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Atlantic Notes: Bunting, Heatherington, Harrison

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The Maple Leafs have yet to engage in contract extension talks for pending UFA winger Michael Bunting, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports in his latest Toronto Star column.  The 27-year-old isn’t producing at quite the level he was last season but still has 24 points in 34 games this season, making him quite a bargain as he carries just a $950K AAV.  It stands to reason that he could pass the $4MM mark on the open market in the summer and while that might be more than Toronto can afford, it’s a price tag they’re going to have to know about heading into the trade deadline so they’ll know if they’ll have a chance of being able to keep him beyond this season.  Otherwise, their plans on deadline day could change accordingly.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Ottawa Senators have returned defenseman Dillon Heatherington to AHL Belleville, per the AHL’s transactions log. The assignment allows the Sens to bank a bit more cap room while Heatherington might also get into a game with Belleville even if he is going to eventually be recalled as the lone AHL game on December 26th is Belleville taking on provincial rival Toronto.  Heatherington played 11:28 on Thursday night, his first NHL appearance of the season while he has five points in 19 games in the minors.
  • Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal suggests (Twitter link) that there are trade rumors surrounding Bruins prospect Brett Harrison at the OHL level. The 19-year-old was a third-rounder back in 2021 and has already signed his entry-level contract.  Harrison has 29 points in 24 games with Oshawa this season but with the Generals sitting in last in their division (even though they still hold a playoff spot), they’re expected to be sellers prior to the January 10th trade deadline.

Amadeus Lombardi Signs Entry-Level Contract

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1:30 PM: The Red Wings have now officially announced Lombardi’s signing.

12:53 PM: The Detroit Red Wings have provided a prospect with an early Christmas present, signing Amadeus Lombardi to a three-year entry-level contract according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey.

Lombardi, 19, was the 113th selection in 2022 after going undrafted in his first year of eligibility. Playing for the Flint Firebirds this season (where he will remain), he has scored 44 points in 31 games, already passing his goal total from last season.

An incredibly quick skater, the undersized forward got a late start on his OHL career due to the canceled 2020-21 season, potentially leading to him falling further in the draft than he would have. Earning an entry-level deal is a nice next step, though he still has plenty of work to do before reaching the NHL.

Notably, because he will turn 20 in June, Lombardi will be eligible for the AHL next season. It will be interesting to see if the Red Wings go that route, or potentially send him back for an overage year in junior while he continues to add strength and experience.

Either way, he’s a part of an NHL organization now, and should have even more motivation to play well down the stretch. The Firebirds currently sit sixth in the OHL’s Western Conference and a good bit of that is because of Lombardi’s skill. His 44 points are 15 more than his next closest teammate, Chicago Blackhawks third-round pick Gavin Hayes.

Snapshots: Korpisalo, Maatta, Hunt, Kazbekov

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Heading into the season, it seemed likely that Joonas Korpisalo was entering his final season with the Blue Jackets.  His re-signing allowed Daniil Tarasov to spend one more year in the minors before moving up to the NHL full-time in 2023-24.  However, as Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch suggests, Korpisalo’s performance this season coupled with his contract could make him one of their top trade chips heading into the trade deadline.  While his numbers aren’t great on their own (3.53 GAA, .903 SV%), they’re considerably better than Elvis Merzlikins’ by comparison (4.68, .864).  That, coupled with a low-cost $1.3MM expiring deal, could give them a chance to get a better draft pick they were offered the last time that Korpisalo was on the block.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Prior to their game this afternoon against Ottawa, the Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they activated defenseman Olli Maatta off injured reserve. The 28-year-old is off to a nice start in his first year with Detroit, notching 10 points in 25 games heading into today’s action while logging nearly 20 minutes per game.  That’s a pretty good early return on the one-year, $2.25MM that Detroit gave him early in free agency.
  • A day after being papered down to the minors, the Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Brad Hunt from AHL Colorado. The 34-year-old inked a two-year deal with the Avs in the summer and has played in four games with the big club so far, collecting an assist while logging a little over 10 minutes per game.  He has been quite productive with the Eagles though, notching six goals and 14 helpers in 22 games at the minor league level.
  • There was some sad news in the OHL with the league jointly announcing with London that forward Abakar Kazbekov passed away today at the age of 18. Kazbekov was the first-overall pick from the 2021 OHL U18 Priority Selection and had played in 21 games in parts of two seasons with the team including in Friday’s game against Owen Sound.

