Clayton Keller To Miss Two Games With Upper-Body Injury
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s Wednesday night game against the New York Rangers. Johnson didn’t miss any time in the game, playing until the final minute and assisting on Columbus’ only goal. Johnson is in the midst of an extended scoring drought, with his last goal coming on January 2nd. He’s managed three assists in the 19 games since.
Johnson has gone through a sophomore slump of sorts this season, recording just 16 points in 42 games after scoring 40 in 79 games last season. His struggles have resulted in a healthy scratch and even the first AHL assignment of his career. Johnson spent most of November in the minors, scoring 15 points in 10 games with the Cleveland Monsters. He’s totaled 13 points in 34 NHL games since getting called back up to the Blue Jackets roster on December 1st. He now joins top rookie Adam Fantilli and star winger Patrik Laine on the team’s inactive list, with Fantilli battling a lower-body injury and Laine currently in the NHLPA’s Players Assistance Program.
Other injury notes around the league:
- Arizona Coyotes top forward Clayton Keller is set to miss the team’s next two games, per team reporter Patrick Brown. Keller is battling an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s Sunday loss to the Winnipeg Jets. He’s already missed one game with the injury, and is now set to miss two more, though head coach Andre Tourigny designated Keller as day-to-day. Keller has an emphatic lead on Arizona’s scoring title, with 22 goals and 52 points in 57 games. He’s the only Coyote to break 40 points this season.
- Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Noel Acciari and Drew O’Connor are both expected to play on Thursday, after getting banged up in the team’s Tuesday night win over Vancouver, per team reporter Matt Vensel. Acciari injured his forearm while blocking a shot and O’Connor got hurt after taking a hit from Filip Hronek.
Troy Stecher Set To Return
Struggling to keep their defensive core intact through multiple injuries this season, the Chicago Blackhawks could see the return of Nikita Zaitsev rather soon, as the veteran defenseman returned to practice today (X Link). Unfortunately, as highlighted in the same report, Chicago will have to wait for the return of Connor Murphy, who has recovered slower than expected from his lower-body injury.
Although keeping the likes of Zaitsev and Murphy in the lineup each night would ultimately make the Blackhawks a more competitive team this season, they are still in the middle of their rebuild, without having any intention of competing in the Western Conference anytime soon. Being that it is never positive when a player gets injured, it becomes a touch more bittersweet in Chicago as the team can call up prospects to test their mettle at the top level without much pressure on their shoulders.
This season alone, the Blackhawks have been able to graduate defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Louis Crevier to the NHL level, and both have shown flashes of being regular parts of the lineup moving forward. Nevertheless, especially in the early years of their rebuild, Chicago will have to balance calling prospects up too early and giving them meaningful minutes at the professional level, meaning veterans such as Murphy and Zaitsev still hold a valuable spot on the active roster.
Other Central notes:
- Staying in Chicago, Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Blackhawks reports that although forward Andreas Athanasiou has recently been a full participant in practice, there is still no timetable for his return. Signed to a two-year, $8.5MM contract extension at the end of last season, Athanasiou has only mustered 11 games for the Blackhawks this season after suffering a lower-body injury in early November. With one more year on his contract after this season, Athanasiou still has plenty of time to recover from his lost season to recoup some value potentially.
- Moving southwest, Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports is reporting that the Arizona Coyotes will see the return of defenseman Troy Stecher tonight in their game against the Montreal Canadiens. Stecher has missed the last 13 games for the Coyotes after suffering a lower-body injury on January 20th. Choosing to return to Arizona after a trade deadline deal with the Calgary Flames last year, Stecher has suited up in 42 games for the Coyotes this season, scoring one goal and five points while averaging 18:41 minutes a night.
Liam O'Brien To Return Sunday, Troy Stecher Could Be In Lineup Tuesday
Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zaitsev‘s knee injury sustained in January was more severe than previously assumed, head coach Luke Richardson said Saturday (via Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times). Zaitsev sustained a bone fracture along with his knee injury and, while he’s returned to off-ice workouts, won’t return until mid-March.
