Penguins Recall Tristan Jarry, Assign Matt Nieto To AHL On Conditioning Loan
Two weeks ago, the Penguins opted to send goaltender Tristan Jarry to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan. That loan has a two-week limit which has now expired. Accordingly, the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from the minors. Jarry remained on Pittsburgh’s active roster while in the AHL so no corresponding move was needed. Meanwhile, the team has also sent winger Matt Nieto to the AHL on a conditioning loan.
Jarry got off to a particularly rocky start to his season, posting a 5.47 GAA and a .836 SV% in his first three starts. While that’s a small sample size, it was certainly cause for some concern. Accordingly, when Alex Nedeljkovic returned, Pittsburgh elected not to send youngster Joel Blomqvist back to the minors, instead keeping three goalies.
After doing that briefly, the Penguins sent Jarry back from their road trip to work with their goalie coach away from the rest of the team. After a couple of days of that, the sides decided that a stint in the minors made sense. Jarry certainly made the most of it, getting into five minor league contests, putting up a 2.16 GAA and a .926 SV% in those outings.
It will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh opts to deploy Jarry. They might be inclined to give him another NHL start relatively quickly to see if he can continue his improved performance but a three-goalie rotation is often difficult to work with. Blomqvist has impressed in his first taste of NHL action and doesn’t deserve to lose much time or be sent down while Nedeljkovic is in the first season of a two-year deal signed a few months ago to keep him in the fold. For now, at least, it looks like they’ll carry three netminders and try to make it work.
As for Nieto, it has been more than 11 months since he last saw game action. The 32-year-old is coming back from a knee injury and is on LTIR. This means that his conditioning loan carries a shorter timeline than Jarry as the standard one is capped at three games and six days although two games can be added to that with league permission if it’s necessary. Nieto had four points in 22 games with Pittsburgh last season and is in the final year of his deal which carries a $900K AAV.
Lightning Assign Gage Goncalves To AHL
Gage Goncalves’ first NHL stint of the season was a short-lived one. The Lightning announced today that they’ve reassigned the forward to AHL Syracuse.
The 23-year-old was recalled earlier this week and got into two games with Tampa Bay. He was held off the scoresheet in those outings while logging a little over ten minutes per game. Goncalves had a big year offensively with the Crunch last season, collecting 58 points in 69 games and was off to a good start prior to his recall this year, notching four assists and four appearances thus far.
While Goncalves was recalled to take Brayden Point’s spot in the lineup due to his lower-body injury, this assignment shouldn’t be interpreted as Point being ready to return yet; he didn’t participate in practice today. However, Tampa Bay is off until Thursday so this assignment will free up a bit more cap space at a minimum while giving Goncalves a chance to play with the Crunch. If Point isn’t ready to return by Thursday’s game, Goncalves will probably be promoted once again.
Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Nic Hague On IR
The Golden Knights have placed defenseman Nic Hague on IR, per the NHL’s media site. With the open roster spot, the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Jonas Rondbjerg has been recalled from AHL Henderson.
Rondbjerg is no stranger to the NHL-AHL shuttle in recent years as he has played in at least 13 games with Vegas in each of the last three seasons. In 2023-24, the 25-year-old got into 20 games with the Golden Knights, recording two goals and an assist while averaging 11:17 per night. Overall, he has three goals and seven helpers in 63 career appearances in Vegas.
While he hasn’t been a big point producer in the NHL, Rondbjerg has been much more effective offensively in the minors. Last season, he had nine goals and 16 assists in 48 appearances with the Silver Knights and is off to a decent start this year with two goals and two assists in his first seven games, helping to earn this recall.
As for Hague, the 25-year-old last played on Saturday and has been out with an undisclosed injury since then. He’s off to a quiet start to his season, notching just one goal in nine games along with 12 blocks and 13 hits while averaging just over 16 minutes a night, a number that skews a bit low due to missing time due to injury in two straight games. Assuming they back-dated the IR placement to Sunday, Hague will be available to return as soon as Monday against Seattle.
