Conor Garland Skates On His Own Today
Edmonton Oilers forward Derek Ryan took part in the team’s practice today as a full participant (as per Oilers reporter Tony Brar). Ryan was only on the ice for the latter stage of the team’s morning skate on Friday and didn’t play in their preseason game on Friday evening. He was deemed day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, but it does appear as though the 37-year-old should be good for opening night.
Ryan will likely see significant time as the Oilers’ fourth-line center and could be flanked by Vasily Podkolzin and Corey Perry. Edmonton waived two forwards earlier today, one of whom (Raphael Lavoie) was in the running Ryan’s role on the fourth line and was a bit of a surprise cut given his young age and potential upside. Ryan is nearing the end of his career and is coming off the least productive offensive season of his nine-year NHL career.
In other Pacific Division notes:
- Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch spoke to the media today about the status of defenseman Travis Dermott (as per Oilers reporter Tony Brar). The 27-year-old has had a great training camp with Edmonton but remains unsigned and is working under a PTO. The Oilers waived Josh Brown today who they signed earlier this summer, and his demotion could signal that the Oilers are ready to commit to Dermott for this season. Dermott could explore his options elsewhere like Kevin Labanc did when he left his PTO with New Jersey to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
- Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland skated today by himself for the team’s practice (as per Ben Kuzma of Postmedia). Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet told the media that the team is hopeful that Garland will be ready to play on opening night this Wednesday. Garland suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday morning during practice and was considered day-to-day as he sat out Friday night’s preseason game for precautionary reasons. Given the injuries that Vancouver is currently dealing with, it’s easy to see why the team was cautious with Garland.
Canucks Sign Nils Höglander To Three-Year Contract Extension
The Vancouver Canucks have signed forward Nils Höglander to a three-year contract extension worth a total of $9MM (twitter link). The new deal will begin in the 2025-26 season and carry an average annual value of $3MM. Höglander is entering the final season of a two-year, $2.2MM contract and will almost triple his cap hit with his new deal.
The 23-year-old set career highs last season in games played (80), goals (24) and points (36) and shot a whopping 20% with a +23 plus/minus rating. He then made his NHL playoff debut, dressing in 11 games and posting a goal and an assist.
This year the Canucks were very happy with the way Höglander came into training camp and elected to sign him to an extension rather than waiting until the end of the season. Whether the extension will be a bargain will depend on which version of Höglander they get going forward. In 2022-23, the former second-round pick struggled, dressing in just 25 games and posting just three goals and six assists. His shooting percentage that season was just 10.3%.
The native of Bockträsk, Sweden is entering his fifth NHL season and has dressed in 221 games with Vancouver, posting 50 goals and 40 assists and has become somewhat of an analytics darling. Last season, Höglander had terrific possession numbers posting a CF% of 53.1% at even strength.
At this early stage of his career, Höglander could just be scratching the surface and may end up being a bargain for Vancouver. On the other hand, Höglander is unlikely to duplicate his shooting percentage from last season, which could lead to a drop in goal scoring. The good news for Vancouver is that Höglander does enough good things without the puck so even if his goal-scoring drops off he should remain good value on his new contract.
Waiver Wire: 10/6/24
Today is the major day for the waiver wire as most teams in the NHL are preparing the 23-man rosters for the 2024-25 NHL season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that all players on waivers from yesterday have cleared. The following list is each player placed on waivers this afternoon as reported by PuckPedia.
