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Archives for February 2024

Senators Assign Zack MacEwen To AHL

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Feb. 13: MacEwen passed through waivers unclaimed, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. The team assigned him to AHL Belleville later on Tuesday.

Feb. 12: The Senators placed Zack MacEwen on waivers Monday, per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. This is the veteran grinder’s second time on the wire this season.

MacEwen, 27, is in his first season with the Senators after signing a three-year, $2.325MM deal in free agency. His $775K cap hit is fully buriable in the minors, where he’ll likely spend a significant amount of time during his tenure in Canada’s capital.

The waiver placement comes ahead of netminder Anton Forsberg’s pending return to action from a groin injury that’s kept him out for the last month, per Garrioch. Forsberg will likely dress Tuesday against the Blue Jackets, and the Senators need to clear $1.55MM in cap space to take him off long-term injured reserve. Assigning MacEwen to AHL Belleville, plus returning backup netminder Kevin Mandolese to Belleville from his emergency loan, will clear the necessary space.

MacEwen has played in 22 games with Ottawa, scoring twice and adding an assist while averaging 6:23 per game. He hasn’t been a significant defensive liability in his limited minutes, although his point-producing ability at the junior- and minor-league levels still hasn’t translated to the NHL.

Prior to landing on waivers, MacEwen was a healthy scratch in six of Ottawa’s last eight games, including five straight.

Maple Leafs To Recall Dennis Hildeby

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The Maple Leafs will recall rookie netminder Dennis Hildeby for the second time this season ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Blues, TSN’s Mark Masters reports. Backup Martin Jones is unavailable with an undisclosed injury after missing Monday’s practice.

That means Toronto needs to clear two roster spots in the next few hours – one to allow them to temporarily carry three goalies, and one to activate center David Kämpf off injured reserve. Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed Tuesday morning that Kämpf will return against St. Louis after missing three games with an undisclosed injury (via Masters).

To do so, the Maple Leafs will likely place defenseman Conor Timmins on injured reserve and return Maxime Lajoie to AHL Toronto from his emergency loan. Timmins, 25, is out indefinitely with mono, Keefe said Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Hildeby spent nine days on the Maple Leafs roster last month with Joseph Woll sidelined with a high ankle sprain and starter Ilya Samsonov on a short-term AHL assignment after a difficult start to the season. The 6-foot-7, 223-pound Swede is having a strong first professional season in North America, logging a .913 SV% and four shutouts in 24 AHL games, although he’s yet to make his NHL debut.

Jones, 34, stopped 27 of 31 shots faced in a 5-3 loss to the Senators on Saturday, ending a run of five straight starts for Samsonov. A pair of underwhelming showings now has Jones’ SV% on the year down to .908, although it’s still his best in six years. He’s started 16 games and made two relief appearances for Toronto this year in a third-string role behind the inconsistent Samsonov and the injured Woll, posting a 9-7-1 record and two shutouts.

Evgenii Dadonov Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Fracture

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Stars winger Evgenii Dadonov will miss “extended time” after undergoing imaging Monday that revealed a lower-body fracture, head coach Peter DeBoer said (via Stars radio host Owen Newkirk). Dadonov, 34, sustained the injury during the second period of Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Canadiens but later returned to the game, skating three shifts in the third period.

The 536-game NHL veteran has played in all but two games for the Stars this year, ranking ninth on the team in goals (12) and 11th in points (23) through 50 games. Once a top-six threat with the Panthers in the late 2010s, Dadonov has settled in nicely to a third-line role in Dallas and signed a two-year, $4.5MM extension to remain with the Stars after a pre-deadline acquisition from the Canadiens last season.

If the Stars expect him to miss over 10 games and 24 days, they can place him on long-term injured reserve and open up a significant chunk of cap space ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. Unless he’s projected to be out for the remainder of the regular season, though, they would need to keep some flexibility available to activate Dadonov when he’s ready to return.