Decision Time Is Coming For Kings And Brandt Clarke

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One of the underlying themes for junior-aged players in the NHL is noting when they officially burn the first year of their entry-level contract once they play in their tenth game of the season.  Some teams are comfortable going past that point and are more concerned with the second threshold of 40 games on the active roster when a player accrues a year of service time towards UFA eligibility.  Others try to drag out the decision as long as they can to allow for extra evaluation time.

The Kings are clearly in the latter category when it comes to defenseman Brandt Clarke.  Los Angeles selected the 19-year-old eighth overall in 2021 following a strong season with Barrie of the OHL.  He returned to the Colts last season and simply dominated, notching 59 points in 55 games and did well enough in six preseason games to earn a spot on the opening roster.

Before going any further, it’s worth noting that the agreement between the NHL and CHL prohibits junior-aged players from playing in the minors until their age-20 year (with the exception being if they’ve already played four seasons of major junior).  With Clarke not in his age-20 year, his playing options this season are the NHL and the OHL only.

Los Angeles quickly burned through Clarke’s nine games, the last of which came on November 1st.  At that time, they opted to hold him out of the lineup long enough to satisfy the conditions needed to make him eligible for a two-week conditioning stint with AHL Ontario which supersedes the NHL/CHL agreement in that one scenario and it’s not one that can be used repeatedly.  Clarke went down, played in five games with the Reign, and was recalled on Sunday where he has been scratched ever since.

It’s certainly understandable that the Kings might not want to return him to junior, a league that Clarke has proven all that he really needs to prove.  In that sense, dropping down to a lower level might be perceived as stagnating his development.  However, simply not playing isn’t exactly helping his development either.  There’s something to be gained from practicing with the big club, but that’s only for a certain amount of time before not suiting up becomes problematic.  Plus, keeping a player up with no intention of playing him isn’t the most efficient use of cap space as the Kings could stand to benefit from banking some extra room to use closer to the trade deadline this season.

There’s one way that the Kings could kick this decision a little further down the road.  If Clarke is invited to participate at Team Canada’s training camp for the upcoming World Juniors, Los Angeles could hold him on the roster for a few more days and then loan him to Canada’s squad.  They would then reserve the ability to recall him at that time when they could evaluate him in a few more practices and then decide what to do.  If they were to loan him to the OHL before Canada’s camp begins, they wouldn’t be able to recall Clarke back to Los Angeles.

That would then take them to the OHL trade deadline (January 10th) where they could see if he’s moved to a more favorable situation or if Barrie, who could add top draft prospect Eduard Sale after the World Juniors, loads up, creating a better opportunity for him to return to.  At this point, it appears that this is the route that they’re likely to take.

In the meantime, barring a change of heart that puts him in the lineup in the coming days (they next play Tuesday against Ottawa), it appears the waiting game for Clarke will continue for at least a few more days but with Canada’s camp starting soon, they’ll have a decision to make in the near future.

Snapshots: Kuzmenko, Anisimov, Monahan, Haight

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Andrei Kuzmenko’s first season in North America has been a successful one as the winger enters play tonight sitting fourth on the Canucks in scoring with 11 goals and 10 assists in 22 games.  He’s also set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer for the second straight year except this time, he won’t be capped on entry-level restrictions.  While the two sides are eligible to work out an extension as early as January, it doesn’t appear that will be the case.  Appearing on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali (video link), Kuzmenko’s agent Dan Milstein indicated that there are no contract talks planned for the near future:

We are not going to be talking about an extension of any kind until probably the end of the season or close to that time.