While Rondbjerg’s cap hit actually comes in slightly below the league minimum salary, his recall does push Vegas into using LTIR, meaning they’ll stop banking cap space for the time being. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him at least papered back to the minors on Saturday to get them back under the $88MM Upper Limit again.
Kraken Acquire Daniel Sprong From Canucks
It appears Daniel Sprong will be returning to a team he’s already familiar with. The Canucks announced that they have dealt the winger to the Kraken in exchange for future considerations.
Sprong has been a productive player over the last couple of seasons but it hasn’t resulted in him getting much stability. In 2022-23, he had a breakout year in Seattle, notching 21 goals and 25 assists in 66 games. Before that, his previous career-high in points was 23. However, despite only being owed a qualifying offer of $787.5K, Seattle opted to non-tender him, getting out of a potential arbitration hearing in the process.
Still, the 27-year-old was able to do relatively well in free agency in 2023, landing a one-year, $2MM deal with Detroit. He showed that his production the year before wasn’t a one-off, as he collected 18 goals and 25 assists in 76 games while only averaging 12 minutes a night of action. But once again, he was non-tendered as the Red Wings opted to avoid the risk of arbitration as well.
Unfortunately for Sprong, the market wasn’t as strong this time around. It took nearly three weeks into free agency before he found a contract when Vancouver signed him to a one-year, $975K contract, cutting his pay from the year before by more than half in the process. It looked like a relatively shrewd pickup for a Canucks franchise that didn’t have much salary cap flexibility but wanted to add more offensive depth.
But things didn’t go as planned. Sprong has been healthy scratched three times already this season and when he has played, he hasn’t been able to produce at the same level, tallying just one goal and two assists in nine games while averaging 11:39 per night. Clearly, Vancouver had seen enough and decided the time was right to move on.
The Canucks are expected to welcome Dakota Joshua back to the lineup soon and it appears that this move will open up the roster spot to do so. In the meantime, they’ve upped their cap space to over $1.9MM per PuckPedia, giving them much more in-season flexibility than they’ve had in recent years. As for Seattle, they’re presently in LTIR and this move will push them a little deeper into it. However, they’re still close enough to the $88MM cap that it shouldn’t be too difficult to get back under that amount when Vince Dunn is able to return.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the trade.
New Jersey Devils Recall Nick DeSimone
The New Jersey Devils had an opening on defense after reassigning Simon Nemec to the AHL’s Utica Comets yesterday. To fill that opening, the organization recalled defenseman Nick DeSimone.
DeSimone has suited up in NHL games for the last two years despite spending the past eight seasons in professional hockey. After signing as a collegiate free agent out of Union College, he began his professional career in the San Jose Sharks system.
His contractual rights bounced from the Vegas Golden Knights to the New York Rangers organization before finally landing as an unrestricted free agent with the Calgary Flames. It was with the Flames that DeSimone ultimately made his NHL debut securing four games played in the 2022-23 season.
Last year garnered the most playing time for DeSimone at the NHL level as he managed one goal and five points in 23 games with the Flames. He became a piece in Calgary’s blue-line exodus from last year after being claimed off waivers by the Devils in late January.
DeSimone scored one goal and two points with the Devils in 11 games down the stretch. His play for the team turned into a one-year, $775K extension on June 24, 2024.
Unfortunately for DeSimone, he’s more of a roster filler at this point with the Devils. He’s off to a dismal start in the AHL this year with two assists in nine games and a -10 rating. Even if New Jersey experiences on the blue line, they’ll likely make a call-up rather than give DeSimone meaningful minutes.
Penguins Activate Bryan Rust, Place Cody Glass On IR
The Pittsburgh Penguins will have one forward in the lineup tonight exchanged for another. The organization announced it has activated Bryan Rust off the injured reserve while placing Cody Glass on it.
