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Justin Bailey Clears Waivers

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Nov 19: Bailey has cleared waivers and will be assigned to the AHL.

Nov 18: The Vancouver Canucks have placed Justin Bailey on waivers, along with designating him for assignment. That means they clear the roster spot immediately, but Bailey will have to be assigned to the AHL should he clear tomorrow.

Now 26, Bailey has played in ten games this season for the Canucks but does not yet have a point. Originally a second-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres, to this point in his career he hasn’t been able to establish himself as a full-time NHL option. In the minor leagues Bailey is a top-level scorer, with 28 goals in 53 games during the 2019-20 campaign, but so far that hasn’t translated to the higher level. In his 78 career games, the 6’4″ forward has just five goals and nine points.

With Tyler Motte back in action, the team was carrying 14 forwards and were pushed right up against the cap. Sending Bailey’s league-minimum contract down would open up a roster spot and some cap space, perhaps letting them bring Jack Rathbone back up to join the defensive group.

There’s a chance he could be claimed, but with so many other forwards passing through waivers without a problem, Bailey seems like a safe bet to be assigned to Abbotsford tomorrow.

Guillaume Brisebois Clears Waivers

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Nov 17: While Brooks was claimed by the Vegas Golden Knights, Brisebois cleared and has been assigned to the AHL.

Nov 16: The Montreal Canadiens have placed Adam Brooks back on waivers after suiting up just four times with the team. Brooks had been claimed from the Toronto Maple Leafs off waivers earlier this season. Should Toronto put in a claim and are the only team to do so, they would be able to send him directly to the AHL. The Canadiens have also moved Mike Hoffman to injured reserve, retroactive to Saturday.

Meanwhile in Vancouver, the Canucks have placed Guillaume Brisebois on waivers, designating him for assignment to the AHL should he clear. Brisebois was on season-opening injured reserve, but this move suggests he’s nearing a return to action.

Brooks, 25, registered a single point in those four appearances for Montreal. The 2016 fourth-round pick has just 22 NHL regular season games under his belt, with four goals and nine points total. A natural center, he has shown the ability to score at a high rate in junior and the AHL, but is undersized and has yet to receive a true top-six opportunity.

Toronto does have an open roster spot and the cap space to carry Brooks, after sending Joey Anderson back to the minors yesterday.

It seems unlikely that Brisebois will be claimed, given he is coming off injury and has just nine games of NHL experience. This is a move that would have been done at the end of training camp in a normal situation, but the Canucks shouldn’t have much trouble getting him through to the minor leagues where he can get back up to speed.

Snapshots: COVID, Olympics, Canucks

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The postponement of the Ottawa Senators’ upcoming slate of games amidst a Coronavirus outbreak in the locker room has certainly raised some flags across the league. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that many are concerned not only about the ongoing crisis the in Ottawa, but about the frequency of cases popping up around the league. With more than 99% of players and all coaches and staff vaccinated, it is alarming how frequently individuals are being forced to enter the NHL’s COVID Protocol. There was talk earlier this season of reducing testing due to many of those in the protocol being asymptomatic, but in Ottawa and recently in San Jose as well, those sidelined by COVID have in fact been very symptomatic. The league had no choice but to postpone Senators games as the roster had been depleted by the sickness sweeping through the locker room and keeping players off the ice for far longer than just a simple formality might for others in the protocol. As Dreger points out though, the league cannot afford multiple postponements such as this. On one hand, the season is already longer than usual due to the Olympic break and on the other the league cannot take the revenue hit of missed games after two consecutive shortened seasons. As of right now, the only steps being taken by the league to combat the COVID issue is to recommend boosters to its players and personnel. However, re-enacted restrictions could be coming down the line if cases continue at this rate.