Boston Bruins
F Patrick Brown
G Brandon Bussi
G Jiri Patera
D Billy Sweezey
F Jeffrey Viel
Buffalo Sabres
D Kale Clague
G James Reimer
F Lukas Rousek
Calgary Flames
G Devin Cooley
F Jakob Pelletier
F Cole Schwindt
Carolina Hurricanes
F Josiah Slavin
D Ty Smith
F Ryan Suzuki
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
F Sheldon Dries
D Justin Holl
D William Lagesson
D Brogan Rafferty
F Joe Snively
Edmonton Oilers
D Josh Brown
F Drake Caggiula
F Raphael Lavoie
G Olivier Rodrigue
Los Angeles Kings
G Pheonix Copley
F Samuel Fagemo
F Jack Studnicka
Nashville Predators
New Jersey Devils
F Shane Bowers
D Nick DeSimone
F Nolan Foote
D Colton White
New York Islanders
D Samuel Bolduc
F Pierre Engvall
F Hudson Fasching
F Liam Foudy
G Marcus Hogberg
D Grant Hutton
F Fredrik Karlstrom
G Jakub Skarek
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Sebastian Aho
F Bokondji Imama
St. Louis Blues
D Corey Schueneman
D Tyler Tucker
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Gage Goncalves
D Steven Santini
F Jesse Ylonen
Toronto Maple Leafs
G Matt Murray
D Marshall Rifai
Utah Hockey Club
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
F Zach Aston-Reese
F Tanner Laczynski
F Jonas Rondbjerg
Washington Capitals
Winnipeg Jets
Vancouver Canucks Acquire Erik Brannstrom From Colorado
The Vancouver Canucks announce they have acquired left-handed defenseman Erik Brannstrom from the Colorado Avalanche. Heading back to Colorado will be defenseman Tucker Poolman with 20% of his salary retained by Vancouver and a fourth-round pick in 2025.
It’s a rare move for a recently signed unrestricted free agent to be moved before ever suiting up for the team. The Avalanche signed Brannstrom to a one-year, $900K contract after the young defenseman was non-tendered by the Ottawa Senators. He was expected to serve as a bottom-pairing puck mover for Colorado on a low-cost deal but the team has decided to go a different route.
He was originally drafted with the 15th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights but was shipped to Canada’s capital in the deal that sent Mark Stone to Nevada in 2019. He was always known as a fluid defenseman who could move the puck in transition and on the attack with 52 assists and 63 points in 90 AHL contests.
Unfortunately, Brannstrom has not been able to put it all together at the NHL level. He’s scored only seven goals and 69 points in 266 games for Ottawa — falling well short of expectations. He’s coming off the most offensively fruitful season of his career with three goals and 20 points in 76 games during the 2023-24 NHL season.
The Canucks placed Brannstrom on waivers relatively quickly after acquiring him meaning this trade was largely based around the salary cap. Vancouver will only be on the hook for $500K of Poolman’s contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.
The remaining $2MM on Poolman’s contract will comfortably sit in Colorado’s LTIR. He’s not expected to play this season after missing all of last year and playing only three games in the 2022-23 season. The Avalanche will continue to accrue salary cap space giving them more flexibility down the road when Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin can return.
Training Camp Cuts: 10/5/24
With the preseason winding up this weekend, final roster cuts will be made across the NHL over the next couple of days. We’ll keep tabs on today’s cut-downs here.