While a decent complementary scoring piece, Dadonov’s two-way play at even strength has been middling. His expected -1.2 rating is the second-worst on the team, only ahead of shutdown specialist Jani Hakanpää.

Dadonov is only a few months removed from a strong postseason showing, recording four goals, 10 points, and a +5 rating in 16 contests with the Stars in their run to last year’s Western Conference Final. While spending most of his prime playing in his native Russia, he’s been a solid complementary piece with 301 points in 481 games since returning to the NHL with Florida in 2017.

Dallas has been one of the league’s healthiest teams, only utilizing 20 skaters this season. That’s meant 22-year-old Mavrik Bourque and 20-year-old Logan Stankoven, their pair of breakout prospects recording over a point per game with AHL Texas, have remained in the minor leagues all season long.

They aren’t going to immediately get a shot with Dadonov out – 2018 first-round pick Ty Dellandrea will get a chance to prove he can hold his own in a third-line role. If more injuries strike or if Dellandrea struggles, however, at least one of Bourque or Stankoven will make their NHL debuts in the coming weeks.

Snapshots: Pelletier, Guhle, Rempe, Romanov

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Rookie Calgary Flames forward Jakob Pelletier left the team’s Monday night game after receiving a hit from New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. Pelletier is being listed as sustaining an upper-body injury, though the hit seemed to specifically hit Pelletier’s left shoulder.

Pelletier started the season on season-opening injured reserve with a shoulder injury that required surgery. The injury has limited him to just eight games on the season – split evenly between the AHL and NHL. The 22-year-old winger has scored three points in the AHL and one point in the NHL on the year. Calgary acquired Pelletier in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft. He has become a popular name on the Flames, injecting a burst of speed and energy that’s been missing form the 25-23-5 Flames lineup.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle is expected to make his return to the lineup on Tuesday. The 22-year-old defenseman suffered an undisclosed injury on Sunday and was questionable to miss time. That won’t be the case, though, as Guhle will look to build on the four goals and 12 points he’s managed through 48 games this season.
  • The New York Rangers have sent down centerman Matt Rempe, who was recalled to the NHL roster for a few days of inactivity. The move is largely a paper transaction, likely to get Rempe experience with the NHL club and NHL payroll. The 21-year-old forward has eight goals, 12 points, and 96 penalty minutes in 43 AHL games this season. He ranks in the top 10 of the league, and leads the Hartford Wolf Pack, in penalty minutes.
  • New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov has returned to the team’s practices as a full participant after missing their Saturday game. Romanov, 24, has appeared in 51 games this season and averaged over 22 minutes of ice time each game. He’s managed five goals and 13 points – a slightly lower scoring pace than the 22 points he managed in 76 games last season, his first year with the Islanders.

Maple Leafs’ Conor Timmins Out Indefinitely With Mono

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Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins has contracted mono and is out indefinitely, head coach Sheldon Keefe tells team reporter David Alter. Timmins started the season out on season-opening injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury in a pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens. The absence held him out until late November. He’s since appeared in 16 games and scored six points.

Timmins is running into tough luck this season, again facing the likelihood of playing minimal games. The 25-year-old played in 27 games last year – the second-most he’s appeared in one NHL season. He scored two goals and 14 points, both career-highs, while also appearing in six AHL games and scoring three points. Timmins was originally drafted 32nd overall in the 2017 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. He kicked off a second round that featured plenty of current NHL talents, including Nicolas Hague, Jason Robertson, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. He made his NHL debut with Colorado in the 2019-20 season and played through his rookie season in 2020-21, scoring seven assists through 31 games. He didn’t score his first NHL goal until his 2022-23 season in Toronto.

Keefe also shared with Alter that Mark Giordano and David Kampf should make their return on Tuesday. This gives the team some relief in Timmins’ absence, though Giordano has managed just one goal and six points through 34 games this season. He’s averaging just 17 minutes of ice time each game, his lowest average since the 2008-09 season. The 40-year-old defenseman has amassed 1136 career NHL games and 574 career points.

