Coyotes To Recall Dylan Guenther
The Coyotes are bringing up one of their top prospects as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (Twitter link) that the team is expected to announce the recall of winger Dylan Guenther from AHL Tucson.
The 20-year-old made Arizona’s roster out of training camp last season and acquitted himself fairly well, picking up six goals and nine assists in 33 games while averaging over 13 minutes a night. The Coyotes decided that it was best for him to return to junior after that and he joined WHL Seattle for the stretch run. Guenther was dominant there, collecting 29 points in 20 regular season contests and 28 more in 19 postseason appearances. By sending him back when they did, the Coyotes ensured that Guenther would not accrue a season of service time toward his UFA eligibility.
This season, Guenther was eligible to go to the AHL unlike last year and Arizona opted to send him to the Roadrunners after training camp. He has fared quite well in his first taste at that level, leading the team in scoring with 10 goals and 18 assists in 29 games; he’s on a bit of a hot streak with eight points in his last five appearances.
Arizona finds itself only a point out of a Wild Card spot as we near the midway point of the season but has only scored more than two goals once in their last five games. They’re hoping that bringing up one of their top offensive prospects can help get things going on that front.
Coyotes Return Justin Kirkland From Emergency Loan
In what has become an unexpectedly scary night for the Chicago Blackhawks, the team announced that star rookie, Connor Bedard, would not return to tonight’s game due to injury. The play in question took place during the first period, as New Jersey Devils defenseman, Brendan Smith, distributed a heavy hit to Bedard just over the blue line, causing the young phenom to head to the locker room for the rest of the evening.
For the sake of level-headedness, there could be a plethora of reasons for Chicago to keep Bedard out of the game, ranging from simply being cautionary with their top player, or expecting that Bedard could be out for a lengthy amount of time. Ultimately, it is unlikely that an update on Bedard’s status will be given after the game tonight, as most teams tend to wait until the next day to announce any meaningful news.
It is hard to put into words how detrimental Bedard’s absence would be for the Blackhawks, regardless of the amount of time he is out of the lineup. Even with only 11 wins through 38 games, Chicago’s offense completely runs through Bedard, as he has quickly shown that he was worth all of the hype.
To put his value into perspective on the Blackhawks specifically, with 15 goals and 33 points through 38 games, Bedard accounts for 17% of all goals scored, 12% of all assists, and 14% of all points scored for Chicago this season at 18 years old. With the future of the Blackhawks organization comfortably resting on Bedard’s shoulders, Chicago will likely be extremely cautious with Bedard’s health in hopes that he can be in the lineup as much as possible.
Other notes:
- The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Ben Meyers from the Colorado Eagles after sending him down yesterday, per a team announcement. It is unknown whether or not he will factor into the team’s lineup tomorrow afternoon against the Florida Panthers, as he has largely been used as an extra forward by the Avalanche this season.
- Unfortunately for Justin Kirkland, it will be his second consecutive emergency call-up without a game played, as the Arizona Coyotes announced they have returned him back to their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. Luckily, he has appeared comfortable in his first season in the Coyotes organization, as he’s scored one goal and 13 points in 12 games for the Roadrunners so far.
Zach Sanford Placed On Waivers
The Arizona Coyotes have placed forward Zach Sanford on waivers, according to PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan.
The 29-year-old veteran winger played in has played in 316 career NHL games. He won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues and has a career-high of 16 goals and 30 points. He’s bounced around a bit over the last few years, and is now set to be available to all 31 other teams, at just an $800k cap hit.
Sanford was originally recalled in December and skated in 11 games for the Coyotes, including yesterday’s loss ot the New York Islanders. He has played in a fourth-line capacity, and has scored two points to go alongside eight blocked shots and four hits. He has averaged 9:15 time-on-ice per game this season, but has not skated on any special teams units.
Now, with today’s waiver placement, he’ll be available in case any other NHL team needs a plug-and-play winger who can handle fourth-line minutes in the NHL.
Coyotes Recall Justin Kirkland On Emergency Loan
The Arizona Coyotes have used an emergency recall on centerman Justin Kirkland. Kirkland has spent the season with the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners, appearing in 12 games and scoring 13 points. This includes 12 assists, a mark that ranks second on the Roadrunners. Arizona operated down a forward in their Thursday loss to the New York Islanders, making them eligible for this emergency recall.
Kirkland’s recall comes in the wake of Jason Zucker‘s suspension, received for a boarding call on Florida’s Nick Cousins. The Coyotes are also facing injuries to both Barrett Hayton and Travis Boyd, a pair that’s managed four points and eight points respectively through 16 games each. Kirkland is unrivaled for the lineup spot left open by these vacancies, setting him up to make his debut with the Coyotes. The 27-year-old centerman’s only experience in the NHL came during a seven-game stint with the Anaheim Ducks last season. He went scoreless through the outings and recorded a -3.