Last Updated: 4:45 PM
Anaheim Ducks (per team announcement)
F Jansen Harkins (to AHL San Diego after clearing waivers)
Columbus Blue Jackets (per team announcement)
D Cole Clayton (to AHL Cleveland)
F Luca Del Bel Belluz (to AHL Cleveland)
F Trey Fix-Wolansky (to AHL Cleveland)
G Jet Greaves (to AHL Cleveland)
F Hunter McKown (to AHL Cleveland)
F Owen Sillinger (to AHL Cleveland)
D Stanislav Svozil (to AHL Cleveland)
Dallas Stars (per team announcement)
D Lian Bichsel (to AHL Texas)
F Matej Blumel (to AHL Texas)
F Arttu Hyry (to AHL Texas)
Detroit Red Wings (per team announcement)
F Alexandre Doucet (to AHL Grand Rapids)
F Amadeus Lombardi (to AHL Grand Rapids)
F Jakub Rychlovsky (to AHL Grand Rapids)
G Gage Alexander (to ECHL Toledo)
F Ondrej Becher (to AHL Grand Rapids)
F Hunter Johannes (released from PTO to AHL Grand Rapids)
D Josiah Didier (released from PTO to AHL Grand Rapids)
F Carson Bantle (to ECHL Toledo)
F Gabriel Seger (to ECHL Toledo)
D Chaz Reddekopp (to ECHL Toledo)
G Jan Bednar (to ECHL Toledo)
F Tim Gettinger (to injured non-roster list)
D Shai Buium (to injured non-roster list)
Minnesota Wild (per team announcement)
D Daemon Hunt (to AHL Iowa)
New York Rangers (per team announcement)
F Ryder Korczak (to AHL Hartford)
F Brennan Othmann (to AHL Hartford)
Ottawa Senators (per team announcement)
D Calen Addison (released from PTO)
Pittsburgh Penguins (per team announcement)
F Emil Bemstrom (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
D Nate Clurman (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
F Jonathan Gruden (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
F Joona Koppanen (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
D Filip Kral (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
G Filip Larsson (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D John Ludvig (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
F Samuel Poulin (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers)
Vancouver Canucks (per team announcement)
D Akito Hirose (to AHL Abbotsford)
Washington Capitals (per team announcement)
D Ethan Bear (to AHL Hershey after clearing waivers)
F Luke Philp (to AHL Hershey after clearing waivers)
F Michael Sgarbossa (to AHL Hershey after clearing waivers)
Bruins Claim Jiří Patera From Canucks
The Bruins have claimed goaltender Jiří Patera off waivers from the Canucks, PuckPedia reports.
Patera is the only player out of 28 who were waived yesterday to be claimed. The 25-year-old reached Group VI UFA status this summer with only eight career NHL appearances under his belt with the Golden Knights.
Patera signed a two-year, two-way deal in Vancouver to initially serve as their No. 3 option behind Thatcher Demko and Arturs Silovs, but he’d slipped to fourth on the depth chart after they signed Kevin Lankinen late in the summer. He was still projected to start the season as their third-stringer, with Demko set to start the year on the shelf with a continuing knee injury, but became more expandable with the veteran Lankinen in the fold.
It’s still a blow to Vancouver’s thinning goalie depth and a boon for the Bruins, who add some insurance between the pipes with RFA Jeremy Swayman still likely to be unsigned by the time their season opener rolls around next week. It’s now a two-man competition between Patera and 26-year-old Brandon Bussi, who also requires waivers, to start the year as Joonas Korpisalo‘s backup. They’ll now choose which name to expose to the wire before opening night.
Given their similar ages, Bussi is probably the higher-ceiling option for the B’s. He has a strong .918 SV% in 78 AHL games with Providence over the past three years, although he’s yet to make his NHL debut. Patera has worse but still solid career AHL numbers with a .907 SV% through 85 appearances, and his brief NHL action with Vegas was fine – a .902 mark with a 3.57 GAA through seven starts and one relief appearance over the past two years.
Suppose Boston keeps Bussi as the backup to open the season and places Patera on waivers again to try and pass him to Providence. In that case, the Canucks can re-claim him and send him directly to their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford if they’re the only team to submit a claim.
If the Bruins decide/manage to retain Patera, it’s a solid move to acquire some experienced goalie depth for not just this season but the next one, too. Vancouver likely hoped the second year of the two-way pact would dissuade teams from making a claim, but it didn’t work out that way.
Pius Suter Being Evaluated By Medical Staff
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweeted that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told the media that the early ballpark projections for the salary cap next season have pegged the number at $92.5MM. The $4.5MM increase would be sizable in comparison to previous summers but Bettman cautioned that the number was very preliminary.
The NHL salary cap for this season is set at $88MM and with hockey-related revenues rising once again, it could lead to a significant salary cap increase when the NHL and NHLPA renegotiate the next collective bargaining agreement. Until that time the salary cap will likely keep climbing by a few million dollars each year, which should help some of the teams who have struggled with salary cap issues in recent years.