The 32-year-old sustained the injury in a Jan. 16 game against the Sharks and has been out of the lineup for over a month, missing Chicago’s last 14 games. The Moscow native had two goals, five assists, seven points, and a remarkable +2 rating on a bottom-feeder Blackhawks team in 26 games, although he averaged only 15:56 per contest.
Zaitsev will be a UFA this summer after completing his albatross seven-year, $31.5MM contract extension signed by then-Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello in 2017. He has yet to sniff the career-high of 36 points he set during his rookie season with Toronto in 2016, and he’s only once posted a positive expected rating in his eight-year NHL career. If he remains in the league past this season, it’ll likely be on a league-minimum deal.
Other updates from the Western Conference:
- Sticking with Chicago, forward Andreas Athanasiou continues to progress in his recovery from a lower-body injury as he practiced in a full-contact jersey for the first time Saturday, according to Pope. The 29-year-old has not played in over three months, missing 46 games. The speedy winger disappointed through the first month of the campaign, recording four assists in 11 games and logging one healthy scratch, averaging 12:45 per game. Chicago signed him to a two-year, $8.5MM extension last summer after he racked up 20 goals and 40 points for the second time in his career last season.
- Sharks veteran blue-liner Marc-Édouard Vlasic is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and could miss up to a week, head coach David Quinn said Saturday (via Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group). Vlasic sustained the injury in practice yesterday and will sit after playing in 14 straight games, his longest stretch of the season. It’s been a difficult campaign for the 36-year-old Sharks lifer, who was a frequent healthy scratch through November and December as his all-around game continues to decline. Once regarded as one of the top shutdown defenders in the league, Vlasic’s 41.3% Corsi share at even strength is second-worst among full-time Sharks defenders this year, only ahead of rookie Nikita Okhotyuk. He carries a $7MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season.
- The Coyotes will activate enforcer Liam O’Brien off injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s game against the Jets, head coach André Tourigny said (via Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports). The fourth-line winger missed the last five games with an upper-body injury and had been a healthy scratch twice in the prior three games. The 6-foot-1 29-year-old is in his third season in the desert, racking up eight points and 116 PIMs in 49 games this year. Defenseman Troy Stecher, who’s been out for over a month with a lower-body injury, will not be ready to go tomorrow but could return as soon as Tuesday against the Canadiens, Morgan added. Both players are on IR, but the Coyotes have two open roster spots, so no corresponding transactions are necessary to activate them over the next few days.
- Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko will miss tonight’s Battle of Alberta with an illness, coach Ryan Huska said (via Eric Francis of Sportsnet). The middle-six scoring winger has been up-and-down since Calgary acquired him from the Canucks in the Elias Lindholm trade, notching three goals and one assist in eight games with a -2 rating. He hasn’t seen an uptick in ice time since moving across provincial lines, averaging 14:06 per game with Calgary compared to 14:21 with Vancouver. He’s signed through next season at a $5.5MM cap hit.
Coyotes Waive Adam Ružička For Purposes Of Contract Termination
Feb. 24, 1:04 p.m.: Ružička cleared waivers Saturday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The Coyotes will now terminate his contract. The NHLPA has 60 days to file a grievance on his behalf.
Feb. 23, 1:09 p.m.: In a statement Friday, the Coyotes confirmed they placed Ružička on unconditional waivers and will terminate his contract if he clears. The team declined to comment on the reasoning.
Feb. 23, 1:04 p.m.: Ružička is on waivers today, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic confirms. Teams will have 24 hours to issue a claim for the remainder of his $762.5K cap hit deal, which expires this summer. If he passes through unclaimed, he will have his contract terminated by the Coyotes on Saturday.
Feb. 23, 12:41 p.m.: The Coyotes are expected to place forward Adam Ružička on waivers Friday for the purposes of contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Friedman’s report comes hours after a screen recording began circulating on social media of Ružička’s Instagram story, which showed a video of him next to an unidentified white powdered substance. It is unclear if the video spurred the beginning of the termination process or if this is a mutual termination for Ružička to find other playing opportunities as a UFA.
