Vancouver To Send Juolevi To Europe, Place Wiercioch On Waivers
The Vancouver Canucks will be entrusting much of their success this year to young players, but fans of the team will have to wait at least one more year for a look at Olli Juolevi, the fifth-overall selection from 2016. The team announced today that they’ll be sending Juolevi back to Finland for this season to play for TPA Turku, where former Canuck Sami Salo is an assistant coach.
- Still with the Canucks, the team has announced it will place Patrick Wiercioch on waivers tomorrow to make room for Derrick Pouliot who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier today. Wiercioch played 57 games with the Colorado Avalanche last season after several years in Ottawa, and was an early favorite for a spot on the Vancouver blueline. It will be interesting to see if anyone claims him, as he’s proven over the years he is at least capable of holding down a depth role in the NHL.
Pittsburgh Trades Derrick Pouliot To Vancouver
The Pittsburgh Penguins have finally given up on Derrick Pouliot, trading the first-round defenseman to the Vancouver Canucks for Andrey Pedan and a fourth-round pick. Pouliot is no longer waiver-exempt, and did not earn a role with the Penguins this fall. Pedan on the other hand cleared waivers today and can immediately be sent to the minor leagues if the team so chooses.
Pouliot has had a long and disappointing tenure with the Penguins since they drafted him eighth overall in 2012. The 23-year old defenseman has struggled to even crack the lineup, and whenever given a chance hasn’t been able to stay in the NHL. In the minor leagues his offensive upside shines through, but the Penguins time and again haven’t been able to live with his lack of defensive consistency.
He’ll get a new start with the Canucks, who are taking a flier on a player who was once considered a blue-chip prospect. When he was selected out of the WHL, Pouliot was compared to Brian Campbell because of his skill with the puck and elite playmaking ability. It’s what made him the first-overall pick in the WHL Bantam draft, and what helped him rack up points with the Portland Winterhawks (where Canucks’ coach Travis Green was behind the bench) and Canada’s World Junior team. That skill remains, and he’ll be given a chance right away to show it off with Vancouver.
While he may never reach his full potential, the Canucks are hoping that he’ll have a bigger impact than Pedan. Though Pedan is blessed with size and strength, he has barely seen the NHL since being drafted in the third round six years ago, and doesn’t project out to be a full-time defender at the highest level. He does have some upside as a depth player, but isn’t expected to ever reclaim the scoring touch he showed for the Guelph Storm.
In all, the Penguins cut their losses and gain an asset for a player they were likely to lose at some point for nothing, while the Canucks take a home run cut without risking very much. The rebuilding Vancouver club will likely take more of these chances over the next year or two, as it tries to build a core around Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and their other young players.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Training Camp Cuts: 10/02/17
Training camp is over for all the clubs around the NHL, and the season begins on Wednesday. By tomorrow evening, all teams must submit their cap-compliant 23-man roster, meaning there will be several cuts today. We’ll keep track of them all right here, as teams try to slip players through waivers or send them back to junior and European clubs.
Anaheim Ducks
F Giovanni Fiore – San Diego (AHL)
F Kalle Kossila – San Diego (AHL)
F Scott Sabourin – San Diego (AHL)
D Jacob Larsson – San Diego (AHL)
Boston Bruins
F Jordan Szwarz – Providence (AHL)
F Tommy Cross – Providence (AHL)
F Jakub Zboril – Providence (AHL)
F Peter Cehlarik – Providence (AHL)
F Danton Heinen – Providence (AHL)
F Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson – Providence (AHL)
F Teddy Purcell – Released from PTO
G Malcolm Subban – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Calgary Flames
D Rasmus Andersson – Stockton (AHL)
G Jon Gillies – Stockton (AHL)
F Luke Gazdic – Waivers for purpose of assignment
F Garnet Hathaway – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Carolina Hurricanes
F Lucas Wallmark – Charlotte (AHL)
F Phillip Di Giuseppe – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Chicago Blachawks
