Florida Panthers Recall Grigori Denisenko
After waiving Zac Dalpe over the weekend, the Florida Panthers have replaced him on the roster with Grigori Denisenko. The young forward is expected to play with Eetu Luostarinen and Nick Cousins this afternoon when the Panthers take on the Buffalo Sabres.
Denisenko, 22, was the 15th overall pick in 2018 but still hasn’t done anything to establish himself at the NHL level. In 14 career games, spread across parts of three seasons, the Russian winger has failed to score a single goal and has just five points for his troubles.
Even in the minor leagues things haven’t gone according to plan. Denisenko has just 18 points in 32 games with the Charlotte Checkers this season, the same total he had in 2021-22.
There’s still time for him to find a place in Florida, but the high hopes that followed his draft year have fizzled out. Instead of a top-line player, the Panthers will have to hope they can just coax an NHL regular out of Denisenko. Perhaps that starts today with this latest recall, though with Anthony Duclair set to return relatively soon, it may not be an extended one.
Florida is going to need to make some additional roster moves to fit in Duclair’s salary, and Denisenko’s waiver-exempt status makes him a ripe option to be sent back down when they need the room.
Panthers Waive Zac Dalpe
Jan 15, 1:14 pm: Dalpe cleared waivers today, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Florida is clear to assign the minor-league veteran to AHL Charlotte.
Jan 14, 1:06 pm: The Panthers have made a roster move in advance of their game tonight against Vancouver as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that they’ve placed center Zac Dalpe on waivers.
The 33-year-old has been up with Florida since December 6th and has gotten into 11 games with the Panthers, putting up respectable numbers in a limited role as he has two goals and two assists in that stretch despite averaging just 9:31 per night of ice time on the fourth line. However, he has been a healthy scratch in seven of their last eight games. He has seen NHL action in 12 of the last 13 seasons although he has just 165 career appearances under his belt.
While Dalpe has already cleared waivers this season, the fact he has been up for more than a month and gotten into more than ten games means that he will need to pass through them again to make it back to the AHL.
That shouldn’t be too much of a risk for Florida as Dalpe has cleared waivers seven times throughout his career while only being claimed once (by Columbus back in 2017). He has been a strong scorer in the minors for several seasons now and was off to a good start with AHL Charlotte prior to the recall, notching ten goals and five assists in 19 games with the Checkers. Teams will have until 1 PM CT on Sunday to place a claim on Dalpe, who’s in the second and final season of a two-year, two-way deal that carries a $750K cap hit.
Anthony Duclair Joins Panthers Practice
The Florida Panthers had a nice bonus at practice today when Anthony Duclair joined the group, albeit in a non-contact sweater. The injured forward is coming back from an Achilles tear last summer, and finally getting closer to getting back into game action. Head coach Paul Maurice spoke with reporters including David Dwork of WPLG Local 10, explaining that the timeline.
Maurice went on to explain that as soon as he is fully healthy, Duclair will go right back into the lineup, even if there is some rust on his game. Of course, to activate him the Panthers will need to make some other transactions, as some of his $3MM in cap space is currently being used while he is on long-term injured reserve. Duclair had 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games last season.
Florida Panthers Loan Matt Kiersted To AHL
The Florida Panthers have loaned defenseman Matt Kiersted to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. This move comes just after the team claimed another blueliner, Casey Fitzgerald, off of waivers.
The Panthers needed to clear space on their roster to fit Fitzgerald into the mix, so Kiersted is the odd man out, his departure to the AHL leaving the Panthers once again with seven defenders on their roster.
Kiersted, 24, is an undrafted player who began his professional career in 2020-21 after a long, fruitful collegiate career at the University of North Dakota. Kiersted got a seven-game trial with the Panthers after signing from College, and spent most of last season at the AHL level.
In the AHL, Kiersted scored 20 points in 63 games, and added 64 penalty minutes as well. His performance earned him 10 NHL games that season, and he managed to score his first NHL goal.