  • The Olympics could be at risk if the NHL is unable to control their COVID cases and postponements continue. However, Pierre LeBrun does not believe that this conversation is being had just yet. The NHL and NHLPA agreed to terms – with each other and with the IIHF – to return to the Winter Games this year and that remains the plan. However, there is a January 10 opt-out date should the league decide that they need the currently-scheduled break to make up games postponed due to COVID. LeBrun says that there is no hard number that would trigger the NHL to pull out of the Olympics, but it will have to be an ongoing discussion between the league and players’ association. For now, he states that the two sides just met recently to discuss Olympic plans and are moving forward as planned.
  • Also moving forward as planned: the Vancouver Canucks. Patience is wearing thin amongst the fan base as the Canucks are off to another rough start this season, winning just five of their first 16 games and holding a bottom-five scoring differential league-wide. Despite adding more talent this off-season to an already-healthy payroll and largely avoiding injuries to key players thus far, the Canucks again look like they are far from a contender. Dreger reports that GM Jim Benning was called to meet with ownership about a path forward and they ultimately decided… to stay the course. Ownership apparently still believes in the plan that Benning and coach Travis Green have for the team, even though it has yielded few results thus far. Both sides will continue to preach patience to a rabid fan base that is growing tired of continued mediocrity. If things don’t change in Vancouver this season, it won’t be long until ownership joins the malcontents.

Ownership Meeting With Benning

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The Vancouver Canucks have allowed 19 goals against in their last three games and now find themselves just three points ahead of the bottom-dwelling Seattle Kraken for last place in the Pacific Division. The team has lost four in a row, eight of their last ten, and now own a -14 goal differential on the year. Things are not going well in Vancouver, to say the least.

So when reports surfaced over the weekend that the team owner was on the road trip, some eyebrows were raised around the league. Would the team make a change in the front office if things didn’t turn around quickly? No, apparently not yet. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweets that though owner Francesco Aquilini is meeting with general manager Jim Benning this afternoon, he does not expect to make a change at the position. Friedman writes that the meeting is just to “understand why the team is losing and address it.” The Canucks are scheduled to welcome in the Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, and Chicago Blackhawks on their current three-game homestand.

AHL Shuffle: 11/14/21

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A busy weekend in the NHL continues today. After 26 teams took the ice on Saturday, 12 will suit up on Sunday, including eight teams playing back-to-back. As a result, a number of teams could be looking to make changes on the fly today. On the other hand, with only two games on the docket on Monday, other teams could be using the time off to tweak their roster (and manage their salary cap). Keep up with all of the action right here:

Atlantic Division

  • The Ottawa Senators had recalled unheralded defenseman Maxence Guenette from AHL Belleville on Saturday to assist with the injury crisis on their blue line, but with Artem Zub able to play Guenette was shortly re-assigned. Apparently, the team still has some concerns as Guenette is headed back to Ottawa today, the team announced. If Guenette plays on Sunday, it will be the NHL debut for the 2019 seventh-round pick.

Metropolitan Division

  • Frequent Flyer Nick Seeler is taking a departure flight down to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the team announced. Seeler has been back and forth all season, but has actually not seen any AHL action yet. The veteran defenseman has played in 11 games with Philadelphia, but has been held scoreless in a limited role.
  • As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins have activated Sidney Crosby, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, and Chad Ruhwedel. In order to clear the space for these additions, Drew O’Connor, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Juuso Riikola, and Louis Domingue have all been reassigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per the Pittsburgh Tribune’s Seth Rorabaugh. It’s a bittersweet swap for the Penguins, who undoubtedly get better but at the cost of exciting young pieces in O’Connor and Joseph.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets recalled Justin Danforth from the Cleveland Monsters Sunday afternoon, per a team release. Danforth, who was signed to a one-year, one-way contract this offseason, could make his NHL debut with Columbus after potting five points in eight AHL games to start the season. The 28-year-old Oshawa, Ontario, native has been one of the world’s best scoring forwards outside of the NHL in the past few seasons with a trio of strong performances in the Liiga and KHL.

Central Division

Pacific Division

  • Without a game until Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings have sent some of their bottom of the lineup players down to the minors. The team has announced that forward T.J. Tynan and defensemen Kale Clague and Austin Strand have been reassigned to the AHL’s Ontario Reign. While Clague has played in eight games with L.A. so far this season, Strand and Tynan have just two games between them and could be in for a longer stay in the AHL.
  • After clearing waivers, Riley Sheahan has been assigned to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, the Seattle Kraken announced. Sheahan was one of the few expendable players left on a Seattle roster that still faces a roster crunch with a number of valuable players – though that value has not produced many wins thus far.
  • To make room for Tyler Motte who was activated off injured reserve, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they’ve sent defenseman Jack Rathbone to the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL.  Rathbone has played in nine games for Vancouver this season, averaging just under 14 minutes per game.