Rust has been dealing with a lower-body injury for the last little while, and it’s related to the injury that kept him out of the lineup at the beginning of the season. The veteran didn’t make his 2024-25 debut until October 12th and managed three goals and four points in eight contests before re-aggravating the lower-body concern on October 26th.
The Penguins expect Rust to serve in a top-six role this evening and could even rediscover his role on the team’s first line. He’s typically been Sidney Crosby‘s linemate, but the team may opt for Rust to play on the second line in light of Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell playing on the captain’s wings.
It’s not all good news on the injury front in Pittsburgh. Glass, who’s nursing an upper-body injury, lands on the injured reserve for the first time this season.
After leaving the contest without a return, Glass was seemingly injured in last night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. In his first year with the franchise, he’s played in 14 contests for the Penguins but has only collected four assists while posting a -7 rating.
He’s primarily played in a bottom-six role averaging 11:48 of ice time per game so there shouldn’t be too much roster maneuvering for Pittsburgh. Still, with the team sitting toward the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings, it’s more insult to injury for Pittsburgh.
Jets Activate, Reassign Jaret Anderson-Dolan
In a minor move heading into the weekend, the Winnipeg Jets activated forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and reassigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Anderson-Dolan signed a two-year, $1.55MM with the Jets on the second day of free agency this past offseason.
Anderson-Dolan landed on the injured reserve shortly before the regular season started due to a broken foot. He featured in three preseason contests for the Jets but failed to find the scoresheet besides posting a +1 rating.
He’ll likely feature as a flex forward in Winnipeg for much of the season. If the last few seasons are any indication, Anderson-Dolan should spend most of his time in the AHL unless there’s an injury at the NHL level.
Aside from a few injuries, Anderson-Dolan suited up for the Los Angeles Kings from 2018-2023 collecting 15 goals and 28 points in 126 games. The Nashville Predators claimed Anderson-Dolan off waivers last season but he only featured in one game.
He’ll now head to a Moose team that’s struggled out of the gates to start the 2024-25 AHL campaign. After qualifying for the Calder Cup playoffs last year as the fifth-ranked team in the Central Division, the Moose have started this year 3-5-0-0 and sit seventh in the division.
Maple Leafs Place Auston Matthews On IR, Activate Connor Dewar
The Maple Leafs have moved Auston Matthews to injured reserve with his upper-body injury retroactive to Nov. 3, the team announced. They’re using the open spot to reinstate forward Connor Dewar from his LTIR conditioning loan and add him to the active roster.
The IR placement only minimally affects Matthews’ timeline for a return. Head coach Craig Berube already told reporters that the superstar would miss his second straight game tonight against the Red Wings and that he was doubtful for tomorrow’s game against the Canadiens. He’s now been ruled out against Montreal thanks to the move to IR but could return for Tuesday’s matchup against the Senators. He’ll miss at least three games in total with the ailment, which he’s been playing through for a good chunk of the season.
Meanwhile, Dewar was one of two players for the Leafs in the AHL on LTIR conditioning stints. They assigned both he and defenseman Jani Hakanpää to the minors at the beginning of the month as they each got their feet back under them after offseason surgeries – in Dewar’s case, a shoulder procedure. LTIR conditioning stints can only last up to three games or six days, and the time constraint ends today. The lack of news regarding Hakanpää indicates he’s not entirely cleared to return to full-time action and will remain on LTIR for a tad longer.
Matthews’ IR placement buys the Leafs a little bit of time, but they’ll still need to make a roster move when the captain is ready to return next week and another one when Hakanpää is eventually ready to play. They have $1.83MM left in their LTIR pool after today’s transactions with Hakanpää, Calle Järnkrok and Dakota Mermis still on the list.
In his lone appearance on his conditioning stint, Dewar had a goal and an assist in what amounted to his first AHL action since the 2021-22 campaign. Acquired from the Wild at last season’s trade deadline, Dewar had a goal and four assists in 17 games for Toronto down the stretch and avoided arbitration over the summer with a one-year, $1.18MM settlement.