Owen Power To Miss A “Few Games” With Upper-Body Injury

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Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power will miss the team’s Tuesday night game, per head coach Don Granato, who shares that the former first-overall pick could miss a few games. Power left the team’s Monday practice with an apparent hand injury and isn’t expected to be out long-term.

Power becomes the third impact player to suffer injury recently, with Buffalo also set to be without Mattias Samuelsson for the remainder of the season and Jack Quinn for the next eight weeks. Power plays the biggest role of the trio, averaging over 22 minutes a game through 51 games this season. He’s scored two goals and 18 points, a step down in his scoring pace from last season when he totaled 35 points in 79 games. The 21-year-old is in his second full NHL season since being drafted with the top selection in the 2021 NHL Draft. He’s totaled 138 career games and 56 points – ranked third in his draft class in career games behind Cole Sillinger and J.J. Moser.

Power’s absence will likely open space for rookie Ryan Johnson to take on an expanded role. Johnson was the Sabres first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut this season – playing in a total of 32 games and recording six assists. It’s Johnson’s first season of professional hockey, with the 22-year-old also tallying four assists in nine AHL games this season. He’s still searching for his first professional goal – though scoring goals has never been his forte, as he totaled just nine goals across four seasons and 143 games with the University of Minnesota. Jacob Bryson will also benefit from Power’s absence. The 26-year-old has appeared in just five NHL games this season and is still searching through his first point of the year.

Vegas Golden Knights Announce Multiple Roster Moves

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The Vegas Golden Knights have activated defenseman Ben Hutton off of injured reserve ahead of their Monday night loss to the Minnesota Wild. Hutton served as a healthy scratch for the outing, but he’s now poised to make his return from an upper-body injury that had him designated as week-to-week. The Golden Knights have also moved forward Pavel Dorofeyev onto injured reserve with an upper-body injury that’s held him out of Vegas’ last four games. No update was provided on Dorofeyev’s timeline, though the team has recalled forward Sheldon Rempal, as well as goaltender Jiri Patera, for additional depth. Both recalls were made to address illness on Monday, with Rempal filling in for Paul Cotter and Patera filling in for Logan Thompson.

Vegas swaps out a depth forward and a depth defenseman with their IR moves. Hutton has played in 31 games on a bottom-pair role this season, scoring one goal and nine points – one point more than he recorded in as many games last year. Dorofeyev has found similar success, scoring 14 points, split evenly, through 29 games in Vegas’ bottom six. It’s Dorofeyev’s official rookie season, though he did appear in 20 NHL games prior to this season. He’s up to 23 points across 49 career NHL games.

To help mend the lineup in the face of injury, the Golden Knights bring up two players who have each played in five NHL games this season. Forward Rempal has scored two goals in his outings, appearing in some of the first NHL games of his career. He currently ranks second on the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights in scoring, with 21 goals and 33 points through 43 games. Goaltender Patera will be approaching this call-up looking for more, setting a 1-3 record and .901 save percentage this season. Patera is also a rookie, with his only NHL experience prior to this season coming through just two games last year. He’s served as Henderson’s starter when he’s in the minors, recording seven wins and a .903 save percentage in 17 games.

Central Notes: MacKinnon, Bedard, Gustafsson, Plandowski

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Colorado Avalanche announcer Conor McGahey tweeted that Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is okay after hitting his face on the ice on Saturday night in a game against the Florida Panthers. The 28-year-old superstar didn’t practice today due to a different minor tweak, but the team is hopeful that he’ll be able to play tomorrow night against the Washington Capitals.

MacKinnon is currently second in NHL scoring with 32 goals and 53 assists in 53 games but has been held pointless in three straight games.

