Winnipeg’s Mason Appleton Out Week-To-Week With Injury
Jan. 3rd: According to a team announcement, the Jets have placed Appleton on injured reserve (retroactive to Dec. 28th) as expected. Winnipeg takes on the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night so there may be a corresponding roster move to fill the open roster spot.
Dec. 31st: The Winnipeg Jets will have a major hole on their third line for the foreseeable future. Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press reported yesterday evening that forward Mason Appleton would miss the next few weeks with a lower-body injury.
Appleton didn’t play in last night’s contest against the Nashville Predators. This likely means the lower-body injury was suffered at practice considering Appleton skated in nearly 16 minutes of the Jets’ game against the Ottawa Senators on December 28th.
It’ll be the first time in nearly two years that Appleton has missed an extended period. He played in all 82 games for Winnipeg last season scoring 14 goals and 36 points for the highest-scoring campaign of his career.
The Jets will have big shoes to fill on one of the most consistent third lines over the last several years. Appleton typically plays on the right wing next to Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter, so they may need to make a roster move to fill the void.
Winnipeg hasn’t dealt with too many injuries this season but has leaned on Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov for recalls when Nikolaj Ehlers lost time with an injury a few weeks ago. The Jets could again recall one of these better prospects from their system or move stagnating forward Rasmus Kupari to the third line to create an offensive jolt in his game.
Jets Recall Dominic Toninato, Haydn Fleury To IR
The Winnipeg Jets have recalled forward Dominic Toninato from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and also placed defenseman Haydn Fleury on the injured reserve. A move was expected at some point before the Jets head out to Colorado to take on the Avalanche tomorrow night. Mason Appleton did not take to the ice for warm-up tonight against Nashville which led to the speculation that the Jets would bring someone up for insurance.
Toninato is the captain of the Moose and is receiving his first NHL recall of the season. The 30-year-old has dressed in 25 games this year for Manitoba, registering six goals and five assists. Last year, Toninato spent 15 NHL games with Winnipeg, tallying a goal and four assists.
The Jets placed Fleury on IR retroactive to December 23rd. The 28-year-old is dealing with a lower-body injury that he suffered a week ago against Toronto. Fleury has been a regular for much of this season, dressing in 25 games and posting six assists. The former seventh-overall pick has bounced around to four different franchises in the past five seasons but was settling in with the Jets, playing some of his best hockey at the NHL level despite the unfavorable deployment.
Logan Stanley took Fleury’s spot in the lineup the past two games, playing almost 20 minutes on Saturday night against Ottawa.
Winnipeg’s Daniel Torgersson Clears Waivers, Contract To Be Terminated
Dec. 29th: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed Torgersson has successfully cleared waivers and will have his contract terminated by the Jets organization.
Dec. 28th: Daniel Torgersson‘s first three years in North American professional hockey haven’t gone as expected. The Winnipeg Jets have seen everything they need to as the organization announced they’ve placed Torgersson on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.
Winnipeg selected Torgersson as the 40th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft from the SHL’s Frölunda HC program. He had a terrific season for Frölunda’s J20 SuperElit team scoring 26 goals and 44 points in 39 games.
He failed to build a positive reputation in the Swedish Hockey League over the next two years but eventually landed with AIK of the HockeyAllsvenskan in 2021-22. He scored seven goals and 17 points in 40 games for AIK before ending the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
Torgersson was solid but unimpressive in his first full season with the Moose scoring 11 goals and 20 points in 69 games. He tied for 10th on the team in scoring during his rookie campaign but failed to move beyond the team’s bottom six.
The next year and a third have been an unmitigated disaster for Torgersson. He disappointed with one goal and nine points in 52 games for the Moose last season and has failed to find the scoresheet once this year through 12 contests. There’s no confirmed transaction but Torgersson is expected to continue his professional career in Sweden.
Winnipeg was likely hoping for a higher return on investment for a second-round pick but the 2020 NHL Draft presented unique scouting challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Torgersson will have the opportunity to repair his value overseas and potentially return to North America in the future.
Jets Recall Dylan Coghlan; Haydn Fleury Out Week-To-Week
While he cleared waivers just last week, Dylan Coghlan’s time in the minors was short-lived. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the blueliner from AHL Manitoba. Meanwhile, TSN’s John Lu notes (Twitter link) that blueliner Haydn Fleury is listed as week-to-week with his knee injury while Dylan Samberg will miss at least another five days as he works his way back from a foot injury.
Coghlan was acquired from Carolina back in July in exchange for future considerations, signing a one-year, two-way deal soon after. He has been on Winnipeg’s roster for most of the year but that hasn’t resulted in much playing time as he has played just once with the Jets so far. After clearing waivers last week, he got into two contests with the Moose, scoring once. In the short term, Coghlan will likely resume his role as a reserve defenseman.
Fleury, meanwhile, tried to skate this morning after being injured on Monday against Toronto but it evidently did not go well, leading to this week-to-week designation. The 28-year-old is in his first season with Winnipeg after signing a one-year, two-way deal with them in the summer and has held down a regular spot in the lineup most nights. Fleury has six assists in 25 games thus far while blocking 44 shots in over 17 minutes a night of action. With an extended absence on the horizon, he’s likely to land on injured reserve in the coming days.