In 2019, responding to an IIHF suspension handed down to Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov for a positive cocaine test, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that cocaine is “not a Prohibited Substance under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.” If the unidentified substance shown with Ružička is cocaine, and he has his contract terminated with Arizona as a result, he will likely not be subject to further discipline by the league based on precedent. Under league policy, cocaine is considered “a drug of abuse that is tested for and for which intervention, evaluation and mandatory treatment can occur in appropriate cases,” Daly said.
Ružička, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Coyotes from the Flames on Jan. 25. Work visa issues and multiple healthy scratches limited him to three appearances in Arizona, in which he recorded no points, a -1 rating, and one shot on goal while averaging 8:17 per game. A fourth-round pick of Calgary in 2017, Ružička has 14 goals, 26 assists, and 40 points in 117 NHL games since his debut in 2021.
Armstrong: Coyotes Not Looking To Move Vejmelka
Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka’s name has come up in trade speculation in each of the last two trade deadlines. It doesn’t appear as if that will be the case this time around as Pierre LeBrun wrote in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Arizona GM Bill Armstrong doesn’t intend to break up his current tandem of Vejmelka and Connor Ingram. Their netminders have played to a combined .902 SV% this season, a number that’s around the league average which isn’t bad for a rebuilding team. However, Vejmelka’s rate is a career-low .891 so even if Armstrong was looking to move him, Vejmelka’s value wouldn’t be at its highest.
More from the Central Division:
- With the Blackhawks locking up most of their notable pending UFAs to extensions already, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times posits that their cap space might be their best asset before the March 8th trade deadline. Doing so could allow them to act as a third-party retainer to pick up an extra draft pick while they could also take on a bad contract as they did last season with Nikita Zaitsev to also add draft capital. However, Pope notes that Chicago won’t be willing to take on a contract that runs past next season, similar to Zaitsev last season with his contract set to expire this summer.
- Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog has become a regular participant in team skates as he works his way back from a knee cartilage transplant procedure back in January, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston noted on the latest TSN Insider Trading segment. The 31-year-old last played in June 2022 but a return at some point in the playoffs this season hasn’t been ruled out yet. If the team feels that there’s a good chance that he’ll be able to suit up in the postseason, that could affect their trade deadline approach.
- A day after being sent down, Mark Jankowski is back up with the Predators, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 29-year-old is one of the top scorers in the minors this season, notching 47 points in 40 games with Milwaukee while also chipping in with a pair of goals in seven games with Nashville while averaging a little less than 12 minutes a night of playing time.
Morning Notes: Zucker, Dumba, Villalta, Hellberg
The Arizona Coyotes are open to trading veteran forward Jason Zucker and defenseman Matt Dumba, The Fourth Period reports. Both players are on expiring contracts and could be cheap options for added depth. Zucker has scored eight goals and 22 points in 46 games this season, while Dumba has managed just nine points in 52 games of his own.
This update doesn’t come as much of a surprise, although it does deviate from reports earlier in the season that shared the Coyotes were focused on adding older, veteran presences. But the Coyotes’ season has fallen to shambles since the calendar turned over, with the team currently riding an 11-game losing streak and sporting a 4-15-2 record in 2024. It’s been a heavy fall for a team that carried a winning record through early December. But with the losses has come a return to form for Arizona, who are once again focused on selling veteran talents to bolster their future capital. Arizona has two available salary retention spots open and may need to use them to make any trade of Zucker, who carries a $5.3MM cap hit, or Dumba, who has a $3.9MM cap hit, work for cap-strapped teams. Even then, the return for either player – one now 32 and the other struggling to produce – likely wouldn’t be too profitable for the Coyotes.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Coyotes have sent down goaltender Matthew Villalta, suggesting that Connor Ingram could be nearing a return from an undisclosed injury that’s held him out for the last week. Villalta played in his first two NHL games while filling in for Ingram, saving 24 of the 29 shots he faced in 72 minutes of ice time. He’s primarily operated as the starting goalie for the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners, where he’s managed 22 wins and a .913 save percentage in 34 games.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned goaltender Magnus Hellberg to their AHL affiliate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins just three days after recalling him. It appears the Penguins made the move as a precaution in case one of their NHL netminders were unable to play. The 32-year-old did see NHL action earlier in the year, dressing in three games for the Penguins in which he went 1-0-0 with a 2.50 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
Despite Recent Struggles, No Coaching Change Coming For Coyotes
It has been a rough go for the Coyotes as of late having lost eight straight games heading into today’s action. However, GM Bill Armstrong dismissed any notion of head coach Andre Tourigny being in jeopardy of losing his job, telling PHNX’s Craig Morgan that he won’t be making a coaching change. Arizona was in a Wild Card spot when the calendar flipped to 2024 but now is ten points behind St. Louis for the final playoff spot. Armstrong hasn’t hidden the fact that the plan was for a long rebuild process and while it appears the Coyotes are likely to miss the playoff for the fourth straight season (12th straight if you don’t count the expanded 2020-21 postseason), Tourigny is still viewed as the right coach to help them take that next step.