Tucker Poolman Suspended Two Games

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The Vancouver Canucks will be without Tucker Poolman for the next two games after he was handed a suspension from the Department of Player Safety for his high-stick on Kiefer Sherwood. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that this is not a play where a player simply loses control of his stick, nor one where an off-balance player flails to try to steady himself. This is not a hockey play. This is an intentional and retaliatory stick swing, that strikes an opponent directly in the head. Such actions cannot be excused.

Given Poolman’s clean history, with no fines or suspensions so far in his career, and the fact that Sherwood did not suffer a serious injury on the play, the suspension was limited at two games. He did also receive a match penalty and game misconduct, though it occurred in the third period of a game that was already well out of hand.

That certainly won’t be the case going forward however, as this penalty will be considered in the future for any further supplementary discipline.

The Canucks recalled Madison Bowey earlier today, anticipating the suspension.

Tucker Poolman To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The Department of Player Safety has some more work to do, as Tucker Poolman will have a hearing today following his high-sticking incident last night.

After absorbing a check from Kiefer Sherwood, Poolman swung his stick and connected with the Colorado forward’s head. Poolman was issued a game misconduct and a match penalty, one that comes with an automatic review from the league. That will likely be followed by a suspension of some sort, meaning that Vancouver will be without the defenseman for the next game at least.

The Canucks are already without Travis Hamonic as they travel through a U.S. road trip. With Poolman now likely missing, they’ll have an even thinner depth chart on defense. The team was already embarrassed on the scoresheet by the Avalanche, losing 7-1, and now will head into Vegas and Anaheim before returning home.

Travis Hamonic Assigned To AHL

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The Vancouver Canucks have officially assigned Travis Hamonic to the AHL as they head out on a three-game road trip to the U.S. As Ben Kuzma of Postmedia points out on Twitter, Hamonic is not considered fully vaccinated, so if he traveled with the team he would face quarantine restrictions upon his return to Canada. Instead, the team has recalled Jack Rathbone for the trip and placed Luke Schenn on injured reserve.

In this case, Hamonic had already cleared waivers before the season began so won’t need to go through that process again until he plays in 10 games at the NHL level or spends 30 days on the active roster. The veteran defenseman has been in the lineup four times so far, playing a season-high 19:50 in last night’s overtime loss against the Anaheim Ducks.

Rathbone meanwhile isn’t just some last-minute call-up. The 22-year-old defenseman has already played eight games for Vancouver this season and appears to be a big part of their future on the back end. He recorded one point in two games for Abbotsford, but will get back on the road with the big club and receive another opportunity to show what he can do at the NHL level.

One thing to remember about the Hamonic demotion is that while in the AHL, only $1.125MM of his $3MM cap hit is buried. The team has Tyler Motte traveling with them as he approaches a return from LTIR, meaning the salary cap dance will get even more complicated in the coming weeks for Vancouver.

Injury Notes: O’Reilly, Wild, Schenn

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St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly is likely to return to the lineup Sunday night when they take on the Anaheim Ducks, per Blues writer Chris Pinkert. The 30-year-old center missed the team’s last four games while in COVID-19 protocol. He’s likely to return to top-line duties between David Perron as well as Brandon Saad, who’s also missed time while in COVID-19 protocol this season. Prior to departing the lineup, O’Reilly had five points in five games while averaging 19:13 of ice time per game.

Other injury notes from around the league:

Travis Hamonic Recalled By Vancouver Canucks

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After just one game in the AHL, Travis Hamonic is back with the Vancouver Canucks. The veteran defenseman has been recalled to the NHL, with Jack Rathbone loaned back to the Abbotsford Canucks to make room.

Hamonic, 31, had previously taken an unpaid leave of absence from the team, cleared waivers and recently reported to Abbotsford. While in the AHL part of his $3MM cap hit had been buried, but now that he’s back with the NHL team the full thing will be carried by the Canucks. That pushes the team right up against the salary cap ceiling and in a tricky situation should anyone else face an injury that does not require placement on long-term injured reserve.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson happened to be missing from practice today, while Hamonic was working in on the second pairing alongside Kyle Burroughs, trading rushes with Luke Schenn. It’s unclear whether he will be inserted directly into the lineup for tomorrow night’s game against the New York Rangers, but he is obviously an important part of the Canucks when healthy.

In 38 games last season, Hamonic averaged more than 19 minutes a night with the vast majority of those coming next to Quinn Hughes. With the team struggling–Vancouver has just three wins in their first nine games–Hamonic will likely be a welcome addition whenever he is added to the lineup sheet.

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