While that’s the plan for now, it stands to reason that Vancouver will look to start discussions before the end of the year as if they can’t reach an agreement on a contract for next season, Kuzmenko could be a trade candidate leading up to the March 3rd trade deadline.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Veteran center Artem Anisimov is off to a decent start with AHL Lehigh Valley with three points in his first five games with Philadelphia’s affiliate. In his latest 32 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that the Flyers would like to convert Anisimov’s contract to an NHL deal to add him to the roster.  However, they’re currently unable to do so as they’re at the maximum 50 contracts so they’ll have to make a trade to open up a spot first unless someone claims Kieffer Bellows on waivers on Friday.  Anisimov is a veteran of 771 career NHL contests and would give them someone else to try on the fourth line if they can open up a spot for him first.
  • When the Canadiens acquired Sean Monahan this offseason, he seemed like a near-lock to be traded by the deadline with Montreal entrenched in a rebuild. However, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic relays that the team is now having internal discussions about the idea of trying to sign the 28-year-old to an extension instead of flipping him as an expiring deal at the deadline.  Monahan has 14 points in 22 games this season while averaging over 17 minutes a night and appears to have recovered quite nicely from the hip surgeries he had in each of the past two years.
  • Wild prospect Hunter Haight is on the move in the OHL as Barrie announced that they traded him to Saginaw in exchange for five draft picks. The 18-year-old was a second-round pick by Minnesota this past summer after putting up 22 goals and 41 points last season with the Colts.  However, things haven’t gone as well this year as he managed just three goals and six helpers in 20 contests prior to the move.  Minnesota has until June 1, 2024 to sign the center to an NHL contract.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Jean-Luc Foudy

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The Colorado Avalanche continue to make changes to their group, this time recalling prospect Jean-Luc Foudy. The young forward will be joining the team on a regular for the first time in his career; his only other NHL experience was as a Black Ace last spring during Colorado’s playoff run.

There is real excitement about the 2020 third-round pic, who has five goals and 14 points in 18 games with the Colorado Eagles, especially because of the way he has been able to develop the last few years. Normally (as new Seattle Kraken fans are learning), a player selected out of the CHL is not able to be assigned for an extended period of time to the AHL until they are 20 years old. It is either the NHL or back to junior, a difficult decision for some that have shown an ability to dominate their peers through a specific skill.

Some hockey minds wonder whether it is good for their development at all, to continue playing at a level that doesn’t challenge them to find other ways to compete. Foudy was potentially going to be one of these players, given the elite speed and athleticism that he possesses. He had been an offensive force from the moment he entered the OHL, scoring 49 points as a rookie.

Because of the way COVID-19 restrictions played out, however, Foudy never played a game in junior after he was drafted. The 2020-21 OHL season was canceled, leaving players eligible to suit up in other leagues. The Avalanche sent their young forward to the AHL, where he played 34 games for the Colorado Eagles. Overmatched as an 18-year-old for much of the season, he would score just three goals, 14 points, and finished with a -17 rating.

In 2021-22 he still wouldn’t have qualified for AHL play, but a one-time exemption was made for players who suited up at least 20 times in the previous COVID-affected season. Since Foudy had played 34 games for Colorado, he was allowed to spend last year with the Eagles as well. While things still started out difficult, by the end of the season he had learned how to play at that level, and was a strong performer in the playoffs, scoring four goals and seven points in nine games.

It was no surprise that he came back this year even better, and has now earned a call-up to the big squad. As one of the first players with a development path like this, Foudy will be an interesting case to watch in the coming years.

Snapshots: Memorial Cup, Spengler Cup, Hanus

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The CHL has officially announced the four clubs that have submitted applications to host the 2024 Memorial Cup. The Kingston Frontenacs, Niagara IceDogs, Saginaw Spirit, and Soo Greyhounds will send in bids before the deadline in January, with the winning club announced in March.

The tournament is moved through the leagues each year, meaning it was only open to OHL bids for 2024. The 2023 tournament will be held in Kamloops, British Columbia.

  • Team Canada has its leadership for the Spengler Cup decided, with Shane Doan managing the roster and Travis Green taking head coaching duties, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. Green is still under contract with the Vancouver Canucks, though he hasn’t coached since being fired in the middle of 2021-22.
  • The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have parted ways with Clay Hanus, as the undrafted defenseman has decided to leave pro hockey and accept the education package given by his former junior club. Hanus had only played two games – both at the ECHL level – since signing an AHL deal in the summer.

Snapshots: Pastujov, Wedgewood, Kings Defense

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We are, presumably, still a few months away from the NHL’s blockbuster trading season, however the hot stove in the WHL, QMJHL, and OHL is red hot, with a few blockbusters already completed. The OHL’s Sarnia Sting managed to make one of their own tonight too, acquiring forward and Anaheim Ducks prospect Sasha Pastujov from the Guelph Storm. Heading back to Guelph will be forward Max Namestnikov along with a 2022 second-round pick, 2024 third-round pick, 2025 fifth-round pick, and 2026 fifth -round pick, all in the OHL draft.