This year, Kiersted has split time between the NHL and AHL levels. In the AHL, Kiersted has registered 12 games played and scored one point. Kiersted has played in a top-four role in the AHL, including time killing penalties, but hasn’t managed to seize a major role in the NHL. For the Panthers, Kiersted is averaging under 10 minutes of ice time per night, and virtually no time on the team’s special teams units.
With this loan, Fitzgerald will now get a chance to impress on the Panthers’ roster while Kiersted will look to put forth a solid stretch of appearances in Charlotte.
Rangers Claim Jake Leschyshyn; Panthers Claim Casey Fitzgerald
The New York Rangers are the team willing to take a chance on Jake Leschyshyn, claiming him off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The young forward was waived yesterday after failing to record a single point this season. They aren’t the only team nabbing a new player though. Casey Fitzgerald has been claimed by the Florida Panthers, meaning he’s leaving the Buffalo Sabres, the only organization he’s ever been a part of.
Leschyshyn, 23, is better than he has shown for the Golden Knights this season, but the fact was that he hadn’t produced any offense despite regular (albeit limited) playing time. Selected 62nd overall in 2017, the Rangers likely have confidence that they can get him back closer to the player that put up 27 points in 34 games for the Henderson Silver Knights last season. A versatile forward who can be good defensively, engage physically and play both center and wing, he doesn’t need to produce a ton to be valuable. He does have to produce some though, which will ultimately decide whether he stays in the Rangers lineup for long.
Fitzgerald’s loss is a critical one for the Sabres. As referenced yesterday, when he was placed on waivers, Buffalo has some of the thinnest organizational depth in the league on defense. With today’s loss, they are now tied with Seattle for the fewest defensemen under NHL contracts with 11. Should the team run into any injuries, they would quickly run into a tricky situation in terms of available call-ups. With the team legitimately challenging for a playoff spot, that may end up being an area of focus at the trade deadline.
For Florida though, Fitzgerald is a nice solution. In early December, we wrote that defensive depth was a serious need, as the coaching staff didn’t seem comfortable icing the bottom pair for more than a few minutes a game. Matt Kiersted, for instance, is averaging just 9:51 in his 20 appearances. Fitzgerald, who has played 59 games over the last two seasons with Buffalo, gives them another option there, perhaps one that can gain some trust.
It wouldn’t be the first time a waiver claim did well on the Panthers blue line. Gustav Forsling, who now logs more than 24 minutes a night, was claimed almost exactly two years ago and has lived up to the potential.
Florida Panthers Place Spencer Knight On Injured Reserve
Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight is headed for injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, as reported by Florida Hockey Now’s Colby Guy. The team also announced Tuesday afternoon that they recalled Alex Lyon from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers to replace Knight on the active roster.
In a highly disappointing season for the Panthers, the play of the 21-year-old Knight has been a bright spot. He’s been markedly better than Sergei Bobrovsky, maintaining a 9-7-3 record despite the team’s record being below .500. Knight’s .906 save percentage is also more than 10 points higher than Bobrovsky’s .895 mark.
Based on the team’s messaging, it’s unclear how long we can expect Knight to stay on injured reserve. The only information head coach Paul Maurice gave today was that Knight isn’t “100 percent” and that the team will “get him checked out.”
In the meantime, expect the Panthers to do everything they can to get their $10MM man in Bobrovsky back on track. He’s been largely inconsistent throughout his mega-contract with Florida, but he showed signs of life last season. Unfortunately for the Panthers, he hasn’t been able to make it two strong seasons in a row.
Lyon, 30, remains among the better veteran third-string options in hockey. A defending Calder Cup champion with the Chicago Wolves, Lyon also brings 24 games of NHL experience to the Panthers bench. He has a .909 save percentage and a 9-8-2 record with Charlotte this season.
Florida Panthers Recall Chris Tierney
After sending him down a few days back, the Florida Panthers recalled forward Chris Tierney today from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, according to a team tweet.
