Winnipeg Jets Activate Kyle Connor, Place Mark Scheifele On IR
Before their game tonight against the New York Islanders, the Winnipeg Jets are trading in one star forward for another. Per a team announcement, the team has activated forward Kyle Connor off of injured reserve, and subsequently placed Mark Scheifele on the injured reserve, retroactive to January 12th.
Connor’s return will come after missing just over a month of action for the Jets, after suffering a knee injury in the team’s December 10th game against the Anaheim Ducks. However, even without their top scorer in the lineup, Winnipeg has amassed an impressive 12-2-2 record since Connor’s original injury took place and have vaulted themselves into first place in the hotly contested Central Division.
Before Connor’s placement on the injured reserve, he was on pace for a personal best in goal-scoring to date, putting up 17 goals in 26 games. Incredibly, with only three of those goals coming on the Jets’ powerplay, Connor still sits tied for 16th in the NHL in even-strength goals, which puts him on par with the likes of Travis Konecny, Connor Bedard, and Robert Thomas with about half as many games played.
Nevertheless, the news of Connor’s return also bears some negative aspects, as Scheifele will now find himself on the injured reserve. Thankfully, since the placement is retroactive to January 12th, Scheifele may only miss one game for Winnipeg, and be eligible to return against the Ottawa Senators this Saturday.
By all accounts, it does not appear that Scheifele’s injury is serious, as it’s only been reported he is dealing with a lower-body injury from the team’s game last week against the Chicago Blackhawks. In the last 15 games that Connor has missed, Scheifele has picked up a lot of the offensive slack, scoring five goals and 13 points in that stretch of games.
Calgary Flames Recall Dustin Wolf
With regular starting netminder, Jacob Markstrom, out for the next few days with a lower-body injury, the Calgary Flames have recalled top goalie prospect Dustin Wolf to fill the crease void. This will mark the third call-up for Wolf this season, with the other two coming as emergency loans in early November and December, respectively.
For Wolf, it is hard to name a more anticipated goalie prospect throughout the league. Last season playing for the Flames AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, Wolf rather famously produced a 42-10-2 record in 55 games, maintaining a .932 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average. His production over the course of last season was good enough to earn him the Les Cunningham Award, Aldege Bastien Memorial Award, Harry Holmes Memorial Award, President’s Award, and First Team All-Star honors.
Although his numbers are technically down this year in the AHL, he is once again getting off to a tremendous start. In 23 games played for the Wranglers, Wolf is once again carrying a solid 16-6-1 record, while carrying a .929 SV% and 2.27 GAA. Throughout his previous two call-ups to the Flames, Wolf has managed to play in five games, touting a 1-2-1 record with a .893 SV% and 3.46 GAA.
In recent weeks, there have been conflicting reports throughout the NHL that Calgary may entertain offers for Markstrom at this year’s trade deadline, although the proposed deal would require a large amount of assets headed back to the Flames. At any rate, whether it be by moving out Markstrom for a massive return, or finding a landing spot for backup goalie, Daniel Vladar, the sense around Calgary is that the Flames will need to make a move in the near future to clear out a full-time role for Wolf at the NHL level.
Blackhawks Sign Jason Dickinson To A Two-Year Extension
The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that they’ve signed forward Jason Dickinson to a two-year, $8.5MM contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2025-26 season. Dickinson was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st but opted to remain with the Blackhawks for the next two seasons. The extension comes just four days after the Blackhawks re-signed forward Nick Foligno to a two-year, $9MM contract extension signalling that the Blackhawks have no intention of dealing either player at this year’s NHL trade deadline.
Dickinson is in the third year of a three-year, $7.95MM contract he signed with the Vancouver Canucks back in August of 2021. He was effectively a salary cap dump by the Canucks when they traded him to Chicago in October 2022 alongside a second-round pick for defenseman Riley Stillman. Dickinson then went on to have a career year in Chicago last season with nine goals and 21 assists in 78 games. This season, Dickinson has shattered his career high in goals as he already has 14 on the year in just 43 games fueled by a shooting percentage of 21.2%, which is more than doubled his career average of 10.2%.