As for Samberg, he missed the last month due to his foot injury. Head coach Scott Arniel indicated that the blueliner will skate on his own for the next five days before being reassessed. Speculatively, he’ll need a few days of practice and being cleared for contact from there so his return is still likely more than a week away. Samberg has played in 21 games so far this season, notching three goals and three assists while logging over 20 minutes a night, nearly five minutes a game higher than his ATOI last season.
Jets Reassign Simon Lundmark
5:02 p.m.: After Winnipeg completed a 5-2 win over Toronto, Lundmark is back to the minors and off the active roster for the holiday break. Expect him to be recalled later this week if Stanley and Fleury aren’t ready to go for their next contest.
3:27 p.m.: The Jets announced that they’ve recalled right-shot defenseman Simon Lundmark from AHL Manitoba prior to today’s game against the Maple Leafs. It’s the first recall of his NHL career aside from a one-day emergency stint on the roster in January 2022. Winnipeg had an open active roster spot, so no corresponding transaction is necessary.
Lundmark was scratched from today’s contest, but his services may be needed when Winnipeg resumes its post-break schedule against the Senators on Saturday. Logan Stanley has missed the last two contests with a lower-body injury, while Haydn Fleury left today’s game with a non-contact right knee injury. The 24-year-old, who the Jets selected in the second round in 2019, hit restricted free agency last summer but eventually agreed to a one-year, two-way pact to stay in Winnipeg and cleared waivers during training camp. He’s made 22 appearances with Manitoba this season, posting six points in 22 games. He has a -7 rating that’s middle of the pack on a Manitoba team that’s struggled to the tune of a 7-17-1 record.
While Lundmark has been a regular contributor on Manitoba’s blue line since coming to North America from his native Sweden in 2021, he’s never done enough to put himself in serious consideration for a roster spot. His offensive production has been consistent, stagnating at around 0.25 points per game, and he has a cumulative -24 rating across 210 AHL appearances.
Lundmark can remain on the Jets’ roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games until he requires waivers to return to the minors. He carries a $775K cap hit, leaving the Jets with $4.22MM in current cap space with a full roster.
Jets Activate David Gustafsson From Injured Reserve
The Jets announced that they have activated center David Gustafsson from injured reserve. They had a pair of open roster spots after assigning Nikita Chibrikov and Dylan Coghlan to AHL Manitoba on Thursday.
Gustafsson, 24, had missed the last four games while in concussion protocol. The 2018 second-round pick left his last appearance, a Dec. 10 trouncing of the Bruins, after fighting Boston forward Trent Frederic. It was his second appearance since Oct. 20 after sitting out most of the season as a healthy scratch.
Last year, he stuck primarily on the NHL roster for the second season in a row aside from a brief conditioning assignment in February. He scored three goals, his first since notching his first NHL marker in 2019-20, and added four assists for seven points with a +1 rating in 39 games. He averaged 9:16 per game and won a career-best 54.6% of his faceoffs, often skating down the middle of Winnipeg’s fourth line when in the lineup.
Gustafsson has now appeared in parts of six NHL seasons, skating in a top-level contest in every season since arriving in North America in 2019. He’s played sparingly in all of them, though, averaging 19 appearances per season and just 8:44 per game. The 6’2″ pivot has been a relative non-factor offensively, averaging only 10 points per 82 games. The Jets have also rarely controlled the puck in Gustafsson’s even strength minutes, posting a 45.9% shot-attempt share and 41.9% expected goals share throughout his career.
With a fully healthy forward lineup tonight against the Wild, Gustafsson will return to his usual seat in the press box, the team said. He’s the 13th forward on the active roster and will be the first player to enter the lineup if an injury strikes, however.
Jets Activate Nikolaj Ehlers, Waive Dylan Coghlan
Dec. 19: The Jets announced that Coghlan cleared waivers and was subsequently assigned to AHL Manitoba along with the waiver-exempt Chibrikov.
Dec. 18: The Jets have placed defenseman Dylan Coghlan on waivers ahead of the upcoming roster freeze, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. In a related but not quite corresponding move, winger Nikolaj Ehlers has been activated from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Ducks, per the league’s media site. Center David Gustafsson, who’s been in concussion protocol since fighting Bruins forward Trent Frederic on Dec. 10, was placed on injured reserve to keep the Jets’ active roster at the maximum 23 until Coghlan can be removed tomorrow.
Ehlers had missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury that he sustained against the Golden Knights on Nov. 29. The Jets managed to go 5-3-1 in his absence and haven’t lost in regulation over their last four outings. The injury interrupted a resurgent season for the pending unrestricted free agent, who still ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 25 points (9 G, 16 A) in 24 games. If his pace holds, the Danish winger will crack the point-per-game threshold for the first time in his 10-year career. If he plays tonight, he’ll likely resume his place on the second line alongside Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti while rookie Nikita Chibrikov, who has two goals and an assist in four showings this season, heads to the press box.