Kirkland was originally drafted in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft, going 16 picks before Vezina-candidate Ilya Sorokin and 17 picks before star forward Brayden Point. Kirkland has since spent much of his career in the AHL, where he’s totaled 407 career games and 183 career points. His stretch in the league began in the 2016-17 season with the Milwaukee Admirals. Kirkland stayed in Milwaukee until 2019-20 when he joined the Calgary Flames’ affiliate Stockton Heat for three seasons. He then joined Anaheim’s organization last season and Arizona’s this year.
Coyotes’ Jason Zucker Suspended Three Games For Boarding
Coyotes winger Jason Zucker has been suspended for three games for boarding Panthers forward Nick Cousins during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced late last night. Zucker faced a phone hearing for the play earlier in the day.
Officials assessed a major penalty and game misconduct to Zucker for boarding on the play, which occurred with less than a minute remaining in the second period. He will be eligible to return on January 11 against the Flames.
Zucker is a first-time offender in the truest sense, never once having been fined or suspended by the league over his 13-year career. However, as the Department of Player Safety outlined in their explanation video for the incident, Cousins sustained an injury due to Zucker’s hit, which limited him to one shift in the third period, leading them to lay down a multi-game suspension. He is now in concussion protocol and is uncertain for tonight’s game against the Golden Knights.
Other factors in the length of suspension included Cousins’ lack of movement before the hit, meaning that when Zucker began to approach Cousins, the latter was in a position that made the impact illegal and satisfied the league’s boarding rule. In the NHL rulebook for the 2023-24 season, the NHL defines a boarding penalty (rule 41.1) as a “player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously.”
Noted in this rule is the immense discretion of officials in assessing boarding penalties, but Cousins’ positioning against the boards at the time Zucker began the check classifies him as a defenseless opponent in no uncertain terms. Cousins also did not have possession of the puck at the time of the play.
The check occurred a few moments after Cousins made contact with Coyotes defenseman Juuso Välimäki along the half wall. However, the Department of Player Safety said Zucker claimed the check was not made in retaliation for his teammate. The Department did not factor retaliation into their decision on a three-game suspension length.
His suspension leaves the Coyotes with only 11 forwards available on the active roster. Unless they opt to dress Josh Brown and utilize seven defensemen in tonight’s tilt against the Islanders, expect the Coyotes to recall a forward from AHL Tucson later today.
It also leaves them without a significant third-line contributor as they try to maintain their place in the Western Conference Wild Card race. Their loss to the Panthers on Tuesday dropped their points percentage to .556, and while they remain in the second Wild Card spot based on current standings points, they sit third in the race based on points percentage behind the Oilers’ .557. They’ll likely need to capture two wins over their next three games without Zucker to keep pace in the playoff race. The 31-year-old missed seven games with a lower-body injury earlier this season, and the Coyotes went 3-3-1 in his absence.
In his first season with Arizona after inking a one-year, $5.3MM pact in free agency, Zucker has six goals and six assists for 12 points through 29 games. He isn’t producing up to the expectations set by his salary, nor his 27 goals and 48 points in 78 games with the Penguins last season, but he has been a solid cog in a Coyotes top-nine that’s produced much better depth scoring than expected.
DOPS Hearing For Zucker, Geekie To Be Moved In WHL
Coyotes winger Jason Zucker is set to have a disciplinary hearing today for his hit on Florida winger Nick Cousins on Tuesday, the league announced. The incident occurred late in the second period with Zucker receiving major penalties for boarding and fighting plus a game misconduct. The 31-year-old is in his first season in the desert after inking a one-year, $5.3MM contract with Arizona in free agency last summer. Zucker, who has no prior fine or suspension history, has six goals and six assists in 29 games so far this season.
More from the Western Conference:
- Still with Arizona, prospect Conor Geekie could be on the move in junior as soon as Thursday, reports Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was the 11th overall pick in 2022 and has been quite productive with WHL Wenatchee, notching 20 goals and 29 assists in just 26 games. Now that his time with the World Juniors has ended following Canada’s elimination, his trade restriction has been eliminated and it appears that little time will be wasted moving him; Swift Current is believed to be his next destination.
- Seattle could be close to getting a key winger back as head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Mike Benton of the Kraken Audio Network (Twitter link) that Jaden Schwartz is near a return to the lineup. The 31-year-old has missed a little more than a month with a lower-body injury and is currently on LTIR. Schwartz had gotten off to a nice start to his year with 15 points in 23 games before the injury.