Pastujov, 19, was a third-round selection by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 NHL Draft, who has put up massive numbers for Sarnia since joining them after a stint with the USNTDP prior. In just 14 games to start this season, Pastujov has 11 goals and eight assists, building on his sensational 2021-22 campaign where he recorded 34 goals and 42 assists in 65 games.

  • Having recently got goaltender Jake Oettinger back from injury, the Dallas Stars were surely hoping to keep their goaltending duo intact for as long as possible, however backup netminder Scott Wedgewood was forced to leave tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers, and it did not look good. The injury happened as Wedgewood made a stop against forward Anton Lundell on a breakaway. Lundell was kept off the scoresheet, but Wedgewood remained on the ice for some time before a stretcher was brought out to help the ailing goaltender off the ice. Through seven games to start the season coming into tonight, the 30-year-old carries a 3.21 goals-against average and .903 save-percentage. The Stars added that Wedgewood is “okay” and being further evaluated in their locker room. In this sense, okay may not necessarily mean uninjured, but instead as a reference to the scary situation as Wedgewood was unable to leave the ice himself.
  • Earlier today on TSN’s Insider Trading segment, Pierre LeBrun touched on the Los Angeles Kings and their envious predicament of having too many defenseman. As a response, the team has placed defenseman Brandt Clarke on a conditioning loan in the AHL and Jordan Spence, who has proven to be a capable NHL defenseman, is currently a teammate of Clarke’s with the Ontario Reign of the AHL. LeBrun notes that teams have been wondering if the Kings are or will be willing to trade from their defensive depth, however it appears Los Angeles has indicated they are planning to hold onto their defenseman, at least for now.

Lukas Fischer Signs In OHL

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The development path of a top prospect is a delicate thing. Some young players end up taking the wrong route and end up buried on a loaded team, unable to really show what they are capable of. Sometimes they take a more difficult path and struggle with the high expectations and responsibility involved. That’s why when a potential high NHL draft prospect drastically changes paths, it can be big news.

Today, Lukas Fischer, son of former NHLer and current Detroit Red Wings director of player personnel Jiri Fischer, completed one of those path switches. The 16-year-old defenseman has signed with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, passing up any NCAA opportunities that were coming his way. He’ll make his debut with the club tomorrow night against the Windsor Spitfires.

A few months ago, this certainly wasn’t the plan. Fischer fell to the 11th round in the OHL Priority Selection because he was supposed to be committed to playing in the USHL. He went sixth overall this year to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders after a strong camp with the USNTDP and played four games for them Now, he’ll head over the border and play much closer to his hometown with the Sting, who are off to a 9-6-3 record so far.

Already 6’3″, Fischer has a frame reminiscent of his father, who older hockey fans will remember as a 6’5″ behemoth for the Red Wings years ago. His brother, Braidan Simmons-Fischer, who plays for the University of St. Thomas, currently measures in at 6’7″.

This doesn’t mean that the young defenseman will be picked higher, but it will give OHL fans a closer look at him in the next few years. Fischer is eligible for the 2024 NHL draft.

Nashville Predators Sign Nolan Burke

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The Nashville Predators have landed an interesting undrafted free agent, signing Nolan Burke to a three-year entry-level contract. The young forward is currently tearing it up with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, where he will remain for the rest of this season.

Burke, 19, has 15 goals in 16 games with Sarnia this season and appears to be a classic late-bloomer. After recording 13 total points through his first two years of OHL action, he exploded last year with 34 goals and 59 points in 64 games. Passed over twice in the draft, the Predators just couldn’t overlook his performance so far this season and have taken the gamble of an entry-level deal.

As CapFriendly points out, despite still being 19, Burke’s contract will not actually slide forward, meaning the first year will be burned in 2022-23. That’s because he turns 20 in December, meaning he will count toward the 50-contract limit right away. It will also mean that he isn’t eligible for this year’s World Junior squad, something that he potentially could have played his way onto with an incredible goal pace.

Either way, the young center now has an NHL deal in hand and an organization to join at the end of the year. Burke will likely join the Milwaukee Admirals for a short stint once his OHL season ends.

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