Anaheim Ducks Recall Steve Oleksy
Journeyman defenseman Steve Oleksy is set to make to join the Ducks for the first time, as Anaheim announced that they have called up the veteran blue liner. The Ducks are in Florida tonight to face the Panthers, so don’t expect Oleksy to make his debut right away, but with dates with the Lightning and Hurricanes still to come this weekend, the expectation is that Oleksy will join the team on their southeastern swing and could see some game action before the return trip to Anaheim.
Oleksy, 31, signed with the Ducks as a free agent this summer after spending last year with the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins after playing the three seasons prior with the rival Washington Capitals. Oleksy has never been an NHL regular – his career-high 33 games came in 2013-14 – but he has proven to be serviceable when called upon.
That’s all that Anaheim can ask for, as they are already on to their tenth different defender of the season. The Ducks revealed today that Kevin Bieksa is out indefinitely with a hand injury, as he joins stalwarts Sami Vatanen and Cam Fowler on the sidelines. With Shea Theodore and Clayton Stoner now in Las Vegas, the Ducks simply don’t have the depth that they used to on the blue line, leading to this opportunity for Oleksy on top of regular roles already for 37-year-old addition Francois Beauchemin and the likes of Korbinian Holzer and Jaycob Megna.
Washington Capitals Recall Stephenson, Place Burakovsky On IR
4:00pm: Burakovsky has undergone successful surgery on a broken thumb, and will be out six to eight weeks. While that’s obviously not good news for the Capitals, it does mean that they’ll likely swap him onto long-term injured reserve whenever Niskanen returns, giving them some additional cap relief.
8:33am: The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Chandler Stephenson from the AHL, while moving Andre Burakovsky to the injured reserve list. Burakovsky was absent from yesterday’s practice with an upper-body injury, expected to be related to the hand he was seen examining during Washington’s game on Saturday night.
Burakovsky has been a disappointment for the Capitals so far this season, scoring just four points in nine games despite getting looks on the top line and powerplay. The team had hoped that he would take a big step forward in the absence of players like Marcus Johansson, but this injury will have that dream put on hold for at least a week.
Stephenson on the other hand has put up six points in six AHL contests, and looks ready to try and win a full-time spot with the Capitals. The 23-year old (who is actually older than Burakovsky) has just 13 NHL games under his belt, and has yet to register a point.
Injuries like this are bad for the Capitals on two fronts. While they obviously weaken the product on the ice, short term injuries also don’t provide any cap relief for the team. With the Capitals so close already to the cap ceiling, they’ve been going in and out of the long-term injured reserve relief from Matt Niskanen. Niskanen was seen skating on his own this morning, meaning that relief is not there to stay. While they obviously have a plan, it will be a tight race all season to stay under the cap.
Washington Tried To Make Expansion Draft Trade
One of the smaller notes in Elliotte Friedman’s outstanding “31 Thoughts” column this week, surrounds the Washington Capitals’ continued search for defensemen. The Capitals lost several players through various means this summer, and when Matt Niskanen went down to a hand injury early in the season the lack of depth started to show. Last night the team had to rely on John Carlson to play more than 27 minutes, while limiting Taylor Chorney, Christian Djoos and Madison Bowey to fewer than 15 each. With no word on how long Niskanen will be out, an upgrade seems inevitable.
While Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner left through free agency, it was obviously why Washington had let them go. The team simply didn’t have the cap space to fit them in, or likely the desire to give them the term they wanted—remember, the four-year deal Shattenkirk signed in New York was shorter than what he likely would have demanded elsewhere. The most interesting name that is no longer with the team is Nate Schmidt, who was lost in the expansion draft to the Vegas Golden Knights. Schmidt played just 60 games for the Capitals last season, but was the easy choice to replace the outgoing veterans in Washington’s top-four. Something Friedman mentioned on NHL Network on Monday night, and now again in the Sportsnet column, is that Washington tried to make a trade at the expansion draft concerning Schmidt and Philipp Grubauer.
While losing Grubauer wouldn’t have been a perfect outcome of the expansion draft, replacing a backup goaltender is a lot easier than finding defensive depth. Though Schmidt was a restricted free agent, he ended up signing for just $2.25MM per season and likely could have been fit into the tight Washington cap situation (especially given their willingness to trade Marcus Johansson to clear room).