In other Central Division notes:

  • Chicago Sun-Times reporter Ben Pope tweeted that the Chicago Blackhawks expect to get rookie phenom Connor Bedard back into the lineup next week. Bedard has a final imaging appointment a week from today and if the appointment goes well Bedard could be back into action by the middle of next week. Bedard’s return will be a welcome development for himself and the Blackhawks as the 18-year-old hasn’t played since January 5th and has 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this season.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have activated forward David Gustafsson off the injured reserve and loaned him to their AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose for conditioning purposes. The 23-year-old has missed the previous 18 games with a lower-body injury and hasn’t dressed since December 22nd. He has just two assists in his last 21 games and hasn’t scored a goal since October 30th. In 27 games this season the native of Tingsryd, Sweden has just two goals and two assists.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have extended the contract of Director of Amateur Scouting Darryl Plandowski. No terms of the deal were released, but the extension will keep Plandowski with the Coyotes for the foreseeable future. Plandowski was a big part of the Tampa Bay Lightning as he spent 12 years with the organization and was part of the club during their two Stanley Cup championships. He worked his way through the Lightning organization into the role of Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting before eventually joining Arizona in 2020.

Metropolitan Notes: Pesce, Schmid, Foerster, Ristolainen

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Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff writes that Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to team practice after missing the last two games with an illness. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since last Tuesday and is mired in a seven-game point drought in what has been a disappointing offensive season for the pending unrestricted free agent. Pesce has just three goals and four assists in 41 games after posting a career-high 30 points last season in 82 games. His defensive metrics are still fantastic as Pesce remains the Hurricanes’ best option for the difficult defensive matchups against elite competition.

Pesce could suit up tomorrow night when the Hurricanes travel to Dallas to take on the Stars in their first of three games on the road. Carolina currently sits second in the Metropolitan Division with a 30-16-5 record and has begun to pull away from the teams behind them as they are 7-3 in their last ten games.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Akira Schmid from the Utica Comets of the AHL. Schmid dressed in 15 games for the Devils earlier in the season but struggled to hold onto an NHL job with a 5-7-1 record, a 3.26 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage. Schmid will serve as the likely backup to Nico Daws while Vitek Vanecek is sidelined due to a lower-body injury. Schmid was assigned to the AHL a month ago and has struggled in 12 games going 3-5-4 with an .885 save percentage and a 3.58 goals-against average.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are dealing with a couple of minor injuries as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Tyson Foerster will be sidelined until at least the weekend. Ristolainen has an upper-body injury and Flyers GM Daniel Briere is hoping he will be back by the weekend. Foerster has a lower-body injury and Briere is also hoping he can play this weekend as well. Ristolainen has struggled this season and has just a goal and three assists in 31 games while Foerster has posted career highs with 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games. The Flyers take on the Devils in the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday night.

Penguins Notes: Letang, Harkins, Malkin

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Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang left practice today for what is being described as precautionary reasons. Not much else is known about the 36-year-old’s status, but head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that Letang is banged up a little bit.

Letang could be dealing with a nagging issue as his play has slipped as of late. He has just a single point in his last seven games despite having been elevated to the team’s top power-play unit in place of Erik Karlsson. Overall, he is having one of the finest seasons of his career with four goals and 26 assists in 49 games while playing some of his best defensive hockey. He has flourished in a different role this season even if his play has trailed off as of late.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Rorabaugh is also reporting that Penguins forward Jansen Harkins has been placed on the injured reserve with a concussion. The 26-year-old had become a regular on the Penguins fourth line alongside veterans Noel Acciari and Jeff Carter and had been taking much of the team’s defensive zone starts in recent weeks. Harkins has been okay in a depth role for the Penguins, although he hasn’t provided much in the way of offense with just four assists in 34 games this season. No word yet on a timeline for Harkin’s return but he will presumably miss the Penguins games this week.
  • Rorabaugh has also reported that Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin had a maintenance day today and did not practice with his teammates. The 37-year-old skated briefly in a sweatsuit before the team’s practice while he was monitored by Penguins medical staff. Malkin hasn’t been himself this season as it appears the aging curve has started to catch up with the former Hart Trophy winner. In the last ten games, Malkin has struggled with just a single goal, and this is the second maintenance day he has received in the last few weeks leading to speculation that he could be dealing with a nagging injury of his own.

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