- Carolina Hurricanes defensive prospect Anttoni Honka has been loaned to JYP Jyväskylä of the Finnish Liiga, the club he’s played almost all of his 205-game Liiga career with. The 23-year-old 2019 third-round pick was originally slated to play ECHL hockey with the Norfolk Admirals, but rather than play third-tier hockey in North America he appears to have chosen to return to Finland’s top league. Since the Hurricanes currently do not have an AHL affiliate, the team has struggled to find places in the AHL for its prospects to develop. Honka joins 2020 41st overall pick Noel Gunler as Hurricanes prospects originally sent to the ECHL who have instead elected to continue their development in Europe.
Hurricanes Rumors
Hurricanes Prospect Noel Gunler Linked To Finnish League
When Carolina assigned Noel Gunler to the ECHL earlier this month, it felt like it was an untenable situation. The Hurricanes don’t have an AHL affiliate and having one of their better prospects playing down a level is hardly ideal. Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Gunler was likely to play in Sweden this season.
However, it appears that this is now unlikely to be the case. SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the Hurricanes weren’t able to reach a loan agreement with an SHL team. Instead, Gunler is expected to be going to Finland to play for Karpat Oulu.
It’s a bit surprising that no SHL team could work something out for Gunler as the 22-year-old came up in Lulea’s system and also spent time with Brynas as recently as the 2021-22 campaign where he had 23 points in 52 games. Speculatively, the fact that Carolina would retain the rights to recall him might have played a role but adding a promising young player to the lineup is still generally worth doing, even if you wind up losing him to a recall at some point.
Gunler is in the second season of his entry-level deal and has had a bit of a nomadic journey since being picked in the second round in 2020. Since then, he has played a full season in Sweden split between two teams, a half year in Sweden that also gave him some AHL action, and last season, he had 18 points in 31 games with AHL Chicago. Now, it appears he’ll be off to Finland, further continuing that trend.
Ryan Suzuki, Vasily Ponomarev Not Close To Returning
TSN’s Gord Miller quips that Letang has been a “gold medal magnet” in recent years, leading Canada to gold at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this August and serving as an assistant coach for the championship-winning Canadians at the 2020 and 2023 World Junior Championship. Pete Anholt has served as the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ general manager since 2015. He also served as a head coach in the WHL for 15 seasons between 1989 and 2007.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have shared an update on Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki’s injuries, with head coach Rod Brind’Amour saying that both players are, “still a ways away.” Suzuki is recovering from a shoulder injury, while Ponomarev is nursing a knee injury.
Hurricanes Not Shopping Any Defenseman
Adrian Dater wrote on X today that the Colorado Avalanche and Devon Toews have made some progress toward a contract extension for the pending free-agent defenseman, but he is hearing that they aren’t nearing a deal yet. Dater added that he isn’t sure if Toews will negotiate into the regular season, but his sense is that both sides will continue talking.
Toews has been widely regarded as one of the NHL’s best bargains over the last few seasons since joining the Avalanche in 2020. He is in the final season of a four-year contract that carries an AAV of $4.1MM and could come close to doubling his cap hit on a long-term deal. The 29-year-old has posted 29 goals and 109 assists in 199 games as a member of the Avalanche and has received Norris Trophy consideration in each of the past three seasons.
In other evening notes:
- Cory Lavalette of The Athletic tweeted today that Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Don Waddell has said that the team is not actively shopping any of their defensemen. The Hurricanes currently have four defensemen who are pending unrestricted free agents in Tony DeAngelo, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, and Jalen Chatfield, and appear uninterested in moving out any of their depth. While Waddell said the team isn’t actively trying to move out anyone, he didn’t close the door on a trade should a team come along with a good offer for one of the team’s rearguards.