As Friedman and others have written, while Vegas continues to shop some of their defensemen a market has yet to materialize. It’s hard to find takers for players like Jason Garrison and Brayden McNabb when they aren’t playing, as teams try to wait out the Golden Knights and snatch someone off waivers. While the Capitals would love to play that game as well, claiming any veteran off waivers is almost impossible for them. As they stand, they’re pushed right up to the cap even carrying nine players that earn less than $1MM. Their move will have to come in trade, with salary headed the other way.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Capitals Place Matt Niskanen On LTIR, Recall Madison Bowey
The Capitals have placed defenseman Matt Niskanen on long-term injury reserve, the team announced via Twitter. Niskanen suffered an upper-body injury during Friday’s game against the Devils and did not return. Tarik El-Bashir of NBC Sports Washington specifies (Twitter link) that it’s a left hand or thumb injury. The team hasn’t revealed how much time he will miss but the LTIR placement will keep him out for at least the next ten games and 24 days.
Losing Niskanen is a big blow for a Washington defense corps that lost a good chunk of their depth over the offseason with the departures of Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner through free agency plus Nate Schmidt in expansion to Vegas. Niskanen has been a consistent minutes-eater throughout his time with the Capitals, logging over 22 minutes a night over his first three years with the team. He has an assist in five games so far this season.
The injury opens up an opportunity for one of Washington’s top prospects, blueliner Madison Bowey, to make his NHL debut as the team announced that he has been called to take Niskanen’s place. Bowey, a second-round pick (53rd overall) in 2013, is in his third professional season which, until now, had entirely been spent at the AHL level with Hershey.
Capitals Not Discussing Extensions With John Carlson And Lars Eller
The Capitals have not discussed possible contract extensions with pending unrestricted free agents John Carlson and Lars Eller, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (video link). Carlson is poised to collect a big raise as he’s on a team-friendly deal with a cap hit just shy of $4MM and was voted the top potential blueliner to hit the market in a poll on PHR earlier this week (and the vote wasn’t particularly close). He has collected at least 37 points in each of the last four seasons while averaging 23:31 per night and point-producing blueliners that can play top pairing minutes are always in high demand and short supply in free agency.
As for Eller, he is carrying a $3.5MM cap charge this season although it’s worth noting he’s collecting $4.75MM in salary. While he has yet to progress into the top-six center that he was projected to become, he is still more than a serviceable third line pivot for Washington and should command a fair amount of interest in free agency if he makes it there. While his game-to-game performance can be inconsistent at times, his production has been the opposite as he has ranged between 25 and 30 points in each of the last six years.
After coming off of a disappointing postseason last year, it’s not too surprising that extension talks with these two haven’t started. If this season doesn’t go well, it’s possible that GM Brian MacLellan could look to take the team in a different direction, something that would be harder to do if these two were already under contract by then.
However, the salary cap is also likely playing a role into this decision. The Caps currently have just shy of $59MM committed to just 13 players for next season per CapFriendly and signing Carlson and Eller to long-term extensions would eat up a significant chunk of the flexibility that they could potentially have next summer.
The two pending UFAs aren’t the only free agents of note that Washington will have to deal with either. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer and winger Tom Wilson highlight their list of restricted free agents while Jay Beagle headlines several other unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Matheson, Harpur, Three Stars
Michael Matheson might not be the definition of a household name, but the Florida Panthers clearly understand what he can bring to the table. The team inked him to an eight-year extension yesterday, which was officially announced earlier today. Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon was complimentary of the young defenseman, and how he went about the negotiating process.
He’s going to skate, carry the puck and log a lot of minutes for us for a long time. The fact that he wanted to be a Panther for life, for us, was really impressive.
Matheson is an elite skater, but hasn’t yet take the next step to being an offensive force for the Panthers. They’ll hope he can find that next level after registering 17 points last season. The 23-year old will see his eight-year, $39MM contract ($4.88MM AAV) kick in next year.