In other evening notes:
- Bettman spoke about those upcoming collective bargaining agreement talks telling the media that the NHL plans to begin those conversations with the NHLPA in the new year (as per Pierre LeBrun of TSN). One of the items on the docket will be reducing the number of pre-season games to four and potentially adding two regular-season games to the schedule (as per LeBrun). The news isn’t overly surprising given the recent run of injuries during the pre-season, and the fact that fans appear to be largely disinterested in the preseason games this week.
- Vancouver Canucks forward Pius Suter was injured in last night’s preseason game and is being evaluated by the team’s medical staff (as per Canucks play-by-play voice Brendan Batchelor). Suter was banged up in a scrum with Edmonton Oilers forward Corey Perry after Perry dropped his gloves following a hit on teammate Connor McDavid. Suter tried to avoid the confrontation, which didn’t look all that physical but caused some discomfort for the 28-year-old. Suter is entering the final season of a two-year $3.2MM contract that he signed last summer and is expected to center the Canucks fourth line this season.
Waiver Wire: 10/1/24
28 players hit the waiver wire Tuesday, per PuckPedia. It’s a sharp increase from yesterday’s 12 names as more veterans are assigned to the minors later in camp. All of yesterday’s waived players cleared, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. Today’s waiver placements are as follows:
Anaheim Ducks
Buffalo Sabres
F Joshua Dunne
F Mason Jobst
F Brett Murray
D Colton Poolman
D Jack Rathbone
G Felix Sandström
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
G Collin Delia
D Ben Gleason
D Philip Kemp
F Lane Pederson
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
New York Rangers
F Anton Blidh
G Louis Domingue
D Casey Fitzgerald
D Brandon Scanlin
Seattle Kraken
F Brandon Biro
F Max McCormick
F Ben Meyers
D Gustav Olofsson
F Mitchell Stephens
G Ales Stezka
Vancouver Canucks
F Phillip Di Giuseppe
G Jiří Patera
F Nathan Smith
D Christian Wolanin
Training Camp Cuts: 10/1/24
The calendar has flipped to October, which means we’re one week away from opening night. Most teams now have somewhere between 10 and 15 cuts to make before reaching their final opening night rosters. That means most sweeping cuts have already been made, and we’ll start to see more precise roster moves involving more notable names in the coming days. We’ll continue keeping tabs on all of Tuesday’s cuts in this article.
Last updated 3:18 p.m.
Anaheim Ducks (per team release)
D Drew Helleson (to AHL San Diego)
F Carson Meyer (to AHL San Diego, pending waivers)
F Jan Mysak (to AHL San Diego)
F Yegor Sidorov (to AHL San Diego)
Buffalo Sabres (per team announcement)
F Ty Cheveldayoff (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Riley Fiddler-Schultz (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Konsta Helenius (to AHL Rochester)
G Michael Houser (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
D Noah Laaouan (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Aleksandr Kisakov (to AHL Rochester)
D Vsevolod Komarov (to AHL Rochester)
D Zach Metsa (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Olivier Nadeau (to AHL Rochester)
F Viktor Neuchev (to AHL Rochester)
D Nikita Novikov (to AHL Rochester)
F Noah Östlund (to AHL Rochester)
D Ethan Prow (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
G Scott Ratzlaff (to WHL Seattle)
F Isak Rosen (to AHL Rochester)
F Graham Slaggert (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
D Peter Tischke (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Tyler Tullio (to AHL Rochester)
F Anton Wahlberg (to AHL Rochester)
F Brendan Warren (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
Calgary Flames (per team release)
D Artem Grushnikov (to AHL Calgary)
G Waltteri Ignatjew (to AHL Calgary)
D Yan Kuznetsov (to AHL Calgary)
Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)
F Hunter McKown (to AHL Cleveland)
Edmonton Oilers (per team release)
D Beau Akey (to OHL Barrie)
G Collin Delia (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
D Ben Gleason (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
F James Hamblin (to AHL Bakersfield)
D Philip Kemp (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
F Lane Pederson (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
Florida Panthers (per team release)
F Ryan McAllister (to AHL Charlotte)