- Mark Divver of NHL.com is reporting that the Providence Bruins have signed 20-year-old undrafted center Adam Mechura to a two-year AHL contract. The native of Pisek, Czech Republic played for the Bruins at the Prospects Challenge before he was invited to the Providence training camp. The 6’4” 208-pounder spent last season in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans where he posted 26 goals and 26 assists in 58 games. The Bruins are looking for creative ways to build depth after spending many years moving out future assets, with this move they essentially get a young player with size into their AHL lineup without giving up an asset.
Noel Gunler Reportedly Will Play 2023-24 In Sweden
- According to a report from SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, Carolina Hurricanes prospect Noel Gunler will return to Sweden for the 2023-24 season. Gunler was loaned to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals earlier this week, but could end up instead loaned overseas where he has played most of his pro career. Seeing as Gunler scored eight goals and 18 points in just 31 AHL games last season, there has been some belief that his development would not be best served by playing in the ECHL. Since the Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate of their own, the only option for Gunler to play in the AHL would be on loan to another AHL franchise. Since premium offensive roles in the AHL are typically reserved for proven AHL veterans or prized prospects of a team’s NHL affiliate, it would be no surprise if the Hurricanes struggled to find a suitable landing spot for Gunler. As a result, if this report out of Sweden is to be believed, Gunler will end up playing 2023-24 in the SHL rather than the ECHL.
Andrei Svechnikov Will Not Play Season Opener
- The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette reports that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov remains in a yellow non-contact jersey, and as a result, is presumably out for tomorrow’s season-opening game. Svechnikov is still working his way back from a torn ACL that cut his 2022-23 season short. When healthy, he’s among the Hurricanes’ best players, and last season was on pace to score a career-high 70 points.
Avalanche Acquire Caleb Jones From Hurricanes
Defenseman Caleb Jones is headed from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for minor-league forward Callahan Burke, per a team announcement. Burke will remain on loan from Carolina to AHL Colorado, as the Hurricanes are without an AHL affiliate for this season. The trade comes after the Hurricanes had also loaned Jones to AHL Colorado earlier this week, but they’ve now transferred his NHL rights to Colorado too.
Jones signed a one-year, league-minimum deal with the Hurricanes this offseason but failed to make a dent in their defensive depth chart and did not earn a spot on head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s season-opening roster.
While he would have served as capable depth for the Hurricanes, it does appear that he has a stronger opportunity to make it back to the NHL (where he spent the entirety of 2022-23) in Colorado.
Since the Avalanche now consider Kurtis MacDermid a forward, the club is only carrying six defensemen on its opening-night roster.
Veteran Jack Johnson is currently slated to be the team’s third-pairing left-shot defenseman. He only played in 25 games last season, though, and at 36 years old the question of whether he’ll be able to keep up with the pace of the NHL for a full season is a fair one. Now that his NHL rights belong to Colorado, Jones has a clearer path back to the NHL.
For Carolina, this move accomplishes two things. First and foremost, it’s a courtesy to a player who spent all of last season in the NHL, as this move as mentioned provides Jones a stronger chance of cracking an NHL lineup.
Beyond that, while this trade doesn’t make any impact on the Hurricanes’ salary cap picture, it does save them quite a bit of actual cash.
Jones was signed to a one-way deal, meaning he is slated to be paid $775k this season, regardless of if he plays in the NHL or AHL. Burke, on the other hand, is on a two-way deal that owes him $125k at the AHL level.
So assuming Burke ends up playing the whole season with the Colorado Eagles, this move could end up saving the Hurricanes $650,000 in cash.
That’s not to say Burke won’t find his way to Carolina this season, in all fairness to him. Now 26, Burke is a capable player, having scored 39 points in the AHL last season. He even made his NHL debut for the Avalanche last season as well.
