any significant cap effects since he’s signed at the league minimum with arbitration eligibility next summer. With the Lightning only being able to afford cheap pickups while making sure they can be cap-compliant for when Anthony Cirelli is able to come off LTIR, this pickup is certainly a worthwhile one, especially if he’s able to produce at the level he did last season with the Sharks.
Patrick Maroon Fined By Department Of Player Safety
- The Department of Player Safety announced that they’ve fined Capitals winger Garnet Hathaway $4,054 and Lightning winger Patrick Maroon $2,703 for unsportsmanlike conduct. Those amounts, which work out to 50% of their daily pay, are the maximum permitted in the CBA. The incident occurred during last night’s game during a review of the check to the head from Nicolas Aube-Kubel on Cal Foote; both players received a five-minute major and a ten-minute misconduct on the play.
Hedman And Paul Listed As Game-Time Decisions
- A pair of key Lightning players are questionable to suit up tonight as team reporter Chris Krenn relays (Twitter link) that defenseman Victor Hedman and center Nick Paul are both listed as game-time decisions. Hedman has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury while Paul played in Thursday’s loss to Carolina.