The Canucks have transferred center Elias Pettersson to LTIR, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). It has been a tough season for the 22-year-old who had a particularly tough stretch to start the season and is now dealing with an upper-body injury, hardly the type of big season he was looking for heading into restricted free agency for the first time. The move is largely procedural, however, as he has already missed eight games and wasn’t expected to play on the road trip. The placement will give Vancouver – who has quietly won seven of the games that Pettersson has missed – some extra short-term salary cap flexibility. The 24-day aspect of the LTIR rules suggests that Pettersson won’t be able to suit up until after Vancouver’s bye week which would peg March 31st as his possible return date.
More from the North Division:
- The Senators are hoping to have Colin White available for Monday’s game against Calgary, notes Postmedia’s Ken Warren. The center has had an inconsistent year, struggling early to the point where he was made a healthy scratch but has still managed to put up eight goals and six assists in 28 games. He missed Wednesday’s game due to an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, center Artem Anisimov remains listed as day-to-day with an upper-body issue of his own. He has missed the last four games and while he had been getting frequently shuffled to and from the taxi squad, he now needs to clear waivers upon getting cleared to return if Ottawa intends to continue to do that with him.
- The Canadiens have made a contract offer to defense prospect Jordan Harris that would see the first year be burned this season, reports Sportsnet’s Eric Engels (Twitter link). The 20-year-old recently wrapped up his junior season with Northeastern and are awaiting the brackets for the Frozen Four tournament to see if their year will continue; no decision on whether to sign or stay in college will be made until the tournament is set on Sunday. Engels notes that Montreal has offered to burn that first year in the NHL which suggests that they could have plans for him down the stretch.