F Vinnie Hinostroza – Rockford (AHL)
F Jordin Tootoo – Waivers for purpose of assignment
F Tomas Jurco – Waivers for purpose of assignment
G Jean-Francois Berube – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Colorado Avalanche
F Gabriel Bourque – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Dallas Stars
F Remi Elie – Texas (AHL)
F Roope Hintz – Texas (AHL)
F Jason Dickinson – Texas (AHL)
F Curtis McKenzie – Waivers for purpose of assignment
D Patrik Nemeth – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Detroit Red Wings
D Libor Sulak – Lahti (Finland)
F Matt Lorito – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F Ben Street – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Brian Lashoff – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Dylan McIlrath – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F David Booth – Waivers for purpose of assignment
D Ryan Sproul – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Los Angeles Kings
F Brooks Laich – Released from PTO
Minnesota Wild
F Luke Kunin – Iowa (AHL)
D Ryan Murphy – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Montreal Canadiens
G Charlie Lindgren – Laval (AHL)
F Andreas Martinsen – Waivers for purpose of assignment
F Byron Froese – Waivers for purpose of assignment
New Jersey Devils
F Brian Gibbons – Waivers for purpose of assignment
D Brian Strait – Waivers for purpose of assignment
New York Islanders
F Devon Toews – Bridgeport (AHL)
F Stephen Gionta – Waivers for purpose of assignment
F Steve Bernier – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Philadelphia Flyers
F Matt Read – Waivers for purpose of assignment
San Jose Sharks
F Brandon Bollig – Waivers for purpose of assignment
F Brandon Mashinter – Waivers for purpose of assignment
G Troy Grosenick – Waivers for purpose of assignment
St. Louis Blues
F Sammy Blais – San Antonio (AHL)
D Jake Walman – Chicago (AHL)
G Jordan Binnington – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Cory Conacher – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Toronto Maple Leafs
F Carl Grundstrom – Frolunda (SHL)
F Miro Aaltonen – Toronto (AHL)
F Frederik Gauthier – Toronto (AHL)
F Andreas Johnsson – Toronto (AHL)
F Kasperi Kapanen – Toronto (AHL)
F Tobias Lindberg – Toronto (AHL)
F Trevor Moore – Toronto (AHL)
F Nikita Soshnikov – Toronto (AHL)
F Dmytro Timashov – Toronto (AHL)
F Mason Marchment – Toronto (AHL)
D Travis Dermott – Toronto (AHL)
D Justin Holl – Toronto (AHL)
D Andrew Nielsen – Toronto (AHL)
D Michael Paliotta – Toronto (AHL)
D Rinat Valiev – Toronto (AHL)
G Kasimir Kaskisuo – Toronto (AHL)
F Colin Greening – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
F Chris Mueller – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
F Kerby Rychel – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
F Ben Smith – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
D Vincent LoVerde – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
G Garret Sparks – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
Vancouver Canucks
D Andrey Pedan – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Vegas Golden Knights
F Teemu Pulkkinen – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Washington Capitals
F Anthony Peluso – Waivers for purpose of assignment
Winnipeg Jets
F Jack Roslovic – Manitoba (AHL)
F Brendan Lemieux – Manitoba (AHL)
F Michael Spacek – Manitoba (AHL)
F J.C. Lipon – Waivers for purpose of assignment.
Scottie Upshall Signs With St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues have officially brought back a familiar face while they deal with several injuries, signing Scottie Upshall to a one-year, $800K contract, according to Fox Sports Andy Strickland. Upshall had been in Vancouver Canucks’ camp on a professional tryout, but will return to the Blues to help give them some forward depth. The team is dealing with injuries to Robby Fabbri, Patrik Berglund, Alex Steen and Zach Sanford up front.
Upshall never did quite live up to his sixth-overall draft position, but has nevertheless put together an excellent career. With 696 games under his belt, Upshall has been one of the more consistent bottom-six wingers around the league, providing some physicality and secondary scoring touch. A career-high of 37 points makes his addition far from enough to replace the lost offense from Fabbri, but his experience might be able to help what is suddenly looking like a very young roster. Upshall has always been lauded for his leadership qualities and work ethic.