- Ottawa Senators defenseman Ben Harpur has been placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. The Senators have nine defensemen on the roster after the call-up of Thomas Chabot, but both Erik Karlsson and Johnny Oduya are still not locks to get back into the lineup. The team may have to go with seven defensemen anyway in their next game, as they look to rebound from consecutive shootout losses to open the season.
- The NHL released its first “Three Stars of the Week” for the 2017-18 season, and who else but Alex Ovechkin could be number one. Ovechkin scored an incredible seven goals in his first two games, almost as a direct response to all those who doubted his place on the Capitals going forward. After so much was written about how the Capitals may have to break up their core in order to win, Ovechkin came storming out of the gate and helped the club to two wins to start the season. Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds were the second and third stars respectively.
Morning Notes: Nash, Maple Leafs, Lightning
Even if John Tavares does re-sign with the New York Islanders, next summer’s free agent crop looks to be much more exciting than this year’s. While in-their-prime forwards like Evander Kane and James van Riemsdyk will likely be the focal point of many rumors, the mid-thirties group will also have some very interesting names. One of those, Rick Nash, was profiled by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, who believes the 33-year old New York Rangers forward can still be among the league’s best.
A two-way game has increased Nash’s value, and though he’ll be 34 by the time July 1st, 2018 rolls around there could be plenty of suitors lined up to add him to the mix. With 416 career goals coming into this season, the 2002 first-overall pick is an interesting name to watch this year.
- The Maple Leafs are apparently working with a straight rotation for at least a couple of positions, as Kristen Shilton of TSN reports that Connor Carrick and Dominic Moore find themselves as the odd men out at the team’s morning skate. Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen will likely be the team’s third pair, while Eric Fehr will draw back in as the fourth-line center. Still left out in the cold is Josh Leivo, who can’t seem to earn himself a full-time role with the Maple Leafs despite scoring 10 points in 13 games last season.
- Among teams carrying eight defenseman early in the season are the Tampa Bay Lightning who, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, could dress seven for tonight’s matchup with the Washington Capitals. With Tampa’s decision to keep Mikhail Sergachev on the roster, they put themselves in somewhat of a roster crunch. Sergachev is the only defenseman on the roster who is waiver-exempt, and the team would not risk Jake Dotchin or Slater Koekkoek by sending them down to the minor leagues.
Minor Transactions: 10/6/17
The NHL season is underway. NHL (and AHL) camps have shaken out and the final AHL signings of the off-season are filing in, as well as early season NHL adjustments. Here are some minor transactions from across the minors today:
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled defenseman Ben Harpur from their newly relocated affiliate, the Belleville Senators, the team announced. Harpur played in six regular season games for the Sens last season, but suited up for an additional nine playoff games and was given substantial ice time. However, with the off-season addition of Johnny Oduya, Harpur was pushed from the top seven on the organizational depth chart. In fact, many would say that Harpur is actually the second-to-next-man-up, behind star prospect Thomas Chabot, but in their first promotion of the season – with Oduya dealing with a lower-body injury and captain Erik Karlsson still sidelined – Ottawa chose Harpur instead.
- Back in Binghamton, the former home of the AHL Senators, new tenants the Devils, New Jersey’s former Albany affiliate, has made a couple notable moves of their own. The team announced today that they have brought in a pair of NHL veterans, inking forward Tim Kennedy to a one-year deal and signing defenseman Tim Erixon to a PTO. Kennedy, a 31-year-old journeyman forward who last played in the NHL in 2013-14, scored 29 points in 37 games for the divisional rival Rochester Americans in 2016-17. Erixon, a 2009 first-round pick, was one of many AHL veterans to man the blue line for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ affiliate in Wilke-Barre/Scranton last season. The 26-year-old is solid, if not unspectacular, but stands a good chance of earning a contract for the Devils, who lack minor league depth on the blue line.
- The Stockton Heat, affiliate to the Calgary Flames, have added a pair of experienced defenseman to their own blue line, announcing the signings of Cody Goloubef and Colby Robak. Goloubef is particularly interesting as he played 33 games for the Colorado Avalanche last season and was a late camp cut by the Buffalo Sabres, performing well on a PTO. Goloubef is a major boost for Stockton, but he will certainly keep an eye out for NHL opportunities as the 2017-18 season progresses. Meanwhile, Robak has not played in the NHL since 2014-15 and hasn’t played a meaningful big league role since early in 2013-14 with the Florida Panthers. Yet, Robak continues plugging along and had a strong AHL season in 2016-17, one spent mostly with the Utica Comets but which began with the Stockton Heat. The team seemingly saw enough to bring him back.
