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Dylan Cozens, Mattias Samuelsson Close To Returning

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As the Buffalo Sabres continue to remain in the playoff hunt, they may get a pair of crucial support pieces back in the lineup for their final game before the All-Star break. Head coach Don Granato said today that injured forward Dylan Cozens and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson are “progressing well.”

Both could return to play Wednesday night when Buffalo hosts the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Although it may be a tall task, a win of any kind would propel Buffalo into the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference as the break begins, leapfrogging Pittsburgh. Buffalo is in a de facto playoff spot as it stands, as their .571 points percentage sits ahead of Washington’s .558 mark for eighth in the Conference.

Cozens’ and Samuelsson’s injuries have both been short-term, thankfully. Samuelsson missed the past two games with a lower-body injury and should return to his usual place alongside Rasmus Dahlin on the team’s top pairing. Cozens missed just one whole game after leaving last Thursday’s contest against Winnipeg with an upper-body injury late in the game. He’s quietly amidst a strong breakout season, scoring 43 points in 48 games while holding down a top-six center spot behind Tage Thompson.

Rasmus Asplund, despite his solid two-way play, has fallen out of the team’s top 12 forwards this season after the waiver claim of Tyson Jost. He’ll likely exit the lineup for Cozens to make his return.

Boston Bruins Reassign Marc McLaughlin, Joona Koppanen

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With just one game before the break, the Boston Bruins have sent Marc McLaughlin and Joona Koppanen back to the minor leagues. That reduces the team to just 12 forwards on the active roster, though things could change again before Wednesday’s match against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

McLaughlin, 23, played just 9:08 in yesterday’s tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes, his second NHL game of the season. The young forward scored three goals in 11 games down the stretch last year but hasn’t been able to register a point or secure regular minutes this time around. Even the minor leagues haven’t been especially kind to his offensive production, with just seven goals and 17 points in 39 games so far.

Koppanen meanwhile has just one point in five games with Boston this season, the first NHL action of his career. The big forward hasn’t got a ton of ice time and appears to be nothing more than an injury replacement at this point in his career.

While he does have 20 points in 36 games for Providence, Koppanen will turn 25 next month and is scheduled to reach Group VI unrestricted free agency in the summer.

Chandler Stephenson Named To All-Star Game, Replacing Matty Beniers

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The Vegas Golden Knights will have another representative at the upcoming All-Star festivities, as Chandler Stephenson has been named the replacement for Matty Beniers. Beniers will not be able to attend because of injury.

Stephenson joins Logan Thompson (and head coach Bruce Cassidy) on the Pacific roster, and will be making his first All-Star appearance.

It’s a pretty impressive climb for a third-round pick who scored 55 total points through the first three seasons of his career (more than 200 games). After a trade brought him from the Washington Capitals to Vegas, and injuries gave him an opportunity to play with top-line players, Stephenson has never looked back.

Last season, in 79 games, he set career-highs with 21 goals and 64 points. Both of those numbers are in danger this year, as the speedy center has 11 goals and 44 points through 51 games.

Stephenson is averaging close to 20 minutes a night for the Golden Knights, is winning close to 60% of his faceoffs, and is a key part of both the powerplay and the penalty kill.

For Beniers, it is a disappointing result, given he was going to be an All-Star in his first full season. The Seattle Kraken will likely get another chance down the road, given how well he has acclimated himself to the NHL in such a short time.

Rudolfs Balcers Clears Waivers

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Jan 30: Balcers has cleared waivers and can now be officially assigned to the AHL.

Jan 29: The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Rudolfs Balcers on waivers, according to CapFriendly. The move comes after Balcers finished his conditioning loan to the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, today.

Balcers, 25, hasn’t played in an NHL game since November as he was dealing with an upper-body injury. This is not his first time on waivers this season, as he was claimed off of waivers by the Lightning in November.

Balcers’ injury means that he has only played in three games for the Lightning, despite being on their roster for quite a bit of time. In those three games, Balcers scored a goal and averaged just under seven minutes of ice time per game. His full-season total production is five points through 17 games, which is a decline from the rate he scored last year.

If he ends up clearing waivers, Balcers will head back to the AHL level in Syracuse where he’s had success. Balcers has 117 points in 149 career AHL games, so he should be able to help the Crunch’s scoring attack should he end up there.