The Blues will be relying on players like Ivan Barbashev and even perhaps Klim Kostin, but will at least have some more NHL experience on the roster with Upshall. He’ll likely serve as a sort of 13th forward, moving in and out of the lineup whenever needed. Still, he did register 10 goals last year and was one of their key penalty killers. For less than $1MM, it poses almost no risk.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Training Camp Cuts And Recalls: 10/1/17
Today marks the end of the preseason for all those NHL teams who haven’t yet wrapped up their exhibition schedules. With games coming to an end, expect lots of action throughout the day and keep track of it all right here:
Arizona Coyotes
D Dakota Mermis – Tucson (AHL)
Colorado Avalanche
D David Warsofsky – waivers for purpose of assignment
Dallas Stars
D Chris Martenet – Texas (AHL)
Detroit Red Wings
F Colin Campbell – released from PTO
G Jared Coreau – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Matthew Ford – released from PTO
D Joe Hicketts – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F Axel Holmstrom – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Filip Hronek – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Brian Lashoff – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Matt Lorito – waivers for purpose of assignment
G Thomas McCollum – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Dylan McIlrath – waivers for purpose of assignment
F P.A. Parenteau – released from PTO
F Michael Rasmussen – Tri-City (WHL)
D Dan Renouf – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Vili Saarijarvi – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F Dylan Sadowy – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F Dominik Shine – released from PTO
F Ben Street – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Dominic Turgeon – Grand Rapids (AHL)
Edmonton Oilers
D Mark Fayne – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Jesse Puljujarvi – Bakersfield (AHL)
Florida Panthers
F Brandon Pirri – released from PTO
F Harry Zolnierczyk – released from PTO
D Josh Brown – Springfield (AHL)
Los Angeles Kings
G Jack Campbell – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Justin Auger – waivers for purpose of assignment
New York Rangers
F Robin Kovacs – waivers for purpose of assignment
Ottawa Senators
D Thomas Chabot – Belleville (AHL)
D Ben Harpur – Belleville (AHL)
F Max McCormick – waivers for purpose of assignment
Philadelphia Flyers
F Oskar Lindblom – Lehigh Valley (AHL)
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Stefan Fournier – Brampton (ECHL)
Vancouver Canucks
G Richard Bachman – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Michael Chaput – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Jayson Megna – waivers for purpose of assignment
Recalls:
San Jose Sharks
D Nick DeSimone
D Cavan Fitzgerald
F Adam Helewka
F John McCarthy
Penguins Release Jay McClement From PTO
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ search for center depth has taken another turn. The team announced late tonight, no more than two hours after the end of their preseason finale loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, that they have released veteran forward Jay McClement from his tryout with the team. Pittsburgh is down to 24 players remaining in camp, including 14 forwards – with exactly four listed as centers.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs have been looking for a third-line center all summer and some saw McClement as a possible solution, while others saw McClement at least centering the fourth line and pushing Carter Rowney or some other option up to the third line. Instead, McClement is gone and questions remain. McClement, a veteran of over 900 NHL games, not only has a long history of being a solid bottom six option, but also performed well in the preseason with the Penguins. The decision to cut him becomes even more of a surprise in the context of the post-game report from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Jonathan Bombulie, who spoke with both McClement and coach Mike Sullivan, the former believing he had put forth his best effort and had no regret and the latter calling that effort “solid” and admiring McClement’s “wealth of experience”. McClement admitted that he would be anxious waiting for the decision over the next few days, but instead GM Jim Rutherford made the call in a matter of hours.
With McClement gone, the winner of the “last-PTO-standing” battle seems to be Greg McKegg. Unless Rutherford has a trick up his sleeve, the 25-year-old AHL veteran appears to be the top option for the Penguins’ third line center spot, at least to start the season. McKegg has performed well in the preseason and is fresh off of his best NHL season, in which he scored a career-best seven points in a career-high 46 games between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Whether or not McKegg lasts on the third line or even lasts the season in Pittsburgh remains to be seen, but as of now there doesn’t appear to be any other in-house option for the Penguins following McClement’s release.
Montreal’s Holland, Carr Among Seven On Waivers
While Saturday’s group heading to the waiver wire is not as large or containing as many noteworthy names as each of the last few days, it contains over 150 2016-17 NHL games played and a handful of players with some substantial NHL pedigree. The following seven players were placed on waivers today:
F Peter Holland, Montreal Canadiens
F Daniel Carr, Montreal Candiens
F Anton Rodin, Vancouver Canucks
F Nicolas Deslauriers, Buffalo Sabres
D Taylor Fedun, Buffalo Sabres
D Viktor Loov, New Jersey Devils
G Tom McCollum, Detroit Red Wings
The two biggest names on the list are the pair of Montreal Canadiens wingers. Carr, 25, has played in 58 games in the past season and a half with the Habs after signing with the team following a prolific collegiate career at Union College. While Carr only recorded nine points in his 33 2016-17 games, many expected him to take on a larger role this season. Instead, the Canadiens will try to send him down to the AHL to begin the new season. The more surprising decision may be Holland, who signed a two-year deal with Montreal as an unrestricted free agent this off-season. Granted, the reason the 26-year-old was able to sign such a deal was that he was first not qualified by the Arizona Coyotes, but Holland is still a veteran of 243 NHL games and showed promise with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2014 to 2016. Holland is in a very similar situation to Kenny Agostino, recently placed on waivers by the Boston Bruins after signing with the team this off-season. Both have shown ample ability on the ice, but have been unable to show the consistency of an NHL regular. Agostino cleared waivers and Holland may too, but there is some risk involved in this move by Montreal.