More from the Western Conference:
- It will still be another week or so before the Sharks learn exactly how long Tomas Hertl will be out for, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 30-year-old has missed the last three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee. While it has been a particularly rough year for most players in San Jose, Hertl has fared relatively well this season, all things considered. Despite missing six games, he still leads the Sharks in scoring with 34 points through 48 games. Pashelka notes that there is optimism that Hertl will be able to return at some point before the regular season comes to an end in April but with San Jose so far out of playoff contention, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get shut down for the season altogether.
- Flames winger Jakob Pelletier is making progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss the last two games but he isn’t expected to play on Monday versus Winnipeg, relays Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has been limited to just four games so far this season (plus four more in the minors) due to injury. However, it appears this one won’t keep him out for much longer.
- The Canucks have identified Teddy Blueger as one of their pending unrestricted free agents that they’d like to re-sign, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported in a recent segment on Sportsnet 650 (audio link). The 29-year-old inked a one-year, $1.9MM deal with them back in July and has done well, picking up 22 points in 42 games while being one of their top-used penalty killers. That said, contract discussions have not started as of yet and Dhaliwal feels that Vancouver may wait until late in the year to start discussing new deals with the UFA’s they’d like to keep.
Coyotes Recall Matt Villalta, Place Liam O’Brien On IR
The Coyotes recalled netminder Matt Villalta from AHL Tucson on Friday, per a team announcement. Forward Liam O’Brien was moved to injured reserve to create a roster spot.
Villalta, 24, gets his first recall as a member of the Coyotes with starter Connor Ingram sidelined day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Ingram left Wednesday’s game against the Wild after the second period and did not return.
Karel Vejmelka will get the majority of the action while Ingram is out of the lineup. Originally expected to form a tandem with Ingram this year, he’s fallen squarely into the backup position after posting a .897 SV% and 6-12-2 record through 19 starts and four relief appearances.
Villalta is in his first season with the Coyotes after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Kings last summer. He’s suiting up in his fifth season of pro hockey after the Kings selected him 72nd overall in the 2017 draft.
The Kingston, Ontario, native was on an upward trajectory throughout his four seasons for the Kings’ affiliate in Ontario, so it was puzzling to see Los Angeles cut him loose. Villalta has assumed the undisputed starting role in Tucson, logging a .913 SV%, two shutouts, and a 22-11-1 record in 34 games. He leads the league in wins and games played, while his SV% ranks 18th.
He’s a high-end third-string goalie at this stage in his development, and a potential NHL debut with Ingram out of the lineup could go a long way toward demonstrating he has value as an NHL backup as soon as next season. Ingram’s shoes are giant ones to fill, however – he’s been one of the best stories in the NHL this season with a .912 SV% and 17-13-2 record in 35 games, along with 10.8 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
O’Brien, 29, was already listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He last suited up on Feb. 10 against the Predators and will be eligible to return to action for Sunday’s game against the Avalanche, although Arizona will need to clear a roster spot to take him off IR. The team’s primary enforcer has 116 PIMs in 49 games this year, adding three goals and eight points.
Liam O'Brien Day-To-Day, Not Available On Wednesday
Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien has been designated as day-to-day with an upper-body injury by head coach André Tourigny, who added that O’Brien will be out of the team’s Wednesday night game against the Minnesota Wild. O’Brien has appeared in 49 games this season, leading the league with 116 penalty minutes – 14 more than Brady Tkachuk, the only other player to break 100 penalty minutes this year.