Otherwise, teams across the league will have a chance to reinforce their group of forwards with Balcers should they want to place a claim. Balcers is available at a league-minimum price, and has 170 NHL games on his resume.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Schenn, Thompson

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux taking home the top spot. The veteran scored four goals and seven points in three games, taking him to 19 and 47 on the year. Giroux is now 30 points shy of 1,000 for his career, and is scoring at nearly a point-per-game rate with the Senators, even at age 35.

It was an Atlantic Division sweep this week, as William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning took home second and third place respectively. Nylander continues to play at a different level for Toronto this year, scoring 28 goals and 59 points in 51 games. Vasilevskiy allowed just six goals on 102 shots across three games, winning them all. After leading the league in wins for five-straight seasons, Vasilevskiy has now closed the gap and trails Linus Ullmark by just two.

  • Luke Schenn has emerged as one of the most talked-about trade deadline chips, thanks to his low salary, Stanley Cup experience, and physicality. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff takes a deep dive into Schenn’s market, suggesting clubs like Boston, Minnesota, Calgary, Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Vegas could all benefit from adding the veteran defenseman.
  • Tage Thompson is listed as day-to-day for the Buffalo Sabres, with head coach Don Granato telling reporters including Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News that the star forward has been dealing with some nagging injuries. Granato does expect Thompson to be on the ice tomorrow and isn’t ruling him out for Wednesday’s game. What that means for his All-Star appearance isn’t clear, as it would provide a good chance for him to recover, if still bothered by injury later this week.

Josh Norris To Undergo Surgery; Out For Season

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Jan 30: Hanna reports that Norris’ surgery is scheduled for the next few days.

Jan 23: Excitement for Ridly Greig’s recall quickly turned to sadness for Ottawa Senators fans, as the team announced Josh Norris’s season is over. He will be going for shoulder surgery in the near future. It is the same injury as earlier this season. Norris has been moved to injured reserve.

After scoring 35 goals in 66 games last season, life was good for Norris. He signed a new eight-year, $63.6MM contract that entrenched him as one of the league’s young stars, and was ready to leverage the team’s improved forward depth for an even better year.

Then he suffered a serious shoulder injury in October after just five games. Weeks went by with Norris consulting five different doctors and two specialists before it was determined that he wouldn’t need surgery.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told Claire Hanna of TSN that Norris “felt a subluxation” over the weekend, leading to this decision. He had returned just three games ago, meaning he’ll finish this season appearing in only eight. His two goals and three points are a far cry from what was expected, especially with a new $7.95MM cap hit in hand.

Now he faces another lengthy rehab, while the Senators try to salvage anything this season. The club is slipping down the standings, and has completely shuffled its lines around at practice today in an attempt to get things back on track.

Without Norris, the Ottawa center depth looks mighty thin, with Greig inserted into the second line between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux before ever playing a game at the NHL level.

Ottawa Senators Recall Mads Sogaard

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Now that he has recovered from his own injury, Mads Sogaard is up with the Ottawa Senators to help fill in for Cam Talbot’s absence. The team sent Kevin Mandolese back down yesterday.

Sogaard made his return to the Belleville Senators net on Saturday, allowing six goals on 44 shots and taking the loss. Overall, it’s been a rocky season for the 22-year-old goaltender, with a .901 save percentage in 19 appearances.

Last season, when the Senators were rolling through goaltenders with Matt Murray often injured, Sogaard played in two NHL games. He allowed six goals on 54 shots for an .889 save percentage, and earned his first NHL win.

The 37th-overall pick from 2019 still has a lot of developing to do, but has oodles of talent in his 6’7″ frame. If the Senators can find a way to get him to his ceiling, there’s a chance they have a legitimate difference-maker. There’s work to be done, though, and his recall likely doesn’t change the fact that Anton Forsberg will be carrying the lion’s share of the work for the next little while.

Bobby Hull Dies At 84

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The NHL Alumni Association has confirmed that Hall of Fame player Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84.

The legendary Chicago Blackhawks star played 1,036 games in the league and was arguably the most popular player in the NHL during his prime. A natural goal scorer, he won the Art Ross Trophy three times as the league’s top offensive player, and took home the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1965.

In 1972, a second career, this time in the WHA, followed. Hull would be named MVP in that league twice, scoring 303 goals in 411 games for the Winnipeg Jets. When the Jets joined the NHL he would make a short return at the age of 41, and finished his career playing with the Hartford Whalers alongside legends like Gordie Howe and Dave Keon.