- The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forward Linus Karlsson from AHL Abbotsford. The 24-year-old made his NHL debut earlier this season, getting into three games with Vancouver but has spent the bulk of the year in the minors where he has been quite productive, notching 23 points in 25 games. Vancouver has an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to bring Karlsson up.
Morning Notes: Anisimov, Moser, Lazar
Artem Anisimov isn’t ready to call it quits just yet, signing a professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. This brings Anisimov back into the New York Rangers organization, the same place he started his career after going 54th overall in the 2006 NHL Draft. Anisimov played in two seasons for Hartford after being drafted, scoring a strong 124 points in 154 games. The scoring was strong enough to earn him his NHL debut in 2009, with Anisimov quickly becoming an everyday NHL talent with 18 goals and 44 points in 82 games during his sophomore 2010-11 season.
Anisimov was moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets after four seasons with the Rangers. He spent three more in Columbus, before spending four years in Chicago and two in Ottawa. All the while, Anisimov remained a fantastic depth scorer, recording four seasons of 20-or-more goals in his nine seasons outside of New York. His career totaled 771 games and 376 points before Anisimov slipped away from the NHL, moving to Russia’s KHL for the 2021-22 season and spending last year with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL. The 35-year-old centerman managed 19 goals and 36 points in 55 AHL games last year, suggesting that he may have some more left in the tank. He’ll have a chance to prove that now back where his career started.
More notes from around the league:
- J.J. Moser is set to return to the Arizona Coyotes lineup on Tuesday. The young defender missed two games after suffering an upper-body injury on December 23rd. Moser is in his third NHL season and has 15 points and a +8 through 33 games on the year. It’s the first time in Moser’s young career that he’s had a positive +/-.
- Curtis Lazar returned to the New Jersey Devils’ practice on Tuesday, after missing the team’s last three games with a lower-body injury. Lazar has been designated as day-to-day and was a game-time decision for both Friday and Saturday. Lazar has been an important piece of the Devils lineup when he can go, netting four goals and 10 points through 30 games this season.
Josef Korenar Signs Extension In Czechia
Currently sitting in second place of Group A in the 2024 World Junior Championships, Hockey Canada announced today that forward Jagger Firkus had been placed on the Team Canada 25-man roster. As one of the most explosive offensive talents in the Major Junior level in all of Canada, it was a surprise to not see Firkus on the initial Team Canada roster entering the tournament.
Originally drafted by the Seattle Kraken in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, Firkus will now make his international debut under the Canadian flag. Currently playing for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League, Firkus has 27 goals and 59 points in 32 games, sitting fourth in the league in scoring.
Overall in his junior career up to this point, Firkus has played in a total of 199 regular season games, all with Moose Jaw, and has scored at an excellent rate with 110 goals and 243 points in total. In the postseason, the Warriors have reached the playoffs in Firkus’ last two seasons, as he has accrued 16 goals and 33 points in 20 games.
Other notes:
- Beat writer for the San Jose Sharks, Curtis Pashelka, reports that the team opted to send down goaltender Magnus Chrona to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, opening up a spot on the 23-man roster. Chrona was able to make the first start of his NHL career only two nights ago against the Edmonton Oilers, having already made his NHL debut on November 4th. Unfortunately, in that start, the Denver University alumni let in four goals on 12 shots in the first period, and would not resume playing the rest of the game.
- With his contractual rights still owned by the Arizona Coyotes, the team should not be expecting goaltender Josef Korenar back with the organization any time soon. Now in his second season with HC Sparta over in Czechia, the organization announced today that Korenar had signed a three-year extension with the team. This season with HC Sparta, Korenar holds a 10-2-0 record in 12 games, carrying a .914 SV% and a 2.07 GAA.
Artem Duda Commits To Toronto Metropolitan University
Currently on the roster through an emergency loan from December 9th, the top brass with the Chicago Blackhawks appear unconvinced that defenseman Isaak Phillips has earned a full-time spot with the NHL team, much to the dismay of Phillips. In an article by Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, Pope highlights the disappointment head coach Luke Richardson has had with the inconsistency still present in Phillips’ game.
Regardless of their opinion, without much in the way of NHL-ready talent available to the organization on the blue line, and factoring in the injuries to both Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic, the Blackhawks are all but forced to play Phillips most nights. In 17 games played so far this season for Chicago, Phillips has averaged approximately 18 minutes of ice time per night, playing in a shutdown role with veteran defenseman, Connor Murphy.
For most teams, the ‘shutdown’ tandem on the blue line is generally tasked with lining up against the opposing team’s top offensive units, to suppress much of the firepower coming their way. For lack of better words, over his current stretch with the Blackhawks, Phillips has looked largely uncomfortable in his role.