O’Brien has leaned into the bruiser style, recording over 100 penalty minutes in each of the last three seasons. He’s totaled 404 penalty minutes across just 173 career NHL games – recording more penalty minutes per game than any other NHL player to play in 50 or more games over the last five seasons. It’s a reputation that followed him through his stints in the AHL, where he’s totaled 653 penalty minutes across just 382 minor league games. The 29-year-old winger is serving as a daily lineup fixture for the first time in his NHL career, playing in all but two of Arizona’s 51 games this season. His absence will likely earn Adam Ruzicka an extended stay in the lineup after the waiver claim made his debut with the team on Monday. While he is still waiting for his first point as a Coyote, Ruzicka has managed nine points in 39 games with the Calgary Flames this season.
Other notes around the league:
- Brendan Gallagher is eligible to return to the Montreal Canadiens lineup after serving out a five-game suspension for a hit on New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. It was the first suspension of Gallagher’s 12-year career. He’s scored eight goals and 16 points through 48 games this season, ranking sixth on the team in scoring. Montreal went 2-2-1 during Gallagher’s suspension.
- Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes shared on Pierre LeBrun and Ryan Rishaug’s Got Yer’ Back podcast that the team is seeking to trade a goaltender. The Canadiens currently have three goalies on their NHL roster – Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault, and Cayden Primeau. They recently signed Montembeault to a three-year, $9.45MM contract extension, suggesting he may be the team’s preferred keeper, though he’s no stranger to being involved in trade rumors.
Coyotes Extend, Promote David Ludwig To AGM Role
Free agent defenseman Matt Tennyson has been without a contract this season, but he’s found a place to play with a handful of weeks remaining in the campaign. HC Lugano of the Swiss National League announced Wednesday that they’ve signed Tennyson through the end of 2023-24 as they look to bolster their squad for the stretch run.
The 33-year-old spent last season on an AHL deal with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the primary affiliate of the Kraken, and recorded 18 assists and a +20 rating in 71 games (and three assists and a +9 rating in 26 playoff games) as they advanced to the Calder Cup Final. The minor-league mainstay was supposed to play in the Predators organization entering the second season of a two-year, two-way contract, but the deal was mutually terminated in July 2022.
He last appeared in the NHL with Nashville in the 2021-22 season, notching three assists in an eight-game stint. While the right-shot blue-liner has spent most of his professional career in the minors, he does have four goals, 25 assists, 29 points, and a -24 rating in 173 games over parts of nine NHL seasons with the Predators, Hurricanes, Devils, Sabres, and Sharks.
Other news and notes from around the league:
- The Coyotes have extended and promoted front office staffer David Ludwig to an assistant general manager position under GM Bill Armstrong, the team announced Wednesday. Ludwig, a former player agent, has been with Arizona since 2020 as their director of hockey operations and salary cap compliance. His new role will involve more direct communication with Armstrong, including assisting him “in all aspects of running the Club’s personnel and hockey operations, including salary cap management, contract negotiations, and Collective Bargaining Agreement/legal issues,” the team said. His promotion continues a run of front-office extensions the Coyotes have announced in recent days, mostly involving their scouting department.
- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will play against the Panthers on Wednesday after departing Monday’s practice for precautionary reasons, head coach Mike Sullivan said (via Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). The team is down to 18 healthy skaters after placing Noel Acciari and Jansen Harkins on IR with concussions in the last 48 hours and has no salary cap space for a recall from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. As such, the team will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen against Florida out of necessity to avoid waiving any of their depth defensemen. The 36-year-old Letang has 30 points and a +14 rating in 49 games while averaging 25 minutes in the second season of his six-year, $36.6MM extension.
- The NHLPA will file an appeal Wednesday on behalf of Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, who was suspended five games on Tuesday for a cross-check to the face of Senators forward Ridly Greig, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The appeal for a reduced suspension will go directly to Commissioner Gary Bettman and cannot be forwarded to an independent arbitrator because the initial assessment was less than six games. If Bettman reduces the suspension, but the ruling is not made final until after he’s sat out for five games, Rielly will get a pro-rated salary reimbursed based on the reduction.