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Penguins Loan John Ludvig And Alex Nedeljkovic To AHL

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that they’ve loaned defenseman John Ludvig and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to their AHL affiliate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The loan is for a conditioning stint so both players can get back up to game speed before they rejoin the NHL Penguins. Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that both players will be eligible to join the team on Sunday to play NHL games.

Ludvig and Nedeljkovic are both currently on long-term injured reserve and have already joined the Penguins in full practices before their AHL assignment. The Ludvig news is not surprising given that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has stated before that Ludvig would have a conditioning assignment, but Nedeljkovic was a bit of a surprise. The Penguins may have opted to allow him more time given that third-string goaltender Magnus Hellberg has filled in admirably for Nedeljkovic. Hellberg has a .922 save percentage in three appearances with a 1-0-0 record.

Ludvig suffered a concussion in his NHL debut on October 24th against the Dallas Stars and hasn’t dressed in a game since. The 23-year-old was a waiver claim before the start of the season and is one of the few Penguins defensemen who offer a bit of sandpaper. The Penguins currently have seven defensemen on their NHL roster and have used Ludvig’s LTIR to call up Vinnie Hinostroza who has been very good on the team’s rejuvenated fourth line. 

The Penguins’ third defensive pairing has been a revolving door all season with Ryan Shea and Chad Ruhwedel currently occupying the final pair. Pierre-Olivier Joseph started the year on the left side, but hasn’t been able to hold down a spot and has struggled when he has been re-inserted into the lineup. The Penguins also have Ty Smith in the minors as well as Will Butcher who is injured. Ludvig will give the Penguins further roster options but could also complicate their current roster construction when he is recalled.

Afternoon Notes: Mantha, Grzelcyk, Avalanche

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NHL.com writer Tom Gulitti tweeted today that Washington Capitals forward Anthony Mantha suffered a ruptured ear drum when an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot bounced off a defender’s stick and hit Mantha in the ear. The injury happened November 8th in a game against the Florida Panthers and led to the 29-year-old being placed on the injured reserve.

Mantha reportedly lost hearing in that ear for six days and has only now started to get it back. He reported feeling dizziness initially, but according to Tarik El-Bashir, he should be well enough to play on Saturday when he is eligible to come off the IR.

Mantha has three goals and an assist in ten games this season with the Capitals and has been a healthy scratch at times as he hasn’t been able to find his game in Washington. He had two of his goals in the Panthers game when he suffered the injury but was knocked out of the game before he could complete the hat trick.

In other notes:

  • Boston Globe writer Conor Ryan is reporting that Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told the media today that he expects defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to be cleared to return to the Bruins lineup by this Saturday. The 29-year-old has been out of the lineup since October 30th when he suffered an upper-body injury in an overtime win against the Florida Panthers. Grzelcyk played just 3:29 in that game and left during the third period of the win. The native of Charlestown, Massachusetts has dressed in nine games this season and has a single assist but has looked off his game when in the lineup. His average ice time is down, as are many of his defensive numbers which could lead one to speculate if he was dealing with a nagging injury prior to sitting out these past few weeks.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they’ve essentially reversed yesterday’s roster moves. The Avalanche sent Sam Malinski and Caleb Jones to the Colorado Eagles yesterday and today decided to recall both players. No word yet on why Colorado opted to change course, but both players are back on the Avalanche’s NHL roster as of this morning. Jones has an assist in his one NHL game this year while Malinski is pointless in one game.

Lightning Send Philippe Myers To AHL

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Fresh off re-calling Haydn Fleury from his conditioning assignment in the AHL the Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they’ve re-assigned defenseman Philippe Myers to their AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch. Myers had been on the Lightning’s NHL roster since November 9th and only made his regular season debut with the team last night against the St. Louis Blues. The 26-year-old played 15:32 in last night’s game registering two shots on goal.

Myers was with Syracuse for the first month of the season and dressed in nine games for the Crunch. He registered two assists and was +7. This is the third consecutive year that Myers has seen significant time in the minors having played a total of 77 AHL games combined over the past three seasons. Despite so much time in the AHL, Myers has continued to collect NHL salaries the past three seasons including this one where he is making $1.4MM. Myers came over to the Lightning back in July 2022 in the trade that sent defenseman Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators.