Phillips remains one of the team’s better prospects without a full-time role on the NHL roster, and his current ailments may be multifactorial. At only 22 years old, Vlasic very well could be placing too much pressure on himself, which often tends to create a chain reaction in mental errors on the ice.
Other notes:
- One goaltending prospect who is beginning to gain quite a bit of traction is Dennis Hildeby, currently rostered on the Toronto Marlies as a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. In his first full season in North America, Hildeby holds a 7-4-2 record in 13 games played for the Marlies, carrying a .921 SV% and a 2.18 GAA. In a report from this morning, the Marlies unexpectedly scratched Hildeby for the team’s game tonight, giving some indication he may be receiving a callup for his NHL debut shortly (X Link).
- Chris Peters of FloHockey is reporting that Aram Minnetian and Carey Terrance will be used as reserve players in case of injury for the U20 United States team at the 2024 World Junior Championship. Minnetian, who was drafted 125th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2023 NHL Draft, is currently on the nation-leading Boston College program in the NCAA. Terrance, on the other hand, was drafted 59th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2023 NHL Draft and is in the OHL with the Erie Otters.
- Per a team announcement, Artem Duda has committed to Toronto Metropolitan University of USport, the Canadian equivalent to the NCAA in the United States. Duda was originally the 36th overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, taken by the Arizona Coyotes. Due to playing in 14 games for CSKA Moskva in the Kontinental Hockey League last year, Duda was unable to participate in the NCAA, given their guidelines of previous play in professional leagues.
Justin Kirkland Assigned To Tucson
With no games on the NHL schedule until Wednesday, many teams snuck last-minute transactions in before the full roster freeze kicked in. We’ve covered a handful of them here throughout the day in Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and St. Louis; here’s a rundown of the remaining moves. All transactions are via the AHL’s transactions log unless otherwise noted.
- The Capitals returned winger Ivan Miroshnichenko and center Hendrix Lapierre to AHL Hershey. Both players were recalled on Tuesday with Miroshnichenko making his NHL debut. He was held off the scoresheet in his three appearances while Lapierre has five points in 14 games with Washington so far.
- The Red Wings re-assigned center Austin Czarnik and defenseman Simon Edvinsson back to AHL Grand Rapids. Czarnik has been shuffled back and forth frequently this month and has one assist in 16 games with Detroit while Edvinsson, who was only brought up Saturday, made his season debut last night.
- The Kings loaned Jacob Moverare back to AHL Ontario after playing just shy of 15 minutes last night versus Calgary. The 25-year-old has been recalled and sent back down ten separate times each since mid-November.
- The Golden Knights have loaned goaltender Isaiah Saville back to AHL Henderson, per CapFriendly (Twitter link). He has been serving as their interim backup with both Adin Hill and Logan Thompson injured. As Thompson remains on the active roster, Saville was eligible to be sent back down. The 23-year-old was activated off SOIR earlier this month and has made three appearances for the Silver Knights.
- The Bruins sent three players back to AHL Providence – defensemen Mason Lohrei and Parker Wotherspoon along with center Patrick Brown. Lohrei has five points in 17 games so far in his first full professional campaign while Wotherspoon is logging nearly 16 minutes a night in eight games with Boston. As for Brown, he cleared waivers early in the season and has been brought up four separate times now; he has an assist in nine games at the top level so far.
- Boston also made one other transaction as they converted defenseman Ian Mitchell from an emergency recall to a regular one, per CapFriendly (Twitter link). Mitchell was recalled on Saturday and has two assists in 13 games with Boston so far. The Bruins will now be ineligible to send him down until after the roster freeze lifts.
- The Maple Leafs have returned center Pontus Holmberg to AHL Toronto. It’s the third time he has been sent back down since Wednesday as Toronto has been shuffling him up and down quite frequently. The 24-year-old has an assist in eight games with the big club so far.
- A day after recalling him, the Coyotes have sent center Justin Kirkland back to Tucson of the AHL. The 27-year-old had spent the full year with the Roadrunners prior to yesterday’s move, notching ten points in nine contests.
- Grant Hutton is once again on the move as the Islanders have sent him back to AHL Bridgeport, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). He has been recalled and re-assigned six times apiece in the last month and has been limited to just two appearances with New York so far this season.
Many of these transactions will be undone on the 27th or 28th as NHL teams return to action. In the meantime, these teams will save a bit of salary money and cap space with these demotions. Toronto and Ottawa’s moves could have AHL implications as well as their two affiliates will play on Tuesday so the players they sent down could suit up in that contest.