- Missing the team’s last four games with an upper-body injury, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield is set to return tonight according to the Hurricanes’ Editorial Content Producer, Walt Ruff. Chatfield has been solid for Carolina this season, scoring five goals and 14 points in 49 games, while holding a strong CorsiFor% of 58.4%.
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Hurricanes Rumors
Hurricanes Notes: Necas, Rees, Webber
While the Hurricanes might not be shopping forward Martin Necas, it doesn’t appear as if they’re hanging up the phone either when teams call about him. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the team has made it known that they’re willing to listen on the 25-year-old. Necas had a breakout year last season with 71 points in 82 games and has followed that up with 42 points in 53 games so far this season.
While that’s not the type of player that they should even be listening to offers on while they’re sitting comfortably in a playoff spot, it’s worth noting that Necas will be a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility. He’ll be owed a $3.5MM qualifying offer and could push for close to double that much; if they’ve determined they can’t afford him for next season, then they could decide that moving him now would yield the most value. Of course, if they did so, they’d also have a big hole to fill in their top six.
More from Carolina:
- The Hurricanes have re-assigned forward Jamieson Rees from AHL Springfield to Charlotte, per a team release from the Checkers. Carolina doesn’t have its own affiliate this season and Rees had been quite limited with Springfield where he had just three assists in 30 games after putting up 42 points in 65 games last season. The 23-year-old is in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights this summer.
- Prospect defenseman Cade Webber is in the final season of his college career and has to sign with Carolina by August 15th or become an unrestricted free agent. According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link), the 23-year-old is leaning toward the latter option of the two. The 6’7 Webber was a fourth-round pick by the Hurricanes back in 2019 (99th overall) and while his offensive game is quite limited) he has just one goal in his four seasons with Boston University, he’s leading Division I in blocks with 107 and is a true stay-at-home shutdown type of defender.
Jalen Chatfield Remains Out Sunday
- Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield is absent from tonight’s ongoing contest against the Sabres with an upper-body injury, according to the NHL’s roster report. Chatfield remains listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and has now missed his fourth straight contest. The 27-year-old Michigan native last suited up on Feb. 17 against the Golden Knights, and Carolina is 2-1-0 in his absence. The rock-steady bottom-pairing defender has five goals and 14 points in 49 games this season while averaging a career-high 14:52 per game. In line with the rest of the team, the undrafted free agent has a strong 59.3% Corsi share at even strength, tracking similarly to his previous two seasons in Raleigh. Chatfield is in the back half of a two-year, $1.525MM extension and will be a UFA this summer.
Frederik Andersen Expected To Return Within 2 Weeks
Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen is expected to return to play within one to two weeks after missing most of the season with blood clotting issues, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Wednesday.
Andersen, 34, last played in a 2-1 loss to the Rangers on Nov. 2. Four days later, GM Don Waddell announced the Dane would be out indefinitely after medical tests uncovered the clotting problems.
Team doctors then cleared him to resume “limited on-ice conditioning” at the end of January, ending a nearly three-month recovery period. Waddell also confirmed that Andersen’s clotting issues stemmed from a deep-vein thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolism, which is life-threatening without emergency care.
The Hurricanes did not issue a timeline for Andersen’s return, but he’s steadily ramped up his conditioning over the past few weeks. He was far enough in his recovery to face shots from teammates in the starter’s crease during Monday’s practice as a fill-in for de facto starter Pyotr Kochetkov, who was taking a maintenance day.
The updated return timeline should allow Andersen to start at least one game before the March 8 trade deadline, which could further dissuade Waddell from acquiring another veteran netminder to supplant the struggling Antti Raanta (12-7-2, .872 SV%) in the backup role. Waiver claim Spencer Martin has helped alleviate Carolina’s goaltending concerns in limited action, posting a .920 SV%, 2.00 GAA, and 3-0-0 record in three starts.
Kochetkov, 24, has rebounded nicely after a slow start and is now up to a .905 SV% on the season with two shutouts. He’s started the most games out of any Hurricanes netminder this year with 26 and two relief appearances. However, his poor showings in limited playoff action (5 GP, 1 GS, 1-3-0, .858 SV%) likely give Waddell pause about entering the postseason with him as the only starting option.
Andersen’s .894 SV% through the campaign’s first month is far from impressive, but it’s easy to give the two-time Jennings Trophy winner the benefit of the doubt. He’s two years removed from a spectacular 2021-22 campaign with Carolina that saw him fall just short of a Vezina nomination, and he was excellent in nine playoff games last year to help backstop the Hurricanes to an Eastern Conference Final showing with a .927 SV% and 1.83 GAA. A healthy version of Andersen changes the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup aspirations dramatically, and they’d ideally like to get him into game action as soon as possible to assess his readiness before leveraging Raanta or Martin at the deadline for a minor depth upgrade in the crease.