Myers demotion could be a signal that defenseman Erik Cernak is ready to return from a reported concussion. Cernak didn’t play in last night’s game against the Blues but is considered day-to-day currently. If Cernak is able to return to the Lightning lineup he would represent a significant upgrade over Myers on Tampa Bay’s back end. While Cernak is not an offensive juggernaut as evidenced by his three assists in 15 games, he does offer a physical presence having dished out 33 hits already this year.

The Lightning need all of the help they can get at this point as they’ve started the season well below expectations with a 6-6-4 record. While on the surface, it would appear as though they have underwhelmed, but when injuries are factored into the equation the team has done well to weather the storm thus far.

Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Haydn Fleury

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they have recalled defenseman Haydn Fleury from his conditioning assignment with the Syracuse Crunch. Fleury dressed in five games with Syracuse and was pointless during his assignment to the AHL.

Fleury’s AHL assignment began back on November 4th, before that he had been in the NHL with the Lightning for nearly a month. Although he spent almost four weeks on the Lightning’s active roster, he dressed in just two games and posted a single assist. Fleury spent most of October as a healthy scratch, which was the case often in the 2022-23 season as well. Fleury dressed in just 29 games last season with the Lightning, and while he did deal with a lower-body injury early in the year, most of the games he sat out were as a healthy scratch.

Fleury came into the league as a player with high expectations after he was drafted seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2014. The 27-year-old spoke at the time about wanting to break into the league as an 18-year-old but was never able to do so. He did make his NHL debut three years later at the age of 21, posting eight assists in 67 games as a rookie.

Despite debuting in the NHL at a young age, Fleury has never been able to find traction as an NHL regular. He bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL until 2019, before finally remaining on an NHL roster, mostly in a seventh defenseman role for Carolina. Fleury was then dealt to the Anaheim Ducks in April 2021 before he was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft. In 2022, Seattle opted not to tender Fleury a qualifying offer which sparked his signing with the Lightning. Now Fleury once again finds himself on the outside of an NHL roster looking in, still a regular healthy scratch despite being a veteran of 246 NHL games.

Latest On Patrick Kane’s Free Agency

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John Shannon of The Bob McCown podcast tweeted that unrestricted free agent forward Patrick Kane met with the Toronto Maple Leafs today. While the news is sure to get fans and hockey pundits talking, it is just the beginning of the process. Kane has been training in nearby Oakville, Ontario and likely talked to the Maple Leafs first because of proximity.

Shannon followed up his first tweet by adding that the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres appear to be on the list of interest teams. While most of those teams have come up before in rumors, Dallas and Tampa Bay are a couple of new teams on the list.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski further added to the Kane speculation tonight as he believes that Kane will interview up to eight teams this week including the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers who have both been mentioned in recent weeks.

While every team in the league is likely to have an interest in a player with Kane’s pedigree, Kane is looking to play specifically for a cup contender. The veteran of 1180 NHL games does have three Stanley Cups to his name but is looking to add another milestone to his hall-of-fame resume.

Kane does come with some question marks though as he is coming off a very serious hip surgery after a down season last year with the Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. The 34-year-old had 21 goals and 36 assists last season in 73 games but did add six points in seven playoff games. The type of surgery Kane had does not have a strong track record of success in hockey players which further complicates any contract talks that Kane might have with interested teams.

Capitals Notes: Fehervary, Oshie, Pacioretty, Edmundson

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Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post is reporting that Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary didn’t practice this morning and will not play in tomorrow night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery also told reporters that Fehervary is a maybe for Saturday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Fehervary is currently on injured reserve and wouldn’t have been eligible to return tomorrow even if he was healthy enough to play but is eligible to play Saturday if he can. The 24-year-old has had a decent start to the year and has been very good on the Capitals’ penalty kill. While he has just two assists in 12 games, he has been much more effective at even strength this year despite starting most of his shifts in the defensive zone.