Coghlan, 26, signed a two-way deal with the Jets in the offseason after they acquired his signing rights from the Hurricanes. He made the team’s opening night roster but has been stuck in the press box, playing just once this year despite not carrying an injury designation. Winnipeg has had eight defensemen on the active roster nearly all season but hasn’t had the impetus to make many lineup changes. Their relatively healthy blue line has helped power a 23-9-1 record.
His lone appearance came against Vegas, his former team, in the game Ehlers got hurt. He posted a -1 rating in 14:38 of ice time with two shots on goal. Winnipeg out-attempted opponents 15-8 with Coghlan on the ice at even strength despite two-thirds of his zone starts coming in the defensive end.
Thirty-one other teams will now have the chance to claim Coghlan, who only costs the league minimum of $775K against the cap when in the NHL and has 107 games of experience to his name over the last five years. If there are no takers, it’s back to the AHL for him, this time with the Manitoba Moose. The British Columbia native played in 61 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds last season while under contract with Carolina, leading their defenders with 41 points (16 G, 25 A).
Jets Sign Kevin He To Entry-Level Contract
The Jets have signed left-wing prospect Kevin He to his three-year, entry-level contract, per a team announcement. The forward, amid his third season of major junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara IceDogs, is the first Chinese-born player in league history to sign an NHL contract.
He, 18, was a fourth-round pick by Winnipeg in last summer’s draft. He was named captain of the IceDogs before the 2024-25 campaign started. That move foreshadowed a significant breakout for the Beijing native, who’s second on his club with 23 goals and 43 points through 29 games. That’s also good enough to put him in the top 15 of OHL scoring league-wide.
He has Canadian citizenship and was regarded as a mid-round talent by most in last year’s cycle. Elite Prospects lauded his “elite motor,” which, combined with his 6’0″, 181-lb frame, likely gives him enough offensive projectability to become not just the first Chinese-born player under contract but also the first one to make his NHL debut.
His deal will be subject to an entry-level slide for 2024-25, as he’s not expected to see NHL ice. If he plays fewer than 10 NHL games next season as well, his ELC could slide to as late as 2026-27. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry, regardless. Winnipeg did not disclose the contract’s financial terms.
David Gustafsson And Nikolaj Ehlers Skate Today
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson could return to the lineup during the team’s current three-game road trip (as per Avalanche play-by-play man Conor McGahey). Manson has been dealing with an upper-body issue and won’t suit up tonight when Colorado takes on the Vancouver Canucks. However, he could dress on Thursday or Friday when Colorado plays back-to-back against Anaheim and San Jose. Manson is currently on the injured reserve, meaning that the Avalanche will need to make a roster move before activating the 33-year-old.
Manson hasn’t played since leaving a game on November 29th against Dallas and has played 24 games on the season, posting one goal and five assists. He had one of his better offensive seasons last year, tallying 25 points in 76 games, but he has struggled this year with turnovers, giving the puck away 42 times already, which is one off from his total for all of last season.
In other Central Division notes:
- Winnipeg Jets colour analyst Mitchell Clinton tweeted that Jets head coach Scott Arniel told the media that injured forwards David Gustafsson and Nikolaj Ehlers both skated today in what is the next step towards a return to action. The 24-year-old Gustafsson skated in a non-contact jersey, his first time back on the ice since he suffered a concussion in a fight on December 10th. Ehlers was in a regular jersey as he tried to get back in the lineup after missing eight games. The 28-year-old hasn’t played since November 29th and is likely day by day at this point.
- Utah Hockey Club goaltender Connor Ingram and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo are not close to returning to action (according to Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune). Ingram did not practice today after he spent some time skating over the weekend and will be off the ice for the next little bit. The 35-year-old Bortuzzo didn’t have much better news as he remains sidelined with a lower-body injury that he suffered on December 10th against the Minnesota Wild. Utah remains without several key defensemen, including Bortuzzo, John Marino and Sean Durzi.
Jets, Henri Nikkanen Mutually Terminate Contract
Dec. 13: Nikkanen cleared waivers and has had his contract terminated, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He has signed a two-year deal with SaiPa of the Finnish Liiga.
Dec. 12: The Jets announced that they’ve placed forward prospect Henri Nikkanen on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.
Nikkanen, 23, will assumedly head back to his native Finland or elsewhere in Europe if he clears. It hasn’t been the smoothest of runs for the 6’5″ pivot, who’s actually spent quite a bit of time in North America. He’s suited up exclusively for Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, since signing his entry-level contract at the end of the 2021-22 season and coming over to Canada.
Despite some good offensive production in the Finnish junior system and some good flashes in the pro-level Liiga, Nikkanen’s point totals with the Moose never got off the ground. The left-shot center has totaled only 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points in 140 contests with the Moose. This season, he’s only played in 13 of 21 games and has been limited to a goal and three assists.
Nikkanen is in the final season of his entry-level contract and was set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at season’s end. Assuming he clears, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow and the Jets will lose his NHL rights.
Winnipeg will free up a contract slot with the move, bringing their total deals to 41 out of the 50-contract limit.