Frederik Andersen A Full Participant In Practice
- Working his way back from a blood clot scare that has kept him out of the lineup since early November, Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was able to see shots today in practice. According to Walt Ruff of the Hurricanes, Andersen is not quite ready to return, but it was undoubtedly positive that he was able to participate in practice. With the team now less desperate for goaltending help with a strong stretch from Pyotr Kochetkov, it will nevertheless be a positive to see Andersen make his return to the ice.
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DeAngelo Hasn't Requested A Trade Despite Limited Playing Time
Tony DeAngelo’s second stint with the Hurricanes hasn’t gone as planned. After being a key contributor his first time around, the 28-year-old has been a frequent healthy scratch this season. However, Cory Lavalette notes in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link) that he hasn’t asked for a trade from the team. DeAngelo has played in just 23 games so far this season, notching two goals and seven assists while averaging a career-low 14:12 per contest. Just last season, DeAngelo had 42 points with Philadelphia after putting up 51 with Carolina the year before. On an affordable $1.675MM contract, Carolina may move DeAngelo to give him a shot to play regular minutes elsewhere although they’d either need to get a depth defender in return or have a trade in place to acquire a replacement soon after.
Metropolitan Notes: Pesce, Schmid, Foerster, Ristolainen
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.
Carolina Hurricanes Announce Multiple Injury Updates
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta will likely miss “at least a couple weeks” with a lower-body injury, per head coach Rod Brind’Amour. Raanta is in the midst of a tremulous season that’s seen him placed on waivers, play two AHL games, and record a .872 save percentage in 24 NHL games. But he’s remained a pivotal piece of the Hurricanes lineup, playing in just one fewer game than the team’s de facto starter Pyotr Kochetkov, largely thanks to the string of injuries facing the Hurricanes crease.
Raanta, 34, is facing the worst save percentage of his NHL career this season – with his last save percentage below .900 coming in his rookie season in 2013-14. His 11-year career has been marred by injuries, with Raanta only appearing in more than 30 games in one season just three times. The inconsistent health has limited him to being a career backup, despite posting 139 wins and a .915 save percentage in 277 career games. This includes his 2017-18 season when Raanta posted a .930 save percentage and 21 wins through 47 games with the Arizona Coyotes.
The Carolina Hurricanes have also shared that defenseman Brett Pesce is questionable for the team’s Saturday night game against the New Jersey Devils due to illness, per team reporter Walt Ruff. That could give way for Tony DeAngelo to make his way into the lineup. The 28-year-old DeAngelo has appeared in 22 games this season and scored nine points – a far step down from his usual productivity. The team will also be getting star winger Andrei Svechnikov back on Saturday, though, with the 23-year-old making his return after missing the last six games with an upper-body injury. Svechnikov has 30 points through 29 games this season, making him just one of two Hurricanes players scoring at a point-per-game pace.
Antti Raanta Leaves Thursday's Game With Lower-Body Injury
- After coming into tonight’s game in relief of Pyotr Kochetkov, Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta suffered a lower-body injury, per a team announcement (Twitter link). Raanta made nine saves in his lone period of work. It has been a rough year for the 34-year-old who had a save percentage of just .870 coming into tonight’s action and cleared waivers back in December.
East Notes: Hughes, Toffoli, Svechnikov, Lockwood
Devils center Jack Hughes will be activated from injured reserve and return to the lineup Thursday against the Flames, he told reporters, including the team’s own Amanda Stein. The 22-year-old had been out since Jan. 5 with an upper-body injury.
Hughes took line rushes with Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Holtz in this morning’s skate, but he may have different linemates against Calgary, said head coach Lindy Ruff. Toffoli is also expected to draw back into the lineup tonight after missing the team’s win over the Avalanche on Tuesday with an illness.
The 2019 first-overall pick continues to be New Jersey’s most dominant offensive force and leads the team with 1.41 points per game. He’s missed over 30% of the Devils’ games with injuries this season, though, although his 30 assists and 45 points still rank second on the team behind leading scorer Jesper Bratt.
A healthy Hughes for the rest of the season is one of the Devils’ biggest keys to clinching back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since 2009 and 2010. They sit five points back of the Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference but have two games in hand.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference on Thursday:
- Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov has been upgraded to being a game-time decision Thursday against the Avalanche, per the team’s Walt Ruff. He has yet to practice in a full-contact jersey since sustaining an upper-body injury on Jan. 21 but has remained day-to-day throughout the recovery process. Injuries have limited the high-flying Russian to 29 games on the year, but he’s managed to push through multiple disruptions to post the first point-per-game season of his career with 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points.
- Panthers winger William Lockwood remains out with a concussion and won’t return to the lineup Thursday against the Capitals, head coach Paul Maurice said (via the team’s Jameson Olive). Lockwood, 25, has not played since sustaining the concussion in a collision with Wild netminder Marc-André Fleury in a game on Jan. 20. Lockwood earned a three-game suspension on the play, which has long since been satisfied. He has a lone assist in 23 games with the Panthers this season, his first in Florida.