The extension for Dickinson is a nice bit of security for the 28-year-old who looked like a buyout candidate just two summers ago. Dickinson has settled into his role in Chicago and could reach 25 goals this season if he continues shooting at his current pace.
For the Blackhawks, this contract is another short-term overpayment, but it’s not likely to hurt the club long-term. Dickinson is a good pro who can help the younger players in the Blackhawks organization get acclimated to the league while providing physicality and a bit of offense.
Wild To Activate Jonas Brodin Off LTIR
The Wild will activate defenseman Jonas Brodin off long-term injured reserve prior to tonight’s contest against the Islanders, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports. Brodin, 30, will play for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury on December 8, ending a 17-game absence.
He is expected to return to his top-pairing role alongside rookie Brock Faber, a role he’s held in all of his 25 appearances this season. His return relieves the immense pressure to shoulder heavy minutes placed on depth defenders like Zach Bogosian and Alex Goligoski, who haven’t been up to the task. Without Brodin in the fold, the Wild went 8-8-1 with a -13 goal differential and now sit squarely in seventh place in the Central Division, five points behind the Blues and Coyotes. Their chances of making the playoffs are now down to 3.4%, per Hockey Reference.
Brodin continues to perform as a premier shutdown defender heading into his 30s. He had logged a goal and eight assists this season before exiting with injury, and his 23:59 average ice time is his highest mark in nine seasons and the second-highest of his career. The Swede has once again controlled the majority of scoring chances at even strength with a 53.6% Corsi share, and his pairing with Faber has controlled 57% of expected goals when on the ice together.
Minnesota remains without one other key piece on their blueline, however. That’s captain Jared Spurgeon, who has re-aggravated his lower-body injury sustained in December and has missed the Wild’s last six games. Russo added that Spurgeon is likely being moved to LTIR in order to free up the cap space to activate Brodin, which would rule him out until January 27 at the earliest, meaning he’ll miss at least six more games.
Brodin has four seasons remaining after this one at a $6MM cap hit. He’ll reach UFA status in 2028.
Ducks To Activate Leo Carlsson
The Ducks will activate rookie center Leo Carlsson ahead of this afternoon’s game against the Panthers, according to the team. It’s an ahead-of-schedule return for Carlsson, who was expected to miss four to six weeks after sustaining a right MCL sprain against the Flames on December 21.
Carlsson will return to a top-six role centering a line with Adam Henrique and Troy Terry as he looks to continue his strong pre-injury play. The MCL sprain, plus some load management-related scratches, have limited him to 23 out of 42 games this year, during which he’s scored eight goals and seven assists while averaging over 18 minutes per contest.
The 19-year-old has been a pleasant surprise in terms of how well he’s translated to the NHL in his post-draft season. It wasn’t the most popular choice when Ducks GM Pat Verbeek selected Carlsson over Adam Fantilli at second overall in last year’s draft, but his two-way game has shined with solid production against other teams’ first and second lines. The Ducks’ 2-7-1 record in their last ten games without Carlsson is a solid bit of evidence of how important his minutes are to the team already. More recent injuries to Pavel Mintyukov and Trevor Zegras have exacerbated the team’s struggles, though.
Already 6-foot-3 and 194 pounds, Carlsson has two seasons remaining after this one on his entry-level contract, which carries a $950K cap hit.
Sabres Recall Kale Clague, Move Jeff Skinner To IR
5:30 PM: The Sabres have sent Clague back to the AHL after the defenseman served as a healthy scratch for the team’s Monday win over the San Jose Sharks.
9:00 AM: The Sabres have recalled defenseman Kale Clague from AHL Rochester, per a team announcement. To create the necessary space on the active roster, the team moved star winger Jeff Skinner to injured reserve, according to CapFriendly.
The latter move is purely for roster management purposes and does not change Skinner’s recovery timeline. He remains listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Clague’s recall comes after defenseman Mattias Samuelsson took an elbow to the head from Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek early in the second period of Saturday’s 1-0 loss. Samuelsson did not return to the game and is likely out for this afternoon’s contest against the Sharks.