F Oliver Okuliar (to AHL Charlotte)
F Wilmer Skoog (to AHL Charlotte)
Los Angeles Kings (per team announcement)
F Samuel Helenius (to AHL Ontario)
F Jeff Malott (to AHL Ontario)
G Dryden McKay (released from PTO to AHL Ontario)
D Jacob Moverare (to AHL Ontario, pending waivers)
D John Parker-Jones (released from PTO to AHL Ontario)
Minnesota Wild (per team announcement)
F Reese Johnson (to AHL Iowa, pending waivers)
New Jersey Devils (per team release)
G Michael Hutchinson (released from PTO)
New York Rangers (per team release)
D Madison Bowey (released from PTO to AHL Hartford)
F Jaroslav Chmelar (to AHL Hartford)
F Adam Erne (released from PTO to AHL Hartford)
D Blake Hillman (released from PTO to AHL Hartford)
F Blade Jenkins (released from PTO to AHL Hartford)
F Bryce McConnell-Barker (to AHL Hartford)
F Dylan Roobroeck (to AHL Hartford)
F Nate Sucese (released from PTO to AHL Hartford)
F Adam Sýkora (to AHL Hartford)
Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)
F Brandon Biro (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
F Max McCormick (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
F Jacob Melanson (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Ben Meyers (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
D Gustav Olofsson (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
D Ville Ottavainen (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Mitchell Stephens (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
F Eduard Sale (to AHL Coachella Valley)
G Ales Stezka (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
Vancouver Canucks (per team announcement)
F Phillip Di Giuseppe (to AHL Abbotsford, pending waivers)
D Christian Felton (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Linus Karlsson (to AHL Abbotsford)
D Kirill Kudryavtsev (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Jonathan Lekkerimäki (to AHL Abbotsford)
D Cole McWard (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Ty Mueller (to AHL Abbotsford)
G Jiří Patera (to AHL Abbotsford, pending waivers)
D Elias Pettersson (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Max Sasson (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Nathan Smith (to AHL Abbotsford, pending waivers)
G Nikita Tolopilo (to AHL Abbotsford)
D Christian Wolanin (to AHL Abbotsford, pending waivers)
Washington Capitals (per team announcement)
F Terik Parascak (to WHL Prince George)
Canucks Release Sammy Blais
The Canucks announced Monday that they’ve released winger Sammy Blais, who’d been in camp on a professional tryout.
Blais, 28, signed a minor league pact with AHL Abbotsford simultaneously with his PTO in Vancouver last month. He made it into three preseason games and went without a point, struggling away from the puck with a -3 rating and posting 2 PIMs.
Blais was essentially competing for a 13th or 14th forward role – with the Canucks signing Kiefer Sherwood and Daniel Sprong to bolster their bottom six, as well as with prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki looking to crack the opening night roster, there wasn’t going to room for him to win an everyday spot on their fourth line. The Canucks will stick with in-house options for the extra forward role, though, likely center Nils Åman.
Blais spent the 2023-24 season with the Blues, who re-acquired him from the Rangers midway through 2022-23 in the Vladimir Tarasenko trade. He was a sixth-round pick by St. Louis back in 2014 and spent his first four NHL seasons there before being traded to New York in the summer of 2021 with a second-round pick for Pavel Buchnevich.
The 2019 Stanley Cup champ seemed to break out down the stretch after returning to the Blues in 2022-23, posting 20 points in 31 games, but he couldn’t replicate that output in 2023-24. The 6’2″ agitator struggled to stay in the Blues’ lineup last season, averaging 9:41 across 53 contests and scoring just one goal and six assists for seven points with a -11 rating.
He’s squarely a net negative possession player at even strength throughout his career, too, and with career averages of nine goals and 24 points per 82 games, there’s little to suggest he’s capable of anything more than fourth-line duties for a sustained period in the NHL. For the first time since 2017, he’ll need to start in the minors and work his way up. The Canucks (or any team) could still sign Blais to a two-way deal after the season gets underway if he has a strong start in Abbotsford.