The 28-year-old veteran of more than 500 NHL games joined the Panthers this past offseason, somewhat surprisingly, on a two-way deal. His offensive production had trailed off throughout his four seasons with the Ottawa Senators, and he couldn’t crack the team out of training camp through a deep Panthers offensive lineup.
That’s led to Tierney not being a full-time NHLer for the first time since 2014-15, his first professional season. Even then, he was point-per-game in the AHL and played the majority of his games that season in the NHL.
Tierney has done well in the minors, recording 16 points in 20 games, but scored just three goals. Things have seemed to go better than expected for him in Sunrise, though, as he has three points through his meager five NHL appearances this season. It’s especially impressive given his minimal usage, as he’s played under eight minutes per game with Florida.
It’s unclear what exactly motivated Tierney’s recall, as Florida doesn’t have any injuries necessitating his presence. It could be that the Panthers want as large a roster as possible for their upcoming West Coast road trip, which they now do with 23 healthy skaters.
Florida Panthers Recall Givani Smith
The Florida Panthers have brought Givani Smith back to the NHL, after sending him down just before Christmas. The move comes ahead of their game against the Arizona Coyotes this evening.
Smith, 24, has played just one game since arriving in Florida but managed to rack up seven penalty minutes in it. The big physical forward will give the team a little more bite after two straight losses against Metropolitan Division clubs.
After tonight, the Panthers will hit the road for a four-game trip that takes them through Detroit, Dallas, Colorado, and Vegas – a tough part of the schedule that includes time zone changes and an afternoon game against some top teams.
Whether he goes right into the lineup remains to be seen, but the Panthers have had trouble getting much consistency from the bottom part of the lineup this season, and could perhaps use a rotation on the road. Smith does have 86 games of NHL experience under his belt, with 145 penalty minutes to show for it. The second-round pick has scored seven goals and 14 points in his career.
Florida Panthers Loan Chris Tierney To AHL
The Florida Panthers have announced that forward Chris Tierney has been loaned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.
The move frees another spot on the Panthers’ roster, and they now have two open spots for players should they choose to call up others from the AHL or activate one of their two players on long-term injured reserve.
Tierney, 28, has played five NHL games with the Panthers this season, scoring three points. He’s done so in an extremely limited role, having played just under eight minutes of ice time per night.
Those three points in five games is solid work for an AHL call-up, and Tierney’s quality play this year has extended to his time in the AHL. With the Checkers, Tierney has 16 points in 19 games, good for second-most on the team.
While this loan back to the AHL isn’t exactly good news for him, Tierney has given the Panthers exactly what they were hoping for when they signed him to a one-year, league-minimum two-way deal over the summer.
For just $750k against the cap, providing near point-per-game AHL production and chipping in some points on an NHL call-up is nothing to scoff at. His form is especially encouraging given the circumstances of his exit from his previous organization, the Ottawa Senators.
Once a 48-point scorer, Tierney went from being a potential long-term piece to a salary cap anchor. Injuries played their role, and Tierney’s time in Ottawa ended with an unceremonious 18 points in 70 games.
He seems to have now placed the frustration of his last few years behind him and is providing the Panthers with a nice return on their investment.
With this loan back to the AHL, Tierney will return to Charlotte and look to resume his role as one of the team’s top scorers, with the hope that his continued quality play can earn him another recall to the NHL roster.
Florida Panthers Loan Anton Levtchi To AHL
The Florida Panthers have loaned forward Anton Levtchi to their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.
This move comes after Levtchi earned his first-ever NHL call-up four days ago. After making his NHL debut and getting into another game, Levtchi is headed back to Charlotte.
Levtchi, 27, is an undrafted forward who is in the middle of his first season in North America. The left winger has spent the past several years at Tappara Tampere in the Finnish Liiga, and he’d developed into one of the league’s very best scorers.
In 55 games last season Levtchi scored 26 goals and 61 points. This year, he’s spent most of his time in the AHL, where he’s found moderate success. He has 13 points in 24 games, and now he heads back to the AHL having gotten a taste of NHL action.