The 25-year-old Clague isn’t projected to dress against San Jose, but he does provide some needed defensive depth on the NHL roster. Buffalo lost multiple defenders to injury at points during the loss to Vancouver, namely Connor Clifton and Rasmus Dahlin. At one point during the contest, after Dahlin and Samuelsson had both exited the contest to go into concussion protocol due to separate hits to the head, veteran blueliner Erik Johnson was ineligible to play for five minutes after fighting Canucks center J.T. Miller, whose hit knocked Dahlin out of the game. That gave the Sabres only three available defensemen for a stretch, leading depth forward Zemgus Girgensons to play some shifts on the blue line. Head coach Don Granato confirmed both Clifton and Dahlin are cleared to play in today’s contest against the Sharks, although Samuelsson will remain out.
Clague, a second-round pick of the Kings in 2016, re-joined the Sabres on a one-year deal a few days after becoming a UFA in July. It was his second straight season without receiving a qualifying offer, which allowed the Sabres to sign him to a new deal at a slightly discounted cap hit. He’s in his second season in the Sabres organization after spending the first five seasons of his pro career with the Kings and Canadiens.
This is his first recall of 2023-24 after clearing waivers at the end of training camp. The puck-moving blueliner leads Rochester defensemen in assists (15) and points (17) this year in 31 games. It’s the most minor-league action he’s seen since he played 49 games with AHL Ontario in 2019-20.
In 33 games with the Sabres last year, Clague posted four assists while averaging 15:06 per game, all coming at even strength. He posted the best possession metrics of his career in a decent sample, per Hockey Reference – a 52.7% Corsi share, 50% expected goals for, and a +0.1 expected rating at even strength, to be exact. If he can replicate those, there are much worse options to have as an injury fill-in.
Vegas Golden Knights To Place Jack Eichel On Injured Reserve
Although nothing has been officially confirmed by the team, Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that the Vegas Golden Knights have placed Jack Eichel on injured reserve. Since Eichel has not played a game since January 11th against the Boston Bruins, he will be able to return on January 20th against the Pittsburgh Penguins, only missing three games in total.
Currently, the Golden Knights have not reported exactly the exact injury that Eichel is dealing with, but it will be the first time he has been placed on the injured reserve since December 12th, 2022. In another largely healthy season for Eichel, he is leading Vegas in scoring, putting up 19 goals and 44 points in 43 games.
Eichel joins a growing list of Golden Knights who are missing time due to injury, as Adin Hill, William Karlsson, and William Carrier all find themselves on the team’s injured reserve, and Shea Theodore is still placed on the long-term injured reserve. Staying relatively healthy for most of the beginning of the season, Vegas’ incredible 11-0-1 start has turned into a still respectable 24-14-5 record on the year.
Fortunately for the Golden Knights, the team just recently passed the halfway point in the season, and all players currently injured are still expected back by the end of the season. Reminiscent of last year’s Colorado Avalanche, Vegas is having its organizational depth challenged only a year removed from winning the Stanley Cup.
With Chandler Stephenson likely sidelined for the team’s game tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators with an illness, the Golden Knights may have to rely on Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio to center the top two lines unless they are comfortable moving Ivan Barbashev off of the wing.
Snapshots: Kulikov, Hagg, Blidh
Continuing with their five-game homestand this week, the Florida Panthers may be without defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tomorrow night against the Anaheim Ducks (X Link). It is unclear what exactly is plaguing Kulikov, but he only managed a tad under 14 minutes of ice time in the team’s most recent loss to the New Jersey Devils.
If Kulikov is unable to play on Monday, it likely means that Josh Mahura will join the bottom-pairing on defense, after serving as a healthy scratch since December 16th. Although there is an argument to be made that Mahura is ultimately the more well-rounded defenseman comparatively, Kulikov’s recent work on the penalty kill has given the Panthers little choice but to put him in the lineup.
Already operating as the fifth-best penalty kill in the league, Florida’s penalty kill has allowed only four goals in the last 17 games, as they’ve been operating at over 90% efficiency for over a month. The penalty kill unit as a whole is bigger than just one defenseman, but Kulikov’s ability to shut down the other team’s top power-play units has been a tremendous boon to the Panther’s defensive core this season.