Pacific Notes: Virtanen, Neal, Slepyshev, Sekera
One preseason game remaining and Jake Virtanen remains with his team. The former sixth overall pick in 2014, has failed to crack the Canucks roster, but a solid training camp has many believing he has a good chance to become a regular in Vancouver this year, according to NBC Sports Cam Tucker.
After getting into 55 games two years ago with Vancouver in an underwhelming season, he managed to make just 10 appearances last year and even struggled with the AHL’s Utica Comets, scoring just 19 points in 65 games. However, his skills are obvious. Canucks GM Jim Benning has stated that his size and speed just need developing. At 6-foot-1 and 229 pounds and only 21 years old, Virtanen is trying to establish himself now, but is also trying not to think about whether he makes the roster this season. He has focused on his play instead and has already notched three preseason goals.
“I’m not going to worry about that,” Virtanen said of the team’s upcoming roster decisions. “I love when I can get in games. Whatever opportunity you can get, you want to make the most of it.”
- Vegas Golden Knights’ forward James Neal, who has been out with an injured hand, is reportedly practicing today without a red jersey, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen. That suggests the top scorer might be ready for the regular season next week. The 32-year-old wing, one of the team’s top players, put up 23 goals last year and is considered to be a key trade chip at the trade deadline later this season.
- The Edmonton Oilers tweeted that forward Anton Slepyshev is expected to make his preseason debut tonight in Vancouver. “We’ve got to get him up and running,” said coach Todd McLellan. Slepyshev has missed all of training camp with an ankle injury. The 23-year-old wing scored four goals in 41 games for Edmonton last year.
- The Athletic’s Sunil Agnihotri (subscription required) writes that Edmonton’s choice to not bring in a veteran defenseman to help the team out while Andrej Sekera is out until January with a torn ACL is a big mistake. The scribe details how relying on internal options to replace him such as Darnell Nurse, Matt Benning or Yohann Auvitu is unreliable as the team hopes one of them makes a jump in their development. One example in his breakdown is Sekera’s success on the power play, which the young candidates have a combined 78 minutes of experience playing there.
Training Camp Cuts And Recalls: 09/30/17
With season-opening rosters due on Tuesday, teams are in the process of making their final cuts before the 2017-18 campaign gets underway. As always, we’ll have all the movement right here throughout the day.
Buffalo Sabres
F Justin Bailey – Rochester (AHL)
F Nicolas Deslauriers – waivers for purpose of assignment
D Taylor Fedun – waivers for purpose of assignment
D Cody Goloubef – release
Detroit Red Wings
D Robbie Russo – Grand Rapids (AHL)
D Filip Hronek – Grand Rapids (AHL)
F Corey Elkins – released from PTO
Los Angeles Kings
D Chris Lee – released from PTO
Montreal Canadiens
F Daniel Carr – waivers for purpose of assignment
D Jakub Jerabek – Laval (AHL)
F Michael McCarron – Laval (AHL)
F Peter Holland – waivers for purpose of assignment
New Jersey Devils
G Ken Appleby – Binghampton (AHL)
D Viktor Loov – waivers for purpose of assignment
F Kevin Rooney – Binghampton (AHL)
Vancouver Canucks
F Anton Rodin – waivers for purpose of assignment
Some teams will also be recalling players to suit up for their final preseason game. Here are those moves.
D Tommy Cross (BOS)
F Jordan Szwarz (BOS)
D Jakub Zboril (BOS)
D Devon Toews (NYI)
Canucks Still Working Out Where To Assign Juolevi
- The Canucks have not yet decided where to assign defenseman Olli Juolevi. His agent Markus Lehto told Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 (Twitter link) that a team in Europe could be a possible landing spot. The OHL’s London Knights – where he has spent the past two seasons – seems to remain the likeliest destination for the 19-year-old for now.