But a recall does have to be considered somewhat unlikely. In the case of injuries on Carolina’s NHL roster, the Organization could very well prefer to recall a player the Hurricanes have a longstanding investment in such as Jamieson Rees, rather than Burke.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Hurricanes Assign Coghlan, Three Others To Minor Leagues
The Carolina Hurricanes have made their final roster cuts, assigning seven players to various leagues or injury designation. Dylan Coghlan (Springfield), Caleb Jones (Colorado), and Pyotr Kochetkov (Syracuse) have been assigned to various teams in the AHL. Domenick Fensore has been sent to Norfolk of the ECHL. 2023 Draft prospect Felix Unger Sorum was sent back to Leksands in Sweden. And Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki were assigned to the team’s injured non-roster list. The final Hurricanes lineup can be viewed here.
The process of assigning players to the minor leagues has been a tricky one for Carolina, who are without an AHL affiliate for the season after the Chicago Wolves opted to go independent. This has meant that every player Carolina wants to assign to the AHL must be loaned out, explaining why Coghlan, Jones, and Kochetkov were dispersed.
Unger Sorum was an exciting name to follow throughout Carolina’s training camp. The winger was just barely eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft, being born a day before the cutoff. That means that he only turned 18 on September 14th. And yet he was able to carve out a significant role for much of the team’s camp, even earning speculation over whether he was ready to join the NHL lineup. Instead, he becomes one of their final roster cuts and will rejoin Leksands in Sweden. Unger Sorum primarily played for Leksands’ U20 team last year, appearing in 42 games and recording 46 points. He also played in seven SHL games, although he didn’t manage to record any points. The 2023 second-round pick will be an exciting international name for Canes fans to follow throughout the 2022-23 campaign.
Waivers: 10/08/23
Oct. 9: Four players on this list were claimed today: A.J. Greer (Calgary), John Ludvig (Pittsburgh), Ivan Prosvetov (Colorado), and Lassi Thomson (Ottawa). All others have cleared and are expected to be assigned to their team’s respective AHL affiliates, aside from Boyd, who PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports remains on the Coyotes’ active roster for now.
Oct. 8: It’s expected to be a busy day on the waiver wire, as NHL teams are making their final adjustments to the roster they’ll bring into the start of the 2023-24 season. There have already been numerous notable names exposed to the waiver wire thus far this preseason, and that list could only expand today. All players from yesterday’s waiver wire have cleared.
Anaheim Ducks
D Lassi Thomson
G Alex Stalock
F Andrew Agozzino
Boston Bruins
Arizona Coyotes
F Travis Boyd
F Zach Sanford
G Ivan Prosvetov
Carolina Hurricanes
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Edmonton Oilers
F Raphael Lavoie
F Lane Pederson
D Ben Gleason
Florida Panthers
F Zac Dalpe
D John Ludvig
D Casey Fitzgerald
Los Angeles Kings
Montreal Canadiens
F Joel Armia
D Gustav Lindström
Ottawa Senators
Pittsburgh Penguins
G Magnus Hellberg
F Colin White
D Mark Friedman
F Vinnie Hinostroza
F Radim Zohorna
St. Louis Blues
F Mackenzie MacEachern
D Calle Rosen
G Malcolm Subban
F Nathan Walker
Tampa Bay Lightning
D Zach Bogosian
F Gabriel Fortier
Toronto Maple Leafs
G Martin Jones
F Kyle Clifford
F Dylan Gambrell
D William Lagesson
D Maxime Lajoie
Vancouver Canucks
F Jack Studnicka
D Christian Wolanin
Vegas Golden Knights
Winnipeg Jets
D Kyle Capobianco
G Collin Delia
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby
The big surprise here out of Arizona regards Boyd. The versatile 30-year-old veteran doesn’t have an exorbitant contract (just $1.75MM through the end of the season) and has scored 69 points across the last two seasons.
He’s been something of a breakout player for the Coyotes as his 17-goal, 35-point 2022-23 was far and away his best season in his career, so it’s definitely a surprise to see him exposed on waivers.