The high-energy 5’10” forward can play both center and wing and was a fixture on the Leafs’ penalty kill to close out 2023-24, averaging nearly two-and-a-half minutes per game shorthanded. He’s projected to serve as a healthy scratch against Detroit tonight while Steven Lorentz, David Kämpf and Ryan Reaves remain in fourth-line roles, but he could get a chance to play against the Habs tomorrow.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Tyler Benson Signs In Sweden
Former Oilers left-winger Tyler Benson has found a place to play for 2024-25 after going unsigned for the campaign’s first month. MoDo of the Swedish Hockey League announced they’ve signed the 26-year-old to an agreement for the remainder of the season.
Benson last suited up in the NHL in the 2022-23 campaign. A 2016 second-round pick, he never really caught on in Edmonton despite showing some intriguing offensive upside at the AHL level.
In 38 career appearances, Benson only managed a paltry three points (one goal, two assists) and never got any looks higher up in the lineup, averaging just 8:46 per game. But he was a high-end offensive threat for their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield for several years. The Edmonton native turned heads in his first professional season, impressing with 66 points in 68 games in 2018-19 in his first minor-league go-around after completing his major junior career with the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants. He continued to hover around a point per game with Bakersfield while getting a few NHL call-ups until 2022-23 when he turned out just five goals and 23 points in 43 appearances.
By the time the 2023 offseason rolled around, he had turned 25, and with only those 38 NHL games under his belt, he was eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency. The Oilers didn’t bring him back, and no other NHL offers came his way. Benson settled for an AHL contract with the Henderson Silver Knights, the Golden Knights’ affiliate. He failed to rediscover his game there, again limited to just five goals with 20 assists for 25 points in 52 games, barely cracking the top 10 in team scoring.
It’s been a sharp fall from grace for Benson over the past couple of seasons, a trend he’ll now look to reverse in Sweden. Regarded as a high-energy playmaker who’s effective on the forecheck when he’s on his game, he joins a MoDo club headlined by ex-Avalanche winger Sampo Ranta. They’re off to a horrid 2-10-1-3 start and appear well on their way to being relegated back to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan after being promoted in 2023. However, they hope Benson’s acquisition could help get them out of the basement.
Red Wings Recall Ville Husso Under Emergency Conditions
The Red Wings announced they’ve recalled Ville Husso from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions. Summoning the netminder indicates that either Alex Lyon or Cam Talbot is at risk of being unavailable for this evening’s game against the Maple Leafs. However, the team hasn’t disclosed who might be out or why.
Husso, 29, started Detroit’s season opener against the Penguins but allowed four goals on 14 shots and was pulled from the game early in the second period. That poor showing put a quick end to the Wings’ brief three-goalie rotation experiment for this season, as he was placed on waivers the following weekend and was subsequently assigned to Grand Rapids.
The Finnish netminder was on a short leash after a tough stretch of play last season. He managed a .893 SV% in 18 appearances to start 2023-24 before sustaining a lower-body injury that put him on the shelf for over a month. After a brief conditioning assignment with Grand Rapids, he attempted to return. However, he allowed a goal on seven shots against the Oilers on Feb. 13 before being pulled from the game with a reaggravation of his injury less than nine minutes in. Husso got another brief AHL conditioning stint at the end of the season but never suited up again for Detroit due to the ailment.
The Red Wings haven’t gotten the level of play out of Husso they anticipated when they acquired his signing rights from the Blues in 2022 and subsequently inked him to a three-year, $14.25MM extension. In 76 appearances for the Wings, he has a 35-28-9 record but has poor numbers to support it with a .894 SV%, 3.25 GAA, four shutouts, and -21.3 GSAA. They’re in the home stretch of that deal, which carries a $4.75MM cap hit ($3.6MM when he’s in the minors) and expires next summer.
If there’s a silver lining, Husso has been lights out in brief action for Grand Rapids this season. He has a .958 SV%, 1.23 GAA, a shutout, and a 2-0-0 record in three appearances.