Other snapshots:
- Per the AHL transactions page, the Ducks have returned defenseman Robert Hagg to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Hagg was originally recalled on an emergency basis on January 9th, in correspondence with Anaheim’s trade of Jamie Drysdale to the Philadelphia Flyers only a day prior. Fortunately for Hagg, he was ultimately able to make his Ducks’ debut, playing in two games overall, with no points to show for.
- The New York Rangers have assigned forward Anton Blidh to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, per a team announcement. It was a brief stay with the Rangers for Blidh, who was originally recalled on an emergency basis to suit up in last night’s game against the Washington Capitals. In only a little over five minutes of ice time, Blidh had very little effect on the outcome of the game, and will now return to a Hartford team where he has nine points in 29 games on the season.
Pacific Notes: Markstrom, Kuznetsov, Golden Knights
With trade season now in full swing, one member of the Calgary Flames who has found his name mentioned in several rumors is goaltender Jacob Markstrom. As the Flames enter a transitionary period in their organization, and with goalie prospect Dustin Wolf ready to make the jump to the NHL, the logic behind moving Markstrom has never been more clear for Calgary.
However, in an article by James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now, he includes a quote from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman pouring cold water on the idea of the Flames moving Markstrom as he says, “From what I understand, Calgary has a very high bar here in terms of they’re not going to bother Markstrom with just anything. It would have to be something massive for them or somewhere they absolutely believe Markstrom would want to go before they would even consider going to him. I think that’s where things stand with Markstrom, the Flames, and anything right now”.
Assuming that Friedman is accurate, Calgary’s asking price for Markstrom may push too many teams away, although something could come together over the offseason. With teams such as the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, and New Jersey Devils all looking to upgrade their situation in the crease, it would be incredibly rare for a team to part with a substantial amount of assets during the regular season.
Other notes:
- Staying in Calgary, the Flames announced earlier today that they have sent down defenseman Yan Kuznetsov to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Kuznetsov was recalled for the second time this year on January 9th and would make his NHL debut the same day against the Ottawa Senators. Skating in just under 12 minutes of the game against Ottawa, Kuznetsov was held scoreless in his debut, as he put two shots on the net and also blocked one.
- After sending him down earlier this morning to make way for Brendan Brisson, the Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Byron Froese on an emergency basis due to the possibility of Chandler Stephenson missing time with an illness (X Link). Producing a 3-7-0 record in their last 10 games, the Golden Knights’ depth continues to be tested, as more and more of their typical players continue to miss games for the team.
- In more news coming from Vegas, both Adin Hill and Jiri Patera are not ready to return to the team, although both goaltenders are currently skating (X Link). Relying on goaltender Logan Thompson heavily over the last few weeks, the Golden Knights are now relying on their fourth-string goaltender to serve in the backup role, as 23-year-old, Isaiah Saville was recalled yesterday on an emergency basis.
Blue Jackets Activate Sean Kuraly Off IR, Assign Brendan Gaunce To AHL
The Blue Jackets have activated forward Sean Kuraly off injured reserve, GM Jarmo Kekäläinen announced today. To keep their active roster at the 23-player maximum, forward Brendan Gaunce was assigned to AHL Cleveland in a corresponding transaction.
Kuraly is set to re-enter the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks. The 30-year-old missed eight games with a scary rib cartilage injury that required the attention of paramedics on December 23 against the Maple Leafs.
He’s projected to return in a fourth-line role alongside Emil Bemström and Justin Danforth. Now in his third season with the Blue Jackets since signing a four-year, $10MM contract in 2021, he’d notched six goals and 11 points in 35 games with a -2 rating before the injury, predominantly playing fourth-line minutes with significant penalty kill time.
That’s solid offensive production for someone used almost exclusively as a shutdown specialist at even strength. He’s averaged only 26.9% of his zone starts in the offensive end since joining the Blue Jackets, a number that hasn’t deviated much this season.
Gaunce, 29, heads back to Cleveland, where he’s played most of his hockey since signing in Columbus in 2021. The veteran of 482 combined NHL and AHL games has six goals and 15 points in 24 games with the Monsters this season. The move ends his only recall of the season thus far, which began when he was brought up under emergency conditions on December 18. He appeared in eight out of 11 Blue Jackets contests during his recall, posting a goal and two assists with a -2 rating in 10:59 of average ice time.