In other Capitals notes:

  • Bailey Johnson also reported that Capitals forward T.J. Oshie took a maintenance day today and did not practice with the team. Oshie has had a brutal start to the season with just one assist in 13 games thus far and it appears the Capitals are hoping that some rest can help kickstart some offense for the 36-year-old. Oshie has seen over three minutes of powerplay time per game this season which is about the same average time he saw last year, but even with the work on the first powerplay unit he has been unable to find the back of the net.
  • The NHL Network’s Tarik El-Bashir is reporting that Capitals forward Max Pacioretty skated on his own this morning before the team’s practice as he attempts to ramp back up to return to game action. The 34-year-old faces a long battle back after tearing his right Achilles for the second time this past January and there is no timetable for his potential return. Both the Capitals and Pacioretty appear to be very cautious in their approach to a return which makes sense given how difficult the past 15 months have been for the six-time 30-goal scorer.
  • Bailey Johnson tweeted that Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson is getting closer to a return after he was a full participant in practice today. Edmundson is trying to work his way back from a hand injury and was dressed in a non-contact jersey during this morning’s practice. The 30-year-old has yet to make his debut in Washington after he was acquired in July for two draft picks. He injured his hand in preseason and required surgery which has ultimately delayed the start to his Capitals career. A return to action would be good news for Washington as they are currently without defensemen Fehervary and Trevor van Riemsdyk.

Afternoon Notes: Kaprizov, Kelemen, Timmins

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Michael Russo of The Athletic tweeted this morning that Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov was absent from practice and was replaced in the line rushes by Nic Petan. The Wild are calling it a maintenance day for the 26-year-old as he is banged up at the moment. Kaprizov had an assist in the Wild’s 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Saturday night but played just 16:49, which is a dramatic decrease from the 21:21 in ice time he has been averaging this season.

Kaprizov does have five goals and 10 assists in 15 games this season, but his play has seemed off despite the offensive success. He is -11, and while that number can be misleading, his turnover numbers are not. Kaprizov has turned the puck over in almost every game this season, far outpacing his previous career numbers. He also appears to be struggling when he is deployed against other team’s top star players.

In other afternoon notes:

  • The Arizona Coyotes have announced today that they’ve placed forward Jack McBain on injured reserve and in a corresponding move they’ve recalled forward Milos Kelemen from their AHL affiliate the Tucson Roadrunners. The 24-year-old is looking to get into the Coyotes lineup for the first time this season after dressing in 14 games last year. The native of Svolen, Slovakia registered a single goal in the NHL last season but was much more productive in his first AHL season posting 14 goals and 16 assists in 59 games with the Roadrunners. This year, Kelemen is posting offense at about the same pace with two goals and four assists through his first 11 games. Kelemen struggled under poor possession numbers and defensive zone starts in his first run with the Coyotes and will be looking to show he belongs in the NHL if he gets back into the Coyotes lineup.
  • TSN’s Mark Masters is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins practiced this morning in a normal jersey for the first time since September. The 25-year-old has yet to dress for the Maple Leafs this season after being sidelined with a lower-body injury during what was an impressive preseason as he collected six points in three preseason games and made a case for himself to be in Toronto’s top six. Last season the St. Catherines, Ontario native posted two goals and 12 assists in 27 NHL games.

Montreal Canadiens Recall Gustav Lindström, Loan Joel Armia To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have recalled defenseman Gustav Lindström, according to a team announcement. In a corresponding move, the Canadiens loaned Joel Armia to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

The rationale behind these two roster moves is quite clear. The Canadiens were carrying only six defensemen, in large part thanks to the fact that they are carrying three goalies on their 23-man roster.

With defenseman Jordan Harris dealing with an injury and currently a game-time decision for tonight’s contest against the Vancouver Canucks, the Canadiens needed an extra defenseman on their roster to provide security in case Harris can’t play.

With David Savard injured, the state of the Canadiens’ defensive depth chart leaves Lindström as the team’s seventh defenseman. So the veteran has been elevated to the NHL roster, leaving the Rocket just before their game against the Manitoba Moose.