- The Hershey Bears signed forward Jeremy Langlois to a one-year AHL deal today, as reported by the ever-popular Washington Capitals affiliate. The hard-working forward from Tempe, Arizona is trying to get back to the NHL after a one-year deal with the San Jose Sharks in 2015-16 was spent entirely in the AHL. The Quinnipiac alum was an undrafted free agent that first impressed with big numbers in the ECHL and then the AHL, with the Sharks then-affiliate in Worcester, earning him an entry-level deal and a major role on the re-located Barracuda squad two years ago. However, he was unqualified and signed with the Rockford Ice Hogs in 2016-17, where his offense steeply declined. Langlois will look for a fresh start in Hershey this season.
Nathan Walker Expected To Make NHL History
As NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti writes, Nathan Walker will make history Saturday night when the Australian forward makes his NHL debut for the Washington Capitals. Though born in Wales, Walker was raised in Australian and will be the first player from the country to lace up his skates for an NHL game. It’s not a publicity stunt by any means either, Walker has worked hard and deserves this chance.
Minor Transactions: 10/05/17
We’ll keep track of all the assignments around the league right here, as teams fine tune their rosters.
- The Golden Knights assigned Brandon Pirri to the Chicago Wolves after clearing waivers. The 26-year old forward was just signed to a contract yesterday, after failing to earn on in Florida’s training camp. For the Golden Knights, there is no risk to signing a former 20+ goal scorer to see if he can still compete at this level. The team may be weak on offense all year, and could look to Pirri to infuse some scoring touch on the powerplay at some point.
- The Boston Bruins sent Emil Johansson back to Providence, and will go with the more veteran Paul Postma as their extra defenseman. Johansson joined the organization last year after his European season was over, and played in six games for the P-Bruins down the stretch. A seventh-round pick, Johansson is highly regarded by the Bruins staff and could get his shot at the NHL at some point this year.
- The Calgary Flames made another move, sending Garnet Hathaway to the minor leagues in order to clear room for Jaromir Jagr. Jagr was introduced yesterday at a press conference but likely won’t suit up for the team until he gets a few practices under his belt. The Flames could have used his offense last night as they were shutout by the Edmonton Oilers, in a game where Hathaway played just 11 minutes.
- The Washington Capitals have loaned Chandler Stephenson to Hershey after clearing waivers, meaning the 23-year old will have to wait patiently for his next NHL opportunity. Since being drafted in the third round, Stephenson has only been given short chances at a job with the Capitals, playing in 13 games over the past two years. Still looking for his first NHL point, he’ll have to prove it at the AHL level once again.
- Grand Rapids will be getting some help, as the Detroit Red Wings have assigned Matt Lorito and Eric Tangradi to the AHL. Tangradi cleared waivers today, and will return to the team he helped take to the Calder Cup championship a year ago. In the playoffs for Grand Rapids, Tangradi scored 19 points in 19 games, and will try to do the same this year. The Griffins have also signed Matt Carey to a professional tryout, and sent Matej Machovsky to the ECHL.
- According to Adrian Dater of BSN Denver, the Avalanche have indeed sent Joe Colborne to San Antonio to begin the season. Colborne was among those who cleared waivers today, and will have to work his way up from the minor leagues if he wants to return to the NHL. It’s a far fall for Colborne, who was a 19-goal scorer in the league just two seasons ago with Calgary, but suffered the same fate as many Avalanche players and posted a career-low in points last season. Scoring just eight all year, his $2.5MM salary looks like a dreadful overpay.
- The Blue Jackets have assigned defenseman Markus Nutivaara to the AHL (via the Cleveland Monsters website). For the former seventh-round pick appeared in 66 games during his rookie campaign, collecting two goals and five assists. He also made his way into a pair of playoff games, compiling one goal and one assist.
Ben Levine contributed to this post.