For Anaheim, the move to waive Stalock likely means that Lukáš Dostál has won the Ducks’ backup goalie job behind John Gibson, as should Stalock clear the Ducks will have the option to send him down to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
In Edmonton, it comes as a little bit of a surprise to see Lavioe waived. The 23-year-old power forward was drafted just outside of the 2019 first round, and took a real step forward in his development last season. He became a genuinely impactful AHLer, scoring 25 goals and 45 points. He’s a name to watch in terms of players with the potential to be claimed out of this group.
Anderson-Dolan finally made the NHL on an extended basis last season, and scored 12 points in 46 games. He even got some playoff action under his belt, but seeing as he was a near-point-per-game scorer in his last season in the AHL, it seems the Kings could prefer to have him start the season with the AHL’s Ontario Reign.
Rosen appears the likeliest candidate from the Blues’ group of waived players to be of interest to other teams, as he’s owed just a $762.5k cap hit this season and impressed in 49 games of NHL action last season. He scored 18 points in that span and could interest teams in need of some additional defensive help.
Out of Tampa is Bogosian, and it’s reported that the Lightning are hoping to put the veteran blueliner in a position to land on another team where he can play a bigger role than he’d be offered in Tampa. The 33-year-old won a Stanley Cup for the Lightning and it seems that the organization is looking to do right by the player while also turning to other options to staff their defense.
One of the biggest names on waivers comes out of Toronto, as Jones played in 48 games last season but now finds himself exposed to 31 other clubs. With an $875k cap hit, the veteran netminder could end up claimed by teams in need of instant goaltending support, such as the Lightning who don’t have much depth after the injury to superstar Andrei Vasilevskiy.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Carolina Hurricanes Expected To Loan Pyotr Kochetkov To Syracuse Crunch
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes has reported on X that the Carolina Hurricanes will loan netminder Pyotr Kochetkov to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, the top affiliate of the Hurricanes’ Eastern Conference rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The move comes in the wake of two significant events: the injury to Lightning superstar goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, as well as the move by the Hurricanes’ prior AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, to move forward as an independent AHL franchise.
The Wolves’ move has left the Hurricanes without an AHL affiliate of their own, and the result has been significant to the developmental pathways for Hurricanes prospects. A few prospects, some of whom are notably AHL-caliber players (such as Anttoni Honka and Noel Gunler) will be playing in the ECHL for 2023-24, while others such as Jamieson Rees have latched on with AHL clubs.
It has also complicated things for Hurricanes goaltending, as the team had previously been able to count on an AHL affiliate to provide starter-level opportunity for their organization’s third goalie.
Placing Kochetkov in Syracuse will allow Kochetkov to see regular game action, something he was unlikely to receive as a third goalie behind Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.
Making $2MM against the cap through 2026-27, the Hurricanes likely believe that the 24-year-old Kochetkov will be a long-term face in Carolina, so getting him the chance to continue his development in the AHL is an important step.
The Crunch are one of the AHL’s few remaining independently-owned franchises, and they have always prioritized a healthy balance between development and playing winning hockey.
As other AHL teams have jumped head-first into prioritizing development above all else, the Crunch have continuously attempted to field a contending roster, and the addition of Kochetkov will help them dramatically for the early part of the season.
The injury of Vasilevskiy may have a ripple effect on goaltending depth for the Lightning organization, as one of the goalies expected to see time with the Crunch, Matt Tomkins, is now in Tampa with the Lightning.
Getting Kochetkov will not only make it so the Crunch won’t have to rely on offseason signing Evan Fitzpatrick to start games, (he has just 13 AHL games on his resume) it will also land them one of the most talented goalies in the AHL, even if just for a limited time.
While it’s certainly not a common sight to see an NHL team loan a notable player to a rival team, this move is not without precedent. The St. Louis Blues once loaned netminder Jordan Binnington to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, just one year before Binnington defeated the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
Although it’s far from an ideal situation for the Hurricanes and Kochetkov, this move does have its benefits for all parties involved and it’ll be interesting to see how the Crunch split starts between Kochetkov and Hugo Alnefelt, a valued Tampa Bay prospect.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.