In order to recall Lindström the Canadiens needed to clear room on their roster, and to do so they’ve sent Armia to the AHL. Armia, who cleared waivers earlier this season, was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens’ win last night over the Boston Bruins. With four goals and five points for the Rocket this season, he’d be a major addition to the Laval lineup should he dress for any games.

West Notes: Blueger, Toninato, Kesselring

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Patrick Johnston of The Vancouver Province is reporting that Vancouver Canucks center Teddy Blueger is getting close to making his Canucks debut. The 29-year-old has yet to dress this season after he was injured in a preseason game in early October while blocking a shot. Neither Blueger nor the Canucks have specified what the issue is with Blueger, but Johnston believes the injury is a bone bruise.

Blueger practiced with the Canucks today for their full practice, it was the first time he has done so since he suffered the injury on October 6th. The native of Riga, Latvia skated with a group of fourth liners in Sam Lafferty, Nils Höglander, and Anthony Beauvillier. The Canucks could certainly use Blueger’s penalty-killing prowess as they have been as bad shorthanded this year as they were last year with a success rate of just 77.3%.

The Canucks take on the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night in Ottawa, and if Blueger can’t make his return then, it could happen before the end of their road trip.

In other West notes:

  • The Winnipeg Jets have returned forward Dominic Toninato back to their AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose. The 29-year-old was called up by the Jets on October 20th but did not dress in an NHL game and will now head back to the AHL where he has a goal and an assist in two AHL games this season. The Duluth, Minnesota native is just two years removed from dressing in 77 games for the Jets in a single season and will likely receive another call-up later in the season should the Jets run into injury issues.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Michael Kesselring from their AHL affiliate the Tucson Roadrunners as they get set to head out on a five-game road trip. Kesselring has yet to dress in an NHL game this season but has spent some time with the Coyotes. The club made the move today to add emergency depth in case they need it while they are away from home. Kesselring has dressed in six AHL games with the Roadrunners this season and has been held scoreless. Last season, the 23-year-old played nine games with Arizona, posting three assists.

Injury Notes: Jarry, Cozens, Timmins

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry left their game last night against the Anaheim Ducks after being bumped in the back of the head by Adam Henrique and then having his mask dislodged. This was just the beginning for Jarry as he was then struck in his unprotected face by a Ryan Strome shot. NHL officials quickly signalled to the Penguins bench and Jarry was rushed off the ice and did not return.

Up to that point, Jarry had been solid for the Penguins making 21 consecutive stops to preserve a 1-0 Penguins lead late into the second period. With Jarry sidelined, the Penguins’ turned to their third-string netminder Magnus Hellberg who made 11 straight saves to maintain the rare two-goalie shutout.

No updates have been given yet on Jarry, but Yohe did report that he was present in the Penguins’ dressing room after the game, which is certainly an encouraging sign. Jarry has struggled to start the year after signing a massive five-year contract extension this summer that was heavily criticized for being too long and too expensive. The Penguins are already without backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic until later this month and can ill afford to lose Jarry for any length of time.

In other injury notes:

  • Times Herald Reporter Bill Hoppe is reporting that Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens is back at practice today sporting a full-face shield as he makes his return to the ice after missing two games with an upper-body injury. No specifics have been given about Cozens injury but given that he is sporting face protection and a large bandage on his nose, it would appear to be an injury to that region. Cozens was engaged in a fight with Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway back on November 3rd, a game the Sabres lost 5-1, and acknowledged that this incident was the cause of the ailment. Cozens has three goals and four assists in 11 games thus far this season.
  • David Alter of The Hockey News is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins is unlikely to get back into the lineup for at least a couple of weeks. Alter spoke with Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe after Timmins practiced with the team this morning, Keefe told the reporter that Timmins will travel with the team to Sweden next week but is unlikely to play. However, the plan is to have him ramp up in practice and he could re-join the lineup after they return from the extended road trip. Timmins has been on LTIR since the beginning of the season after suffering a lower-body injury and has yet to play a game.

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