As a player, there were few better in the history of the game. Hull is one of just 20 players to score 600 goals in the NHL, and is second all-time in the WHA. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

That legacy as a player, though, is not all he will be remembered for. In 1986 he was convicted of assaulting a police officer during a domestic dispute with his wife. His second wife accused him of abuse years later. Last year, the Blackhawks removed Hull as a team ambassador.

Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Marcus Bjork

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The Columbus Blue Jackets still have one game before the break, and they’re making a slight change to the roster. Marcus Bjork has been recalled, while Jake Christiansen is on his way back to the minor leagues.

Bjork, 25, has played in 26 games for the Blue Jackets this season as a rookie, after signing a one-year entry-level contract in the summer. The undrafted defenseman was a solid contributor for years in the SHL before deciding to try his luck in North America, and has so far acclimated quite well.

With 11 points in those games, Bjork actually leads all Blue Jackets defensemen in scoring this season. A lot of that has to do with the major injuries suffered by key players, but it’s impressive nonetheless for a first-year player seeing part-time duty.

Christiansen, 23, only played in one game during the recent call-up, and has 18 total for the season. He has scored just two points and rarely gets much ice time. On the year, he’s averaging fewer than 14 minutes, meaning he might be better off playing in the minor leagues, if his development is still a priority.

Five Key Stories: 1/23/23 – 1/29/23

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The final full week of January has come to an end with quite a bit of big news across the NHL.  We’ll recap those in our key stories.

Done For The Year…Again: When the shoulder injury to Senators center Josh Norris was initially diagnosed, he was ruled out for the season.  However, after getting a second opinion, they opted for rehab and he was able to return to the lineup last week.  Unfortunately, the injury returned in just his third game back and Norris has once again been ruled as done for the year.  This time, the designation will stick as he will be undergoing surgery.  Suffice it to say, the first season of his eight-year, $63.6MM contract didn’t go as planned as his season ends with just two goals and an assist in a total of eight games played.

Trade Candidate Injured: Going back to last season, there has been an expectation that the Coyotes would move defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere by this trade deadline.  Interested teams have likely seen the last of him in the desert as the 29-year-old suffered an upper-body injury that will keep him out four-to-six weeks.  On the long end of the timeline, he might not be ready by March 3rd (but should be soon after).  The pending unrestricted free agent is having another nice season offensively with nine goals and 20 assists in 48 games and assuming Arizona is willing to retain the maximum 50% on his contract, he’d be a nice addition for several playoff-bound squads at a prorated $2.25MM AAV.

Bridge For Kuzmenko: Generally speaking, a player entering the UFA market at 27 isn’t looking for a short-term bridge contract.  But Canucks winger Andrei Kuzmenko isn’t a typical UFA as he’s in the midst of his first NHL season so his preference was to not sign a long-term agreement.  In the end, he got his wish as the two sides agreed to a two-year, $11MM extension that will kick in next season and contains a 12-team no-trade clause.  It has been a successful first season in North America for Kuzmenko as he has 22 goals and 21 assists in 48 games, good for fifth on the team in scoring.  The agreement keeps him with Vancouver for at least a little while longer while giving him a shot at testing the open market in 2025 when he’ll be more established at the top level.

More Injuries: Still with Vancouver, Ilya Mikheyev’s first season with them has come to an end as he will undergo season-ending knee surgery to fix an ACL injury.  The winger actually suffered the injury back in the preseason but only missed a handful of games as he was able to play through it.  Mikheyev’s year comes to an end with 13 goals and 15 assists in 46 games.  Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without their top center for at least three weeks as Auston Matthews is out with a knee sprain that will also keep him out of the upcoming All-Star Game.  While his numbers are down this season, Matthews still has 25 goals and 28 assists in 47 games, his fifth straight year of averaging over a point per game.

Sharks-Avalanche Trade: The Sharks and Avalanche made a four-player swap with Colorado acquiring blueliner Ryan Merkley and winger Matt Nieto in exchange for winger Martin Kaut and defenseman/winger Jacob MacDonald.  Merkley and Kaut are 2018 first-round picks that haven’t panned out with their original clubs and will look to rebuild their value elsewhere.  MacDonald is a depth defender on a cheap two-way deal for a couple of seasons which holds some value for San Jose who doesn’t have a lot of cap flexibility while Nieto gives Colorado some reliable depth scoring and a player who is already familiar with playing there having previously spent parts